After the extinction of the Neanderthals, the more or less modern sapiens living in Italy were tall, strong, robust, and enjoyed excellent health. One of the Cro-Magnons found in the Balzi Rossi caves in Liguria, the Menton man, dating back to around 25,000 years ago, was 1.90 m tall and was buried with a headdress of perforated shells and deer teeth. His “colleague” from the Barma Grande cave was also 1.90 m tall, with very developed upper limb bones. On the other side of Italy, the woman from Ostuni, in Puglia, a modern sapiens dating back 27,000 years, was 1.70 m tall, robust, and with perfectly good teeth when she died in her 20s from problems related to pregnancy. She also wore a headdress of perforated shells and deer teeth, suggesting that ungulates and perhaps mollusks were part of the diet of these ancestors of ours.
