Museo Naturalistico e Paleontologico del Pollino - Rotonda PZ

In the Natural and Paleontological Museum of Rotonda, located in Via Roma, they restored the remains of a specimen of Elephas antiquus italicus from the upper Middle Pleistocene (400,000 to 700,000 years ago) and other fossils from other species are on display, such as the jaw, almost complete Hippopotamus antiquus found in the identical site dell'Elephas and probably lived in the more distant past (middle Pleistocene) and many other fossil both type animals and plants, and minerals that bear witness to history of the area.

In 1982, in the locality Calories, in the countryside of the Round, it is found the body of an elephant, subsequently classified as "Elephas antiquus italicus", who lived in the Middle Pleistocene (400,000 - 700,000 years ago) and, presumably high 4 mt . and long-6, including tusks; In fact, the femurs are approximately 1.20 mt., other bones, such as the shoulders, have sizes in proportion to which we can deduce that stature. The fangs have a development of about 2.70 m. and, taking into account that these animals lived in the forest environment, they also had to be used to open up the passages through the lush vegetation of the time.

From the shape of the large molars it can be deduced that the animal was not used to shred woody shrubs and their wear and tear it can be assumed for this exemplary age of approximately thirty years. The fossil shows the body curled up on itself with the folded front legs under the belly, the head is turned over and broken at the first cervical vertebra, a tusk jumped off his jaw housing, enough to suggest a traumatic death. Probably the animal died sliding down a very steep slope, falling in the Mercure waters (largest lake interglacial period) and causing the fall of a small landslide that covered him.

The preservation of the fossil record was made possible both by the rapid burial in lake sediments, both by the chemical characteristics of the water. The discovery of the area falls in the municipality of Rotonda (Pz), at an altitude of about 390 mt. s.l.m., on a hillside off undermined at the base by the course of the Mercure river. The recovery work was methodical and exhausting, as opposed by the harsh winter, but the ongoing commitment was rewarded by bleed and subsequent recovery nearly complete specimen, so as to define the discovery dell'Elephas antiquus of Round one, if not the most important at national level.

In the course of the new campaign started in 2005 excavations were discovered other important finds of animals including the skeleton of a Hippopotamus and, for the first time, a hut and a few shards of the Bronze Age (1500-2000 BC ) that evidence of human presence in the Valley. These findings also are preserved in the Museum Room, where, in addition, visitors can watch the restoration work of the unearthed fossils.