The oldest fossil hominin from Italy: Reassessment of the femoral diaphysis from Venosa-Notarchirico in its Acheulean context

Venosa-Notarchirico is a musealized Lower Paleolithic site in southern Italy (Basilicata), where a human femoral shaft was discovered in 1985. The fossil specimen can be evaluated in the new light of excavations started in 2016, which provide a more updated and extensive picture of the site, including the crucial Ar/Ar date of 661-614 ka for the human specimen. This makes the fossil diaphysis from Venosa-Notarchirico (Vn-H1) the oldest fossil hominin found so far in the Italian peninsula, associated with the earliest evidence of genuine Acheulean in Europe. In this paper, we report a comparative morphometric analysis of this femur, as well as a paleopathological reappraisal of the periosteal alteration that affects the specimen, supported by an unpublished histological analysis. Vn-H1 represents the proximal two-thirds of a right femur lacking the epiphyseal region. We argue it belonged to an immature individual, possibly a juvenile (late adolescent). Its features suggest that the specimen may refer to an archaic (i.e., non-modern) human species, also showing morphological differences compared to fossil samples of the Neanderthal lineage. We also support the identification of a pathological condition affecting Vn-H1, particularly evident in some preserved portions of the mid-shaft as described here. Its etiology is discussed after differential diagnosis, which led us to suggest an alteration of inflammatory origin, viewed as a nonspecific periosteal response. This pathology may have been roughly concomitant with the death of the individual. •Vn-H1 represents the oldest human fossil specimen ever found in Italy within one of the earliest Acheulean sites in Europe.•The age of Vn-H1, dated Ar/Ar at 661-614 ka, takes advantage of the recent new excavations at the Venosa-Notarchirico site.•Both morphology and morphometry of the human specimen suggest an age at death of the individual to the late adolescence.•Palaeopathological observations, supported by unpublished histological data, suggest the nature of the periosteal alteration.