The natural enviroment

A landscape rich in water

The Scoppito Mammoth lived 1,300,000 years ago.

Between 2,600,000 and 150,000 years ago, in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene period, the territory of Abruzzo was rich in lakes (particularly the areas of modern-day L’Aquila, Sulmona and the Fucino) and wide plains surrounded by mountain ranges, with lakes, marshes and large river valleys.

This abundance of fresh water was essential for the survival of large mammals such as elephants and hippopotamuses.

The structure and content of the overlapping layers of sand and clay in which the Mammoth was found enabled the reconstruction of the environment, located at the mouth of a river or at the edge of a lake and a nearby swamp, where rotting leaves and logs formed lignite (fossil coal).

Remains of ancient hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses and deer, as well as amphibians, reptiles and molluscs, were found in the same area.