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Saccopastore Skulls:

Two fossil crania were discovered along the Aniene River Valley of Northern Rome, Italy in 1929 and 1935. The two human skulls that derive from Homo neanderthalensis were located in a quarry along the Aniene River in gravel and sand beds that have since been replaced by building areas with the city. From geomorphological classification, the two skulls were assigned to the Tyrrhenian stage due to their location within a small hill approximately 5-meters above the river. The area in which they were found at the time was called Saccopastore which is where these two crania get their name. The first Saccopastore skull, discovered by Sergio Sergi and and the second Saccopastore skull, discovered by Professors Breuil and Blanc both show greater basicranial flexion compared to that of the Wurmian Neandertals, due to the extreme inclination of the planum sphenoidalis. The two skull's age likely ranges from 100,000 to 300,000 years old and show an extremely high level of fossilisation. After being discovered, the two skulls were kept at the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Rome until World War Two, when they were taken by Professor Sergio Sergi to be preserved and kept safe from German officers who were seeking fossil treasures. After time they would stay with Sergi and become part of his own private collection.

Saccopastore 1:

In April of 1929, workmen of the quarry located near the Aniene River discovered a human cranium that looked to be fossilized. After the discovery, the skull was immediately delivered to Sergio Sergi, who then began a long series of studies on the fossil. The Saccopastore Skull was then labeled a mature female and is almost completely in tact and overall shows a high degree of mineralization, even though it is missing both of the zygomatic arches and the mandible. After being discovered, the skull had taken damage by the workmen within the quarry. Those damages include a number of dental crowns being broken and lost along with some other damage to the supraorbital area and two holes were punctured into the frontal and parietal areas of the vault.

Saccopastore 2:

In the summer of 1935, A.C. Blanc and H. Breuil discovered another, less complete cranium in the same area that the first skull was located in 1925. The second Saccopastore skull is identified as a male and is lacking the entire vault, along with the left front orbital areas, and part of the base. Morphological differences between the two skulls are results from sexual dimorphism because one is a mature female, and the other is representing a young adult male. The skull has a cranial capacity that is estimated to be around 1,280 and 1,300 ml and the facial size is smaller than that of a Wurmian Neandertals but larger than the first Saccopastore skull.

Academic Sources:

Bruner, Emiliano; Manzi, Giorgio (2008-06-01). "Paleoneurology of an "early" Neandertal: endocranial size, shape, and features of Saccopastore 1". Journal of Human Evolution. 54 (6): 729–742. .

Manzi, Giorgio, et al. "CT-scanning and virtual reproduction of the Saccopastore Neandertal crania." Rivista di Antropologia 79 (2001): 61-72.

Marra, Fabrizio; Ceruleo, Piero; Jicha, Brian; Pandolfi, Luca; Petronio, Carmelo; Salari, Leonardo (2015-12-01). "A new age within MIS 7 for the Homo neanderthalensis of Saccopastore in the glacio-eustatically forced sedimentary successions of the Aniene River Valley, Rome". Quaternary Science Reviews. 129: 260–274.