Museos en los yacimientos pleistocenos italianos con elefantes: situacion y perspectivas

Italy is known as a country very rich in Pleistocene sites with remains of Elephas antiquus. Even though the history of studies and excavations is already two centuries old, only in the last fifty years museums have been organized in some of the most important Palaeolithic sites. The interest in preservation of Pleistocene deposits increased after the writing of the first general law concerning the protection of cultural heritage (1939) and during the last decades it changed in a strong will to increase the value of these sites, emphasizing the importance of the knowledge of scientific arguments by a largest number of not specialized peoples. The projects realized on five open-air Pleistocene sites (Torre in Pietra, Venosa-Notarchirico, Casal de' Pazzi, Isernia La Pineta and La Polledrara) are here presented. They well suggest this itinerary and can represent matter to think about tools, methods and aims for scholars and planners to carry out their proposes.