The Late Pleistocene cave hyena from Grotta Guattari (San Felice Circeo, central Italy)

Recent excavations in Grotta Guattari (Circeo Promontory, southern Latium, Italy), in an area that had never been investigated before, the so-called Antro del Laghetto, returned abundant fossil remains of cave hyena. The newly acquired chronology of Grotta Guattari speleothems has allowed us to date the hyena frequentation, and thus the bone accumulations of this part of the cave, around 65 ka (Late Pleistocene, MIS 4). Comparisons with mandibles and upper and lower jugal teeth of extinct and extant hyenas have led to the determination that the species that occupied Grotta Guattari is Crocuta spelaea. The cave hyena from Grotta Guattari had robust jaws and it was relatively large, with some specimens among the largest in Western Europe. Comparisons with the age at death classes of main preys of modern and Late Pleistocene predators suggest that the bone accumulations can be referred to the hunting activity by Crocuta spelaea, which introduced only parts of the carcasses into the cave. Comparisons with dens of modern and Late Pleistocene hyenas suggest this part of Grotta Guattari had a multiple use (storage + communal den), an occurrence already documented in other Late Pleistocene sites. Finally, some cases of cannibalism were described.