Circulation of raw materials, final products or ideas in the Neolithic Communities of Southern Italy: The contribution or archaeometric analyses to the study of pottery, flint and obsidian

This paper offers a brief overview of Neolithic exchange in southern Italy during the Early to Late Neolithic (from 6200 to 4000 BC). There have been a number of archaeometric studies which have focussed on certain ‘core’ materials: pottery, flint and obsidian. Different materials traded by the same communities seem to follow various circulation model(s) for raw materials, final products or ideas. Some positive insights can therefore be gained into the inter- and intra-group organization of the many Neolithic communities, who shared so many other common behavioural features

SiLiBA: Building the geological chert lithotheque

Lithotheques collect and exhibit raw material used by human communities for the manufacturing of objects during the Prehistory and represents an important tool of their knowledge. These collections are essential in the procuring and provenance study of archaeological lithic industries. This paper aims, firstly, to introduce SiLiBA, the lithotheque of the Earth and Geoenvironmental Sciences Department of the University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy), as reference collection in the archaeological field studies, and secondly to propose guidelines and rules to build a lithotheque. The collection consists of about 900 pieces of geological cherts, which are the result of an expanded collecting action of primary and secondary cherts across Italy (Apulia, Basilicata, Sicily), Croatia, and Switzerland, belonging to formations from the Cretaceous to the Quaternary Period. All the chert samples were described according to the non-destructive multiparametric protocol for chert investigation (NM-PCI), providing a modular dataset of binary, ordinal and continuous variables which integrates petrographycal, micropaleontological, chemical and physical data. Such results were summarized in suitable reports, with also geographic coordinates, geological description and photographic documentation, in a digital database, which will be soon online. Cherts are grouped in 37 suitable boxes, following geographic hierarchical organisation and reporting informative labels. Some representative samples are exposed in the Earth Sciences Museum of the same University. Furthermore, the lithotheque is equipped by a dedicated laboratory which includes optical microscopes, a glossmeter and a spectrophotocolorimeter. The promotion in the last years was guaranteed by dissemination activities for educational and academic communities, including an interactive laboratory of experimental archaeology

Arpi

Dans le cadre du programme « Arpi. Formes et vie d’une cité italiote » qui a débuté en 2014, le Centre Jean Bérard (USR 3133 CNRS-EFR) et l’Université de Salerne, en collaboration avec la Surintendance archéologique des Pouilles, ont étendu leur étude à l’ensemble des domus mises au jour lors de fouilles entreprises par la Surintendance à partir des années 1939 et 1941. Ce travail qui répond à l’objectif présenté dans la Chronique 2015, à savoir la reconstruction de la ville d’Arpi à travers ..

Arpi. Formes et modes de vie d’une cité italiote (IVe-IIe siècle av. n.è.)

Le texte de ces Chroniques présente la troisième et dernière étape préliminaire du programme de recherches sur Arpi : formes et modes de vie d’une cité italiote, qui a débuté en 2014 et vise à produire une synthèse sur les formes de l’habitat d’époque hellénistique. La double particularité du projet se reflète dans la composition de cette contribution : il prend appui, d’une part, sur l’étude topographique, stratigraphique et matérielle, des données de fouilles anciennes conduites sous la responsabilité de la Surintendance entre le début de la seconde guerre mondiale et la fin des années 1990, d’autre part sur la mise à jour des découvertes dans une base géoréférencée, sur une enquête d’archéologie des paysages, avec une approche archéomorphologique, géomorphologique et géophysique, et sur des prospections pédestres. La recontextualisation qui en résulte n’est possible que grâce à la complémentarité des expériences et des compétences réunies par la Surintendance des Pouilles, puis de Foggia, du Centre Jean Bérard et de l’Université de Salerne. Elle a été conduite à plusieurs échelles, de la maison au territoire, pour mieux définir les contraintes, les ressources et l’évolution du paysage au sein duquel s’est développé ce phénomène urbain de très grande envergure et encore difficile à cerner sur l’ensemble de l’espace limité par l’agger

Regional asynchronicity in dairy production and processing in early farming communities of the northern Mediterranean

In the absence of any direct evidence, the relative importance of meat and dairy productions to Neolithic prehistoric Mediterranean communities has been extensively debated. Here, we combine lipid residue analysis of ceramic vessels with osteo-archaeological age-at-death analysis from 82 northern Mediterranean and Near Eastern sites dating from the seventh to fifth millennia BC to address this question. The findings show variable intensities in dairy and nondairy activities in the Mediterranean region with the slaughter profiles of domesticated ruminants mirroring the results of the organic residue analyses. The finding of milk residues in very early Neolithic pottery (seventh millennium BC) from both the east and west of the region contrasts with much lower intensities in sites of northern Greece, where pig bones are present in higher frequencies compared with other locations. In this region, the slaughter profiles of all domesticated ruminants suggest meat production predominated. Overall, it appears that milk or the by-products of milk was an important foodstuff, which may have contributed significantly to the spread of these cultural groups by providing a nourishing and sustainable product for early farming communities

Population genomics of the Viking world.

