Pollen from Late Pleistocene hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) coprolites: An interdisciplinary approach from two Italian sites

Received 16 June2016 Accepted 4 July2016 Available online 18July2016 Palynology of fossil faeces is still extremely rare and its contribution to the interpretation of the environment undervalued.Inthispaperwepresenttheresultsofpollenanalysisperformedoncavehyenacoprolites[Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1832)] from Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) sitesof CavaMuracci(Cisternadi Latina, central Italy) and Tana delle Iene (Ceglie Messapica, southern Italy). This study provides new insights into the vegetation of the Late Pleistocene of peninsular Italy, until now known only through long pollen records. It also shows how the content of coprolites, combined with faunal data and geochronological investigations, can representa potentialintegrative sourceof palaeoclimaticproxydata.Our results indicate that thesurroundings of both of the hyena dens were characterised by a patchy landscape with open lowlands dominated by steppe and grassland vegetation, while a few mesophilous and thermophilous trees were present in more humid areas, probably along the marine coast and inland. The harsh glacial climate appears to have been milder at Cava Muracci than at Tana delle Iene. This could be due either to the different environmental features of the two sitesor to the high climaticvariability that occurred during MIS3.