Management of Paleoenvironmental Resources and Raw materials Exploitation at the Middle Paleolithic Site of Oscurusciuto (Ginosa, Southern Italy): Units 1 and 4

The authors introduce some preliminary data regarding the lithic industries and the faunal remains discovered at the Middle Paleolithic site Oscurusciuto, situated in the ravine of Ginosa, with several layers of anthropogenic frequentation. From 1998 onwards approximately 60 m(2) with a depth of nearly 5 m, have been systematically excavated by the Department of Environmental Science G. Sarfatti, University of Siena. This study presents the results obtained from technological and typological analysis of the lithic material from US 1 and from a sample area of US 4. Ungulate remains, characterized by the prevalence of Dos primigenius, show a selection of skeletal parts related to the exploitation of long bones for the extraction of marrow and the probable use of epiphysis and articular bones as fuel. For the lithic industry is, beside retouched elements, the entire range of the flaking products present, showing that the entire reduction sequence was carried out on site, exploiting jasper pebbles from a nearby stream. The study of the technological categories indicates a substantial similarity between the two units considered. The amount of cores has allowed the identification of the operational chains. In both units the adoption of unipolar modality of Levallois technique is prevalent. The discoid technique is present in Unit 4, but completely absent in Unit I. Through the technological study it has been possible to find the relationship between the knapping sequences and the morphology of pebbles used. The results pointed out by the typological approach confirm the (14)C date obtained for US 1 (38,500 +/- 900 BP) and the cultural attribution of the lithic industry to a final phase of the Middle Paleolithic as a typical Mousterian rich in scrapers

The Uluzzian 50 years later

During the second half of isotopic stage 3, at the dawn of the Upper Paleolithic, different cultural entities (final Mousterian, Uluzzian and Protoaurignacian) are present in Central-Southern Italy. Whilst the attribution of the final Mousterian and of the Protoaurignacian to the Neanderthals and Modern Humans respectively has been commonly accepted by the scientific community, after the recent attribution to Homo sapiens of the two deciduous molars found in 1964 by Palma di Cesnola at Grotta del Cavallo (Salento – Apulia), there has been heated debate about the makers of the Uluzzian. The discussion mainly revolves around the integrity of the Uluzzian deposit of Grotta del Cavallo and the association of the teeth with the Uluzzian materials. On the grounds of the available evidence the authors argue for the assignment of the Uluzzian to Homo sapiens and for its possible allochthonous origin from the African Continent

: Recognition of the Campanian Ignimbrite in archaeological context between Salerno and Policastro (Italy)

pdf disponible en tant que "tiré à part" électronique pour un usage scientifique privéPyroclastites whose facies and chemical composition are congruent with those described for the Campanian Ignimbrite have been recognised close to the Gulf of Policastro, 150 km south east of Naples. This doubles the extent in that direction hitherto known for this igneous event which appears of greater magnitude than previously hypothesisedLa reconnaissance de pyroclastites de faciès et de composition chimique caractéristiques de l'ignimbrite campanienne à 150 km de Naples, près du golfe de Policastro, double l'extension jusqu'alors établie vers le Sud-Est sur le continent pour cette éruption préhistorique majeure dont la magnitude est sans doute plus importante qu'on ne le supposai

The Prehistoric Quarry of La Pietra (Roccastrada, Grosseto, Tuscany) Copper Age Lithic Workshops and the Production of Bifacial Points in Central Italy

