Pre-historic remains in the area of Sanremo come partly from excavations due to work of public interest ( San Francesco St. in centre-town ); a big part of them came also from caverns and caves on the coast (Arma Grotto, Red Leaps Caves) or in the mountains (Argentina Valley).

The Red Leaps Caves are situated by the Italian-French border between Ventimiglia and Menton, and they prove the existence of a very ancient human community, belonging to the Cro- Magnon and Grimaldi breeds (the latter takes its name after a village nearby).They are so significant for local archaeology that they have been looked at as a „sanctuary of Mediterranean pre-history“.

The peculiarity of the Red Leaps caves (which were invaded and left by the sea several times in pre-historic ages) consists in human remains and manufacts.
Human remnants of adults and children were found in burial sites and prove the human presence here for about 200 000 years, from the Riss glaciation until the Mesolithic age. Humans here were represented by the Grimaldi breed (with negroid features), Cro-Magnon and lately by Homo Sapiens.
Remnants belonging to 16 different individuals were found here. Some were settled in proper burial places with a wealth of manufacts, giving evidence of higher civilization.

The most significant manufacts found in the Red Leaps Caves are graffiti and “Venus” statuettes.
Graffiti were found in different caves and they represent animals (horses) and humans. Some traces of colour suggest that they might have been “painted”.
The “Venuses” are statuettes (15 of them were found) representing women with big hips, breasts and gluteals; they seem to give evidence of human fertility-focused rites and are similar to other statuettes found in France, Austria and Moravia and dating back as far as 20 000 years ago.

The region of Sanremo was inhabited by a variety of animals during the pre-historic ages, and these changed depending on the climate.Steinbocks,deers, horses, roe-deers, oxes and pigs were common inhabitants of the region. The remnants of reindeers and marmots belong to colder periods. There is evidence of the presence of cave bears, hippos, hyenas, rhinos, elephants and mammoths.
A peculiar animal that has completely disappeared nowadays is the urus, a sort of forefather of the ox.
The variety of shells found also gives evidence of changes in the temperature of the sea.

The graffiti horse in the Caviglione Cave at the Red Leaps is a Przewalskii. This breed inhabited the area at the end of the Wurm glaciation. It was a stout and rather short animal, quite similar to the wild horse from Camargue, a nearby region in France.

Manufacts that were found in local grottos and caves consist of simple tools made of stone and bones that were used for hunting and fishing (choppers, cutters, arrows, hooks) and remains of containers that were generally made of clay.

A more advanced civilization produced some personal ornaments made of pierced shells and animal teeth, and later on, some ornaments such as the “armillae” ,bangles made of metals.

Due to the wealth of pre-historic remains in this region, there are several archaeological museums or departments be to visit. A big museum is situated by the Red Leaps Caves near Ventimiglia, a rich archaeological department can be seen at Sanremo Civic Museum and a small and yet interesting department is also in Triora, a village in the Argentina Valley.
More archaeological sites can be seen in Toirano (with the biggest layer of cave bear bones) and in the region of Mount Bego (nowadays a French region but a former Italian area before World Wars) with thousands of graffiti.