1. INTRODUCTION

The Leonardo da Vinci Institute is one ofRome’s oldest schools. It was founded in 1871on the German model of technical schools, underthe authority of the Ministry of Agriculture. Itconsisted of four areas of study, two of whichprepared students for entry into the UniversityFaculties of Mathematics and Engineering. Thestudy of Natural Sciences was considered impor-tant and was studied in depth, theory was sup-ported by practice and experimental study (thestudents went fossil hunting and collected fossilsand minerals in the Roman countryside.Collections acquired from prestigiousInstitutions and donations from private collectorsand scholars were added to these finds). For thisreason in the store-rooms of the school there areimportant exhibits, some of which are unknowneven to the specialists. Among them there is acollection of vertebrate fossil remains, the mostimportant examples of which are without doubtthe remains of Elephas antiquus coming from theRoman countryside as the labels attached tosome pieces lead us to believe.

2. THE ELEPHANT SAMPLES

The elephant samples, sometimes associated

with the scanty remains of Middle to LatePleistocene mammalians such as Bos primige-nius, Hippopotamus amphibious and Cervuselaphus are mostly from sites in what are nowurban areas of Rome.

2.1 Monte Sacro

These remains are from volcanoclasticdeposits found in this area, finds which dateback to the end of the 1800’s such as: a frag-ment of a tusk accompanied by a label signedby the scholar Mantovani, which reads: “Fragment of a gigantic tusk found in thePleistocene clay mass of Monte Sacro, Rome:Right bank of the Aniene River”; a distal epi-physis of a femur of Bos primigenius (170mmlong and 160mm maximum width) accompa-nied by a label that reads: “Inferior articulationcap of the femur of Bos primigenius found inthe silt of the valley of the Aniene River. MonteSacro on the Via Nomentana 4 km from Rome.Acquired by Clerici 1884”; the right tusk ofElephas antiquus (Fig. 1) as deduced by theidentical matrix on both the tusk and on thearticulation cap of the femur of Bos primige-nius (accompanied by a dated label).

53

The Elephants at the Leonardo Da Vinci Institute in Rome

M. Greco

“Istituto per l’Istruzione Superiore Statale” Leonardo da Vinci, Roma, Italy

SUMMARY: The Leonardo Da Vinci Technical Institute of Rome, founded in 1871, has a collection of mam-mal fossils typical of the Middle to Late Pleistocene period which were found mostly in areas in and aroundRoma. The majority of the items in this collection are the remains of Elephas (Palaeodoxodon) antiquusFalconer & Cautley, 1847, including two large tusks, one of which may be part of the cranium found duringthe construction of the Via Fori Imperali, of which all trace has been lost and which was described in greatdetail by De Angelis D’Ossat (1932). The presence of this rich natural science collection documents the con-stant and continuous contact that the institute had with the University of Rome and numerous other ResearchInstitutes between the end of the 1800’s and the beginning of the 1900’s.

2.2 “Via dei Fori Imperali” Site in the area ofthe Temple of Venus, and the area of the“Chiesa dei Santi Luca e Martina”

The excavations in Via dell’Impero, todayknown as Via dei Fori Imperali, led to the find-ing of numerous specimens of Elephas antiquus(De Angelis D’Ossat 1932; Maccagno 1962).

The left tusk conserved at the Leonardo DaVinci Institute is almost certainly from the cra-nium found during the excavations in 1932 anddescribed in detail by De Angelis D’Ossat.Much data confirms this theory: its morpholo-gy, the external length from the alveolus to theapex (2450mm) and the diameter at the heightof the mandible (approximately 200mm), itsstate of preservation also corresponds exactlyto the measurements and description written byDe Angelis D’Ossat. In the photograph taken atthe time of the find there is also the cranium(Fig. 2) that is now probably to be found in theMusei Capitolini (Maccagno 1962) eventhough we cannot exclude that it has been lost,since De Angelis D’Ossat himself underlinedits extremely fragile state.

This tusk is also fractured and one notes theclumsy attempt to reconstruct it, even utilisingcommon cement (Fig. 3). This agrees well withDe Angelis D’Ossat’s observations according

to which the tusk, after having been summarilyconsolidated in loco, was quickly removed andtaken away by Dr Clini to the MunicipalAntiquarium (in the Celio district near theChiesa di San Gregorio), where minor archaeo-logical finds were deposited. No tusk appearsto be present among the fossil remains of theAntiquarium currently housed in the Museodella Civiltà Romana.

A mandible can also be traced to the samefind with the last molars in place that corre-sponds to the illustrations and description of DeAngelis D’Ossat. For the other remains(acetabulum and some molars of Elephasantiquus) one could hypothesise their prove-nance from the fluvio-lacustrine deposits lyingabove the volcanic outcrop along the westernside of the Chiesa dei Santi Luca e Martinaadjacent to the Campidoglio

Finally it must be said that in the Institutethere are, as well as the remains of Elephasantiuus, finds of Bos primigenius and Cervuselaphus which were also found during theexcavations of the Via dei Fori Imperali.

2.3 Carini Site (Palermo, Sicily)

The Institute’s collection also includes a tuskfrom Elephas mnadriensis (Fig. 4) which was

54

The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001

Fig.1 - The right tusk – Monte Sacro, Roma.

donated to the school as the label reads:“Donation from P Gallegra 1885. Tusk foundabout 2 kilometres from the village of Carini(in the environs of Palermo, Sicily)”. The pres-ence of this specimen leads us to believe that inthe Institute at the end of the 1800’s there wasa lively interest in the study of vertebrate fos-sils, and in particular of elephants.

3. REMARKS

Between the end of the 1800’s and the begin-ning of the 1900’s the Leonardo Da Vinci tech-nical Institute was a true “Research Institute” as

its many important natural science exhibits tes-tify (fossils, minerals, marble, rocks etc) and it also had close contact with UniversityInstitutions. These contacts we can deduce fromthe labels accompanying many samples, docu-mentation in the archives, from the descriptionof the scientific experiences described in theannals of the Institute and also from the plastercasts of two ichthyosaurs, the originals of whichare to be found in the Museo di Paleontologia ofUniversità degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza”.We must not forget that here at the Institutethere was a department of study for preparationfor entry into the Faculty of Engineering.

55

The Elephants at the Leonardo Da Vinci Institute in Rome

Fig.2 - Tusk and cranium found during the excavations in via dei Fori Imperiali (1932).

Fig.3 - Elephas antiquus tusk – via Fori Imperiali – Roma.

5. REFERENCES

De Angelis D’Ossat, G. 1930. Il sottosuolo deifori romani e l’Elephas antiquus di Viadell’ Impero. Bull. Archeol. Comun., 63,43p., 17f., 4pl.

De Angelis D’Ossat, G. 1933. Mammiferi fos-

sili recentemente rinvenuti nel Lazio. Attidella Pontificia Accademia delle ScienzeNuovi Lincei, sessione II del 15 gennaio1933, 86.

Maccagno, A.M. 1962. Gli elefanti fossili diRiano. Geologica Romana 1: 33-132.

56

The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001

Fig.4 - Elephas mnadriensis tusk – Carini, Palermo.