https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/mediterranean_earth_sciences <p>The main objective of the journal is to assemble scholarly contributions on the many different aspects of the geology of the Mediterranean, a greatly complex and still controversial area. A further aim is to highlight the basic and applied research carried out by academic institutions and research centres of the Mediterranean region. Prerogative of the journal is to provide the opportunity to publish long, high-quality articles, and rapidly (without pages limit).</p> <p><strong>The Journal of Mediterranean Earth Sciences (JMES) </strong>publishes original contributions on all aspects of Earth Sciences in English language, is <strong>open access</strong>, previous registration on the journal site, and there are <strong>no submission fees and no page charges.</strong></p> <p><strong>Scimago Journal &amp; Country Rank (year 2022)</strong></p> <p>H-index: 21</p> <p>SCImago Journal Rank SJR: 0.23</p> <p> </p> SAPIENZA Università Editrice en-US Journal of Mediterranean Earth Sciences 2037-2272 <p>The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).</p> https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/mediterranean_earth_sciences/article/view/18321 <p class="p2">This research aims to provide preliminary information about the taxonomic identity, stature, and body weight of an elephant skeleton found in 1982 in the Contrada Calorie locality, near the village of Rotonda within the Mercure basin (Basilicata, Southern Italy). Although the elephant is well-known to the public and the remains have been exposed in the Geological, Paleontological, and Archeological Museum of Rotonda since their discovery and have been cited in some scientific articles, no one specifically dealts with such remains. According to the analysis we were able to perform, the elephant is a straight-tusked elephant, <em>Palaeoloxodon antiquus</em>, representative. The skeleton belongs to an individual about 35 years old, about 3.9-4 meters tall at the shoulder, and weighing about 9.6-9.7 tons. Most of the diagnostic dimorphic characters provided by the skeletal bones, including those of the pelvis, are undetectable due to the bone preservation status. However, the attribution to a male individual is conceivable, considering the not-advanced ontogenetic age coupled with the large size and tusk dimensions.</p> Maria Rita Palombo Raffaele Sardella Luca Bellucci Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Mediterranean Earth Sciences 2024-03-21 2024-03-21 16 10.13133/2280-6148/18321