The argali (Ovis ammon antiqua) from the Magliana area (Rome)

During the Middle Pleistocene, the subspecies was widespread from Georgia to Portugal, though it is scantily recorded in local faunal assemblages of Southern Europe. Its occurrence in a few Late Pleistocene sites needs to be confirmed. In Italy, the subspecies is recorded in the late Galerian fauna of Visogliano (MIS 13 - 10) as well as in the Magliana area, where an incomplete skull was found at the beginning of the last century. Although the precise location where this specimen was found is unknown, on the basis of the results of the geochemical analysis performed on a small amount of sediment, sampled from the filling of the inner cavities of the horn-cores, and considering the stratigraphy of the area, the hypothesis that the skull comes from the deposits of the PG4 sequence (MIS14 partim - MIS13) cannot be ruled out. This hypothetical remark would confirm the occurrence in Italy of the argali in late Galerian faunas. The dimensions of Ovis ammon antiqua from the Magliana area fit well within the range of variability of the larger specimens, likely males, found at La Caune de L’Arago (France) (MIS 14-12), from which the Italian specimen differs in having less twisted and more dorso-ventrally curved horn-cores.