The Contessa Valley and the Bottaccione Gorge located close to Gubbio (central Italy) include some of the most complete successions of Paleogene sediments known from the Tethyan realm. Owing to the continuous deposition in a pelagic setting, a rather modest tectonic overprint, and the availability of excellent age control through magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, and tephrostratigraphy, and direct radioisotopic dates from interbedded volcaniclastic layers, these sediments have played a prominent role in the establishment of standard Paleogene time scales. We present here a complete and well-preserved Paleogene pelagic composite succession of the Gubbio area that provides the means for a more...