Social networks and connectivity among the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic foragers of the Balkans and Italy

Major environmental perturbations over the last glacial period, with considerable changes in sea levels, have significantly affected the spatial organization of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic huntergatherer communities between the Balkans and Italy. For this reason, these regions are an ideal case for studying how different environmental factors could affect connectivity among human groups and rates of innovation. Italy and the Balkans are also key transitory regions for various dispersal events in the evolutionary history of the European continent that brought different hominin taxa into Europe from the areas of Africa and South-western Asia. Yet, compared to various well-researched regional hot-spots in central and western Europe, the picture of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic adaptations remains coarse-grained in particular in the Balkans as a result of a historical research bias followed by unsettled recent history preventing the application of new research methodologies. In this paper, we aim to highlight particular examples of connectivity across large tracks of land during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic and to point out the potential that social network thinking has in the study of the Balkans and Italy

Functional analysis of sandstone ground stone tools: arguments for a qualitative and quantitative synergetic approach

In the last few years, the application of quantitative methods in the field of use wear analysis has grown considerably, involving the use of different techniques. A development in surface measurements approaches has become necessary as standard assessments based upon qualitative functional analysis are often affected by a degree of subjectivity and a limited reproducibility. To advance the current methodological debate on functional analysis of ground stone technology, we present a combined methodological approach, including qualitative and quantitative analyses, applied to the study of experimental sandstone ground stone tools. We test surface quantification at a macro and micro-scale, paired with the observation and description of residue and use wear connected to the processing of plant, animal and mineral matters. Our results provide an exhaustive quantitative dataset concerning surface modifications associated with different uses and suggest an analytical workflow for the functional analysis of both experimental and archaeological ground stone assemblages. We also highlight the limitation and pitfalls of an exclusive adoption of quantitative methods in the study of ancient tool use demonstrating how a synergetic approach can enhance the quality, reproducibility and comparability of functional data

Taking beads seriously: prehistoric forager ornamental traditions in Southeastern Europe

Ornaments are polysemic objects due to different meanings they convey in human societies—self-embellishment, means of exchange, markers of age and gender, indicators of social status, signs of power, non-verbal means of expression and communication. Beads have a privileged place in shedding light on the origins of modern cognition in human societies. While archaeological approaches to ancient symbolism have often been concerned with behavioral modernity of our species, anthropological studies have underlined the role of ornaments in the construction of personhood, identity, and social networks in traditional societies. Exploring an approach informed by anthropological and ethnographic theory, we discuss Paleolithic and Mesolithic bodily adornments found across southeastern Europe. We present a review of the evidence for long-term regional and diachronic differences and similarities in types of body adornment among prehistoric foragers of the region. Here we look at aspects of cultural transmission and transferability over time. This enables us to reconstruct a series of gestures involved in ornament manufacture and use, and to examine transmissions of technological know-hows, shifting aesthetic values, and demands for specific local and non-local materials, including marine shells transferred across this region over long distances (>400km). This evidence is further discussed by, on the one hand, taking a perspective that draws on emic understandings of ornaments in certain ethnographic contexts and, on the other hand, through a rethinking of the relevance of the structural anthropological mode of analysis championed by Lévi-Strauss

Knowledge and perception of leprosy amongst high school students in Italy: A survey

This study explores knowledge and perception of leprosy among adolescent Italian high school students. It primarily aimed to survey their knowledge and educate them about the social stigma linked with this infection, both past and present; it also introduced them to the academic research process. Adolescents were selected for the survey to compare the data with a previous survey of adults. The survey was part of an outreach program included in a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project on medical care for people with leprosy buried in leprosaria cemeteries in medieval Europe

Animal residues found on tiny Lower Paleolithic tools reveal their use in butchery

Stone tools provide a unique window into the mode of adaptation and cognitive abilities of Lower Paleolithic early humans. The persistently produced large cutting tools (bifaces/handaxes) have long been an appealing focus of research in the reconstruction of Lower Paleolithic survival strategies, at the expenses of the small flake tools considered by-products of the stone production process rather than desired end products. Here, we use use-wear, residues and technological analyses to show direct and very early evidence of the deliberate production and use of small flakes for targeted stages of the prey butchery process at the late Lower Paleolithic Acheulian site of Revadim, Israel. We highlight the significant role of small flakes in Lower Paleolithic adaptation alongside the canonical large handaxes. Our results demonstrate the technological and cognitive flexibility of early human groups in the Levant and beyond at the threshold of the departure from Lower Paleolithic lifeways

