THE 
G EOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 
NEW SERIES. DECADE II. VOL. IV. 
No. X.— OCTOBER, 1877. 
4 
OZR.IG-IICT.A.L AETICLES. 
I. — Is Man Tertiary? The Antiqüity of Man in the Roman 
COUNTRY IN RELATION TO THE ÖEOLOGY OF THE VaLLEY OF 
the Tiber. 
By Prof. Raf. D. P. Mantovani ; 
of the Royal Lyceum College, Rome. 
T HE soil of the Roman country, so interesting to the archaoologist 
for the splendid remains it has yielded of the Roman age, is no 
less rieh in relics which shed light on the history of primitive man. 
Although researches of this kind began here only ten years ago, 
the results obtained up to this date have been highly satisfactory. 
These anthropological investigations have been executed with great 
care by many independent investigators, among whom may be 
mentioned Ponzi, Ceselli, Bleicher, De Verneuil, and also the author 
of this communication, who have collected a great many specimens, 
and accumulated numerous observations relative to primitive Man. 
To give a clear and accurate notion of the succession of pre- 
historic events in the Roman country, I think it will be useful to lay 
before my readers a brief general account of the geological formation 
of the Valley of the Tiber. 
At the close of the elevation of the Tertiary strata, forming the 
great plain of the Roman country Stretching from the foot of the 
Apennines to the shores of the Mediterranean, the ice and snovv 
accumulated during the Glacial period began to melt, producing an 
immense quantity of water, which, running down to rejoin the sea, 
caused a considerable erosion of the plain above mentioned, and ex- 
cavated the Valley of the Tiber, leaving the alluvial deposits upon 
the sides of the Pliocene hills. The direction of the channel was 
facilitated by a fault, the effect of a violent eartliquake at the close 
of the Pliocene period. (See the annexed Diagram, p. 434). 
Tbus the geological structure of the hills has actually initiated this 
primitive valley. The hills are chiefly formed by strata of Pliocene 
age, flanked by alluvial deposits of the Pleistoceue period. The 
Pliocene formation is represented by blue inarl, overlain by thick 
beds of yellow sand and gravel, very rieh in fossil Shells, correspond- 
ing to the English crag. The Pliocene beds are everywhere covered 
28 
DECADE II. — VOL. IV. — NO. X. 