The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about AD 750-1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history1,2. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and Greenland (to a median depth of about 1×) to understand the global influence of this expansion. We find the Viking period involved gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east. We observe genetic structure within Scandinavia, with diversity hotspots in the south and restricted gene flow within Scandinavia. We find evidence for a major influx of Danish ancestry into England; a Swedish influx into the Baltic; and Norwegian influx into Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. Additionally, we see substantial ancestry from elsewhere in Europe entering Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Our ancient DNA analysis also revealed that a Viking expedition included close family members. By comparing with modern populations, we find that pigmentation-associated loci have undergone strong population differentiation during the past millennium, and trace positively selected loci-including the lactase-persistence allele of LCT and alleles of ANKA that are associated with the immune response-in detail. We conclude that the Viking diaspora was characterized by substantial transregional engagement: distinct populations influenced the genomic makeup of different regions of Europe, and Scandinavia experienced increased contact with the rest of the continent

APULIA: Arpi (Foggia)

Il contributo è dedicato all'iscrizione etrusca NA incisa sotto il fondo di un'oinochoe di bucchero rinvenuta in una tomba di Arpi

Nuove indagini archeozoologiche in siti neolitici del Tavoliere: Masseria Pantano e Palestra ex GIL (Foggia)

In anni recenti, in seguito alla programmazione di attivit\ue0 edili nell\u2019ambito dei piani di sviluppo urbanistico della citt\ue0 di Foggia, sono state condotte nuove ricerche archeologiche che hanno ampliato le conoscenze sulla frequentazione neolitica dell\u2019area urbana tra il VI e il V millennio a.C. In particolare sono stati oggetto di indagini stratigrafiche i villaggi di Masseria Pantano e della Palestra ex GIL, dei quali sono state intercettate porzioni dei fossati perimetrali, dalla articolata sequenza stratigrafica, e alcuni tratti di fossati a C interni. Per entrambi i siti \ue8 stato condotto lo studio dei resti faunistici che ha evidenziato una esclusiva attestazione di animali domestici (prevalentemente ovicaprini, maiali e buoi) e l\u2019assenza di specie selvatiche. Il campione faunistico proveniente dal sito della Palestra ex GIL risultava connotato anche da una cospicua presenza di cannolicchi, molluschi bivalvi colonizzatori di bassi fondali sabbiosi-fangosi litoranei o lagunari. L\u2019analisi archeozoologica ha interessato anche le modalit\ue0 di abbattimento degli animali tramite il riconoscimento delle et\ue0 di morte offrendo un quadro generale relativo allo sfruttamento delle risorse animali durante il primo Neolitico nel Tavoliere di Puglia.During the last years new archaeological researches have been carried out in Foggia for the planning of building activity related to the urban plans of development. The investigations gave new data for the knowledge of the Neolithic settlement in the urban area between VI and V millennium BC. Particularly, the researches interested the villages of Masseria Pantano and of Palestra ex GIL and sections of the perimetral ditches, with an articulated stratigraphic sequence, and some portions of the internal compounds have been investigated. For the two sites the study of the faunal remains highlighted a specific and exclusive presence of domestic animals (in prevalence sheep/goats, pigs and cattle) and the absence of the wild species. The fauna from the site of Palestra ex GIL is also characterized by the abundance of grooved razor shell typical of a sandy and muddy habitat or of lagoon. The zooarchaeological analysis concerned also the patterns of the animal killing through the observation of the age of death, offering a general view on the animal exploitation during the Early Neolithic of the Apulian Tavoliere

New insights into the funerary rituals of the Neolithic site of Passo di Corvo (Apulia, Italy): The study of the human remains

In the present study we analyse the human skeletal remains of 10 of the 12 inhumations brought to light in the Neolithic ditched village of Passo di Corvo (VI millennium B.C., Foggia, Apulia, Italy), excavated between 1966 and 1980. The burials were identified as primary inhumations during the excavations, but we observed intentional peri mortem lesions (cut, chop and scrape marks) on some of the bones, attesting practices of defleshing and possibly of dismemberment. These findings indicate that the funerary rituals of the Neolithic people of Passo di Corvo included cadaver treatment practices that were impossible to postulate without a careful observation of the bones. This study highlights the importance of anthropological analysis even in the case of apparently clear contexts