Osseous tools and personal ornaments from the Epigravettian sequence at Badanj

The Late Upper Palaeolithic (Epigravettian) sequence at Badanj has yielded an important dataset about the occupation of the hinterland of the Eastern Adriatic catchment zone in the late Pleniglacial. The site also harbors one of the rare occurrences of Upper Palaeolithic parietal “art” in southeastern Europe in the form of a large rock engraving. Another notable aspect of the site is the presence of engravings on portable objects made from bone. The first excavations at Badanj, conducted in 1976–1979 in the zone around the engraved rock, yielded a surprisingly large number of personal ornaments (over 1000 specimens) from a variety of primarily marine gastropods, scaphopods, and bivalves, and red deer canines. Here we review what is currently known about the site and report our preliminary findings from the study of the collection of personal ornaments as well as osseous tools, some of which were marked by regular incisions forming decorative motifs. We also report two new direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates on antler barbed points

Early evidence of stone tool use in bone working activities at Qesem Cave, Israel

For a long while, the controversy surrounding several bone tools coming from pre-Upper Palaeolithic contexts favoured the view of Homo sapiens as the only species of the genus Homo capable of modifying animal bones into specialised tools. However, evidence such as South African Early Stone Age modified bones, European Lower Palaeolithic flaked bone tools, along with Middle and Late Pleistocene bone retouchers, led to a re-evaluation of the conception of Homo sapiens as the exclusive manufacturer of specialised bone tools. The evidence presented herein include use wear and bone residues identified on two flint scrapers as well as a sawing mark on a fallow deer tibia, not associated with butchering activities. Dated to more than 300 kya, the evidence here presented is among the earliest related to tool-assisted bone working intended for non-dietary purposes, and contributes to the debate over the recognition of bone working as a much older behaviour than previously thought. The results of this study come from the application of a combined methodological approach, comprising use wear analysis, residue analysis, and taphonomy. This approach allowed for the retrieval of both direct and indirect evidence of tool-assisted bone working, at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Qesem Cave (Israel)

The application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of groundstones used in wild plants processing

In recent years, several works have proved the reliability of the application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of stone tool use. Monitoring surface morphometry resulting from the use of lithic tools has the potential to objectively quantify and identify patterns of modifications associated to specific activities and worked materials. In particular, the combination of surface morphometry with a systematic experimental framework and use wear analysis has the potential of foreseeing residue distribution areas over the groundstone surfaces, hence providing a key aid in establishing sampling strategies applied to archeological specimens. Here, we propose an approach that applies 3D modeling, performed through a close-range photogrammetry, and the use of GIS software to investigate surface modifications and residue distribution on groundstones used to process wild plants. Our work comprises a dedicated experimental framework in which modern tool replicas have been used to process different species of wild plant foods through grinding, crushing, and pounding. By applying 3D modeling and spatial analysis, we were able to characterize patterns of surface modifications related to each of the worked substances and activities performed. Moreover, we monitored the distribution of starch granules over the experimental groundstone surfaces and its variation in relation to the state of the worked substance and the action carried out. Our results provide one of the first experimental dataset focused on the use of groundstones for wild plant processing, and a reliable methodology for further studies related to the exploitation of stone technology and wild vegetal substances in the past

Herding and Hillforts in the Bronze and Iron Age Eastern Adriatic: Results of the 2007- 2010 Excavations at Gradina Rat

Razvoj i uloga brončanodobnih i željeznodobnih gradina na istočnoj obali Jadrana još su uvijek tek donekle poznati. U svrhu proširivanja znanja o tim lokalitetima istražena je fauna srednjodalmatinskoga lokaliteta Rat kako bi se uočile promjene u načinu lova, uzgoja i obradi trupala tijekom faza života tog naselja. Kako bi se rasvijetlile te promjene, obrađen je osteološki materijal iz brončanoga i željeznog doba kroz pet faza nalazišta.The development and function of Bronze and Iron Age hillfort settlements along the eastern Adriatic is still little understood. In the interest of adding to the understanding of these sites, the fauna of the central Dalmatian site of Rat is examined to deduce changes in hunting, husbandry practices and carcass processing over its occupation sequence. Material is compare