The latest Ursus speleaus in Italy, a new contribution to the extinction chronology of the cave bear

The skeleton of a prime adult cave bear, Ursus spelaeus, was found in Grotta del Chiostraccio, a cave near Siena (Tuscany, central Italy). The specimen was dated yielding a conventional radiocarbon age of 24 000 ± 100 years BP, which makes it the latest known representative of the species in Italy to date. The skeleton was accompanied by the remains of wolf (Canis lupus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), aurochs (Bos primigenius), red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), bat (Vespertinus murinus), and crow (Corvus monedula). Because of their great vulnerability during winter retreats, bears are very watchful in keeping secret their hibernation lairs, to reduce the risk of intrusion. The association of the cave bear with other animals, in the absence of any evidence of direct interaction, especially with other carnivores, indicates that the assemblage is an attritional palimpsest of remains of different species not originally associated in life. The site yields insights into the lifestyle of one of the latest cave bears from one of the species’ southernmost refugia.