Prehistoric Italy

The prehistory of Italy began in the Paleolithic, when the Homo species colonized for the first time the Italian territory and ends in the Iron Age, when the first written records appeared in the peninsula and in the islands.

In prehistoric times, the Italian peninsula was rather different from how it is now. During glaciations, for example, the sea level was lower and the islands of Elba and Sicily were connected to the mainland. The Adriatic Sea began at what is now the Gargano Peninsula, and what is now its surface up to Venice was a fertile plain with a humid climate.

The presence of Homo neanderthalensis has been demonstrated in archaeological findings dating to c. 50,000 years ago (late ). There are some twenty such sites, the most important being that of the Grotta Guattari at San Felice Circeo, on the Tyrrhenian Sea south of Rome. Other are the grotta di Fumane (province of Verona) and the Breuil grotto, also in San Felice.

The first Cro Magnon inhabitants of Italy moved across the peninusula, establishing themselves in small settlements far from each one, most on high areas. In November 2011 tests conducted at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit in England on what were previously thought to be Neanderthal baby teeth, which had been unearthed in 1964 from the Grotta del Cavallo, dated teeth from between 43,000 and 45,000 years ago.

In 2011 it has been discovered the most ancient Sardinian complete human skeleton (called Amsicora) at Pistoccu, in Marina di Arbus; scientists date it to 8500 years ago (the transition period between the Mesolithic and Neolithic).

...
Wikipedia