The authors present the preliminary results of the research carried out at the prehistoric quarry of La Pietra, which is located in the Farma valley (province of Grosseto, Tuscany), within the ‘Tuscan Mining Geopark’. From a geological perspective La Pietra is a Late Jurassic radiolarite outcrop belonging to the Ligurian Domain. The present paper is concerned with the lithic material collected from the surface during a field survey in the 1990s. However, an excavation project of the site is currently in progress. Evidence for intensive exploitation of the quarry by prehistoric communities is attested to by the huge amounts of discarded material covering a large area surrounding the outcrop. Among the artefacts collected during the field survey there are different kinds of blanks and transformed products such as unifacial and bifacial preforms, abandoned at different stages of their manufacturing, slabs at an initial stage of the knapping process, a few tools, and a lot of technical flakes. La Pietra shows characteristics that are very similar to those of the radiolarite quarry of Valle Lagorara in Liguria and it was exploited, as was Valle Lagorara, during the Eneolithic/Early Bronze age period for the manufacture of preforms devoted to the making of flat retouched artefacts, mainly projectile points for weapons. Both the large amount of processed material and the small number of unbroken and finished artefacts suggest that most of the finished preforms was produced for trade. In the surrounding area several Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age cave sites yielded leaf-shaped points made from radiolarite, mostly associated with burial contexts. Radiocarbon dating results from these sites range from 3650 to 2351 cal. BC and form a good chronolo­gical point of reference for La Pietra. At present no archaeometric study has as yet been carried out to establish the origin of the artefacts recovered from these sites but a characterisation project of the radiolarite from the different Tuscan outcrops has been undertaken, using completely non-invasive methodologies. According to the authors, this massive production of flat retouched tools could be connected to specialised craftsmen who worked on commission, as is also suggested by the high quality of the lithic components among grave goods. In the final discussion the authors provide a synthesis of current knowledge about Eneolithic settlements, burial contexts and lithic workshops in central Italy, extending the field of investigation to the remainder of the Italian Peninsula, as far as workshops are con­cerned. According to data emerging from this account a large number of sites defined in the past as ‘Campinian’ can now be identified as workshops devoted to the production of leaf-shaped arrowheads. The authors argue that a critical revision, based on technological and functional analyses, of the old concept of ‘Campinian’ is needed. Equally, the assemblages from the Gargano and the Monti Lessini areas should be revisited from a comparative perspective based on an adequate interpretative framework. This paper highlights the way in which the new scenario that has progressively emerged from the discovery and the study of workshops such as Valle Lagorara and La Pietra could substantially change the social-economic framework related to the Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age communities from several standpoints. Although the phenomenon of the Copper Age/Bronze Age knapping workshops needs to be further investigated, it is nonetheless obvi­ous that the emergence of several production centres, mainly aiming at armature production from the Late Neolithic/Early Eneolithic on, is recorded across the Italian territory. This innovative explanation of the function of these workshops, combined with the occur­rence of a large number of weapons in the burial evidence, can be seen from a new social, behavioural, and economic perspective, with particular emphasis on the role played by the development of projectile points as a proxy for increasing bellicosity during the Copper Age and the ensuing Early Bronze Age

The Mesolithic occupation at Grotta della Cala (Marina di Camerota – Salerno – Italy). A preliminary assessment

L’occupazione olocenica della Grotta della Cala è stata individuata solamente nella cosiddetta “serie interna” (e non nella “serie atriale”) ed inizia con lo strato Mesolitico 7 datato tra 7579 e 6687 (cal BC). Questo strato, scavato da Paolo Gambassini nel 2004, è molto probabilmente in rapporto di uguaglianza con lo strato F indagato da Palma di Cesnola negli anni sessanta dello scorso secolo ed è direttamente sovrapposto ad una stalagmite che sigilla la sequenza stratigrafica pleistocenica. Lo strato 7 ha fornito numerosi resti di macro e meso mammiferi. Ha restituito abbondante malacofauna, sia di specie terrestri che marine, così come industria litica, un ciottolo dipinto e una macina usata per la lavorazione dell’ocra. I risultati degli studi archeozoologici, malacologici e antracologici hanno fornito un quadro dettagliato del paesaggio circostante e delle strategie di sussistenza adottate dai gruppi mesolitici che hanno occupato la Grotta della Cala in una fase del periodo Boreale.The Holocene human occupation of Grotta della Cala is attested only within the sonamed “internal series” (and not in the “Atrio series”) and starts with Mesolithic layer 7, dating back to the time span between 7579 and 6687 (cal BC). This layer, which was excavated by Paolo Gambassini in 2004, is possibly the same as layer F investigated by Palma di Cesnola in the sixties, and is directly superimposed onto stalagmite α sealing the Pleistocene stratigraphical sequence. Layer 7 produced a lot of large and middle sized mammal remains. It also yielded a lot of malacofauna, both of terrestrial and, above all, marine types, as well as a number of chipped stone artefacts, a painted pebble, and a grindstone used for ochre processing. Outcomes from archaeozoological, malacological and anthracological studies have provided a detailed framework of the surrounding landscape and of the subsistence strategies adopted by the Mesolithic groups at Grotta della Cala during the Boreal

