Path of the Dinosaurs

This Path runs through the Museums where one can gather information about the presence of both fauna and humans during the Paleolithic (2.58 million years ago to 11,700 years ago) and Neolithic (8000 – 3500 B.C.) periods, either by visiting the Museums in the Terra dei Cammini territory or by visiting the areas where traces of the great Quaternary mammals are found, or where fossils of large animals now stored in other parts of the world have been discovered.

There was a time when the entire Liri Valley was covered with water. It was the so-called Lirino Lake which, at its maximum extent, stretched from Ceprano to the gates of Santa Maria Capua Vetere. Even in Roman times, there were three lakes in the territory of Aquino as well as some smaller bodies of water, known as minors, in the locality of Piumarola in Villa Santa Lucia (lake "le pantanelle") and in San Germano-Cassino (lake "lo pantano").

We are in the Pleistocene era which spans from 2.58 million years ago to 11,700 years ago. And it is here, in the heart of central-southern Italy, that the main continental Quaternary formations occurred: glacial, lacustrine, fluvial, and deluvial. In particular, the Liri Valley has emerged as a major witness to fauna and human activities dating back to the Paleolithic and Neolithic. The striking fossil remains that surface in these areas allow us to reconstruct the morphological, climatic, and biological conditions that were predominant at the time. It was with the disappearance of the waters, which occurred due to the consequences of the eruptions of the Roccamonfina volcano, that remains of prehistoric fossils began to emerge. Along with the large quantity of remains of mammals that lived on the margins of the great water basin (deer, bison, bears, lions, large pachyderms such as elephants), stone artifacts were also found. This is proof of the presence, on the shores of those lakes, of Paleolithic humans, who preceded the later waves of Neolithic people, who hunted those animals with stone weapons like those, among the most refined, found in the area of Telese (Bn). We are in the territories that later belonged to the Aurunci populations or, according to some scholars, to the Hernici or Sidicini, who were soon succeeded by the Volsci and then the Samnites.

The presence of elephant bones in central-southern Italy has been noted by historians since ancient times, and the ancient Romans were well aware of the fossil remains of large Quaternary mammals in these areas. Evidence of this can be found in the writings of Suetonius in his Life of Augustus. The Dinosaur and Mammoth Path leads to places where testimonies of discoveries made in the territory can be found and allows us to imagine how life evolved in this land.

For further information, the following texts recommended by the Cassino Documentation and Study Center (CDSC) may be consulted: O. G. Costa, On the bones of mammals found near Cassino, Fibreno Printing House 1864

G. De Lorenzo, The Elephas antiquus of Pignataro Interamna, Rend. Acc. Naz. Lincei, vol. IV 1926;

G. Nicolucci, On fossil elephants of the Liri Valley, Acc. delle scienze 1882;

G. Sacchetti, Geological history of Montecassino, Stab. Di Mauro, Cava dei Tirreni 1920;

G. D’Erasmo, M. Moncharmont Zei, The juvenile skull of Elephas Antiquus italicus of Pignataro Interamna, in the Liri Valley, Stab. Tip. Genovese, Naples 1955.