Figure 1. Location of Grotta dell’Uzzo (San Vito lo Capo peninsula) on the Gulf of Castellammare and view of the cave from the north.

Caves are present all along the coasts of NW Sicily and some of those containing Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic deposits are shown: 1. Grotta Martogna; 2. Grotta Emiliana, Grotta del Maltese; 3. Grotta Mangiapane, Grotta Scurati; 4. Grotta del Crocifisso; 5. Grotta Perciata; 6. Grotta di Mezzo; 7. Grotta dei Cavalli; 8. Grotta di Cala Mancina. The supposed locality of the cetacean strandings (circled in red) coincides with the area around Scopello, as hypothesized by analogy with stranding hotspots worldwide (Supplementary Information section 4). The map was generated using Adobe Illustrator CS. The photo was taken by Marcello A. Mannino.