On the chronology of the Uluzzian

The Uluzzian, one of Europe's 'transitional' technocomplexes, has gained particular significance over the past three years when the only human remains associated with it were attributed to modern humans, instead of Neanderthals as previously thought. Th

Cave clastic sediments as a tool for refining the study of human occupation of prehistoric sites: insights from the cave site of La Cala (Cilento, southern Italy)

La Cala (southern Italy) is an important prehistoric cave site containing a clastic sedimentary infill recording evidence of an almost constant human occupation from the Mousterian to the Copper Age. However, a cultural gap (estimated to be approx. 10.5–6.2 ka) has been identified between the Evolved Gravettian and the Evolved Epigravettian. This study presents a sedimentological and allostratigraphic study of the cave clastic infill. The succession at La Cala can be subdivided into four allostratigraphic units (CC1–4 in stratigraphic order), each one bounded by major erosional surfaces. The most prominent erosional surface (UN1), which separates unit CC1 from CC2, has a channel‐like geometry and is directly overlaid by cross‐stratified sediments, suggesting deposition in an underground stream setting. This documents an important hydrological change in the cave drainage with the development of an important phase of sediment erosion. The erosional surface UN1 stratigraphically marks the cultural time‐gap revealed by the archaeological excavations, suggesting that this hiatus may be due to the erosion of sediments rather than to a lack in human occupation. This study confirms the importance of cave clastic sediments in archaeological cave sites as a helpful tool for refining the timeframe of human presence

On the chronology of the Uluzzian

The Uluzzian, one of Europe's "transitional" technocomplexes, has gained particular significance over the past two years when the only human remains associated with it were attributed to modern humans, instead of Neanderthals as previously thought. The position of the Uluzzian at stratified sequences, always overlying Mousterian layers and underlying Upper Palaeolithic ones, highlights its particular bio-cultural significance in understanding the passage from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic, as well as the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans, in southeastern Mediterranean Europe. Despite several studies investigating aspects of its lithic techno-typology, taxonomy and material culture, the Uluzzian chronology remains extremely poorly-known and is based on a handful of dubious chronometric determinations. Here we aim to elucidate the chronological aspect of the Uluzzian by presenting an integrated synthesis of new radiocarbon results and a Bayesian statistical approach from four stratified cave sequences in Italy and Greece (Cavallo, Fumane, Castelcivita and Klissoura 1). In addition to building a reliable chronological framework for the Uluzzian, we examine its appearance, tempo-spatial spread and correlation to previous and later Palaeolithic assemblages (Mousterian, Proto-/Aurignacian) at the relevant regions. We conclude that the Uluzzian arrived in Italy and Greece shortly before 45,000 years ago and its final stages are placed to ~39,000 years ago, its end synchronous -if not slightly earlier- to the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption

Grotta del Cavallo (Apulia -Southern Italy). The Uluzzian in the mirror

International audienceThe Uluzzian techno-complex is commonly considered to be a "transitional industry" mostly on the basis of some inferred characteristics such as a chiefly flake-based production, a small amount of Upper Palaeolithic-like tools and a combination of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic elements both in the toolkit and in the technical systems. Following its discovery, the Uluzzian was identified as the Italian counterpart of the French Châtelperronian and attributed to Neandertals. However, a study issued in 2011 has established the modern character of the two deciduous teeth found in 1964 in the Uluzzian deposit of Grotta del Cavallo, fostering renewed interests to the Uluzzian culture, which real nature is almost unknown to the international scientific community. Here we provide preliminary results of the study on the lithic assemblage from the earliest Uluzzian layer and on backed pieces from the whole Uluzzian sequence of Grotta del Cavallo (Apulia, Italy), the type site of the Uluzzian. Moreover, besides a thorough review on the stratigraphy of Grotta del Cavallo (Supplementary Materials), we provide updated information on the human remains by presenting two unpublished teeth from the reworked deposit of the same cave. We conclude that the early Uluzzians demonstrate original technological behavior and innovations devoid of any features deriving or directly linked with the late Mousterian of Southern Italy. Therefore, the novelty nature of the Uluzzian techno-complex (with respect to the preceding Mousterian) complies with the recent reassessment of the two deciduous teeth from Grotta del Cavallo in suggesting an earliest migration of modern humans in southern Europe around 45,000 years ago