The Campanian Ignimbrite and Codola tephra layers: Two temporal/stratigraphic markers for the Early Upper Palaeolithic in southern Italy and eastern Europe

Tephra layers from archaeological sites in southern Italy and eastern Europe stratigraphically associated with cultural levels containing Early Upper Palaeolithic industry were analysed. The results confirm the occurrence of the Campanian Ignimbrite tephra (CI; ca. 40 cal ka BP) at Castelcivita Cave (southern Italy), Temnata Cave (Bulgaria) and in the Kostenki–Borshchevo area of the Russian Plain. This tephra, originated from the largest eruption of the Phlegrean Field caldera, represents the widest volcanic deposit and one of the most important temporal/stratigraphic markers of western Eurasia. At Paglicci Cave and lesser sites in the Apulia region we recognise a chemically and texturally different tephra, which lithologically, chronologically and chemically matches the physical and chemical characteristics of the Plinian eruption of Codola; a poorly known Late Pleistocene explosive event from the Neapolitan volcanoes, likely Somma–Vesuvius. For this latter, we propose a preliminary age estimate of ca. 33 cal ka BP and a correlation to the widespread C-10 marine tephra of the central Mediterranean. The stratigraphic position of both CI and Codola tephra layers at Castelcivita and Paglicci help date the first and the last documented appearance of Early Upper Palaeolithic industries of southern Italy to ca. 41–40 and 33 cal ka BP, respectively, or between two interstadial oscillations of the Monticchio pollen record – to which the CI and Codola tephras are physically correlated – corresponding to the Greenland interstadials 10–9 and 5. In eastern Europe, the stratigraphic and chronometric data seem to indicate an earlier appearance of the Early Upper Palaeolithic industries, which would predate of two millennia at least the overlying CI tephra. The tephrostratigraphic correlation indicates that in both regions the innovations connected with the so-called Early Upper Palaeolithic – encompassing subsistence strategy and stone tool technology – appeared and evolved during one of the most unstable climatic phases of the Last Glacial period. On this basis, the marked environmental unpredictability characterising this time-span is seen as a potential ecological factor involved in the cultural changes observed

Living-floors and Structures from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age in Italy

Summary report of the research carried out on the Living floors of the Palaeolithic to Neolithic periods in many prehistoric sites of northern Ital

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants

The RESET project: constructing a European tephra lattice for refined synchronisation of environmental and archaeological events during the last c. 100 ka

This paper introduces the aims and scope of the RESET project (. RESponse of humans to abrupt Environmental Transitions), a programme of research funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) between 2008 and 2013; it also provides the context and rationale for papers included in a special volume of Quaternary Science Reviews that report some of the project's findings. RESET examined the chronological and correlation methods employed to establish causal links between the timing of abrupt environmental transitions (AETs) on the one hand, and of human dispersal and development on the other, with a focus on the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic periods. The period of interest is the Last Glacial cycle and the early Holocene (c. 100-8 ka), during which time a number of pronounced AETs occurred. A long-running topic of debate is the degree to which human history in Europe and the Mediterranean region during the Palaeolithic was shaped by these AETs, but this has proved difficult to assess because of poor dating control. In an attempt to move the science forward, RESET examined the potential that tephra isochrons, and in particular non-visible ash layers (cryptotephras), might offer for synchronising palaeo-records with a greater degree of finesse. New tephrostratigraphical data generated by the project augment previously-established tephra frameworks for the region, and underpin a more evolved tephra 'lattice' that links palaeo-records between Greenland, the European mainland, sub-marine sequences in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The paper also outlines the significance of other contributions to this special volume: collectively, these illustrate how the lattice was constructed, how it links with cognate tephra research in Europe and elsewhere, and how the evidence of tephra isochrons is beginning to challenge long-held views about the impacts of environmental change on humans during the Palaeolithic. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.RESET was funded through Consortium Grants awarded by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK, to a collaborating team drawn from four institutions: Royal Holloway University of London (grant reference NE/E015905/1), the Natural History Museum, London (NE/E015913/1), Oxford University (NE/E015670/1) and the University of Southampton, including the National Oceanography Centre (NE/01531X/1). The authors also wish to record their deep gratitude to four members of the scientific community who formed a consultative advisory panel during the lifetime of the RESET project: Professor Barbara Wohlfarth (Stockholm University), Professor Jørgen Peder Steffensen (Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen), Dr. Martin Street (Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Neuwied) and Professor Clive Oppenheimer (Cambridge University). They provided excellent advice at key stages of the work, which we greatly valued. We also thank Jenny Kynaston (Geography Department, Royal Holloway) for construction of several of the figures in this paper, and Debbie Barrett (Elsevier) and Colin Murray Wallace (Editor-in-Chief, QSR) for their considerable assistance in the production of this special volume.Peer Reviewe

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

: Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years1,2. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period3. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago. We identify a genetic ancestry profile in individuals associated with Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian assemblages from western Europe that is distinct from contemporaneous groups related to this archaeological culture in central and southern Europe4, but resembles that of preceding individuals associated with the Aurignacian culture. This ancestry profile survived during the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000 to 19,000 years ago) in human populations from southwestern Europe associated with the Solutrean culture, and with the following Magdalenian culture that re-expanded northeastward after the Last Glacial Maximum. Conversely, we reveal a genetic turnover in southern Europe suggesting a local replacement of human groups around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, accompanied by a north-to-south dispersal of populations associated with the Epigravettian culture. From at least 14,000 years ago, an ancestry related to this culture spread from the south across the rest of Europe, largely replacing the Magdalenian-associated gene pool. After a period of limited admixture that spanned the beginning of the Mesolithic, we find genetic interactions between western and eastern European hunter-gatherers, who were also characterized by marked differences in phenotypically relevant variants.Peer reviewe

Neanderthal occupation during the tephra fall-out: Technical and hunting behaviours, sedimentology and settlement patterns in SU 14 of Oscurusciuto rock shelter (Ginosa, southern Italy)

The Oscurusciuto rock shelter (southern Italy) is crucial for the understanding of Neanderthals’ subsistence and settlement strategies as it contains a ~ 6-m-thick reliable deposit made up of several Middle Palaeolithic levels. This paper focuses on level SU 14, a 60-cm-thick deposit of volcanic tephra containing traces of human occupation only in the few upper centimetres. Geochemical and mineralogical features of SU 14 deposits allowed their correlation to the ‘Mount Epomeo Green Tuff’ eruption, which came from Ischia volcano and dated to ~ 55,000 years bp. The pyroclastic materials injected into the atmosphere caused an ash fall-out over a large part of southern Italy, resulting in the alteration of ecosystems. Sedimentological data demonstrate that the formation of SU 14 is attributable to a short-term event. Moreover, the lithic behaviour indicates that Neanderthals used the shelter mainly to perform specific activities related to the first phases of the reduction sequence (i.e. selection and import of pebbles into the site, initialisation and production of the first generation of debitage objectives, and introduction of already finished tools). Consequently, the layer SU 14 raises questions regarding the impact of deposition of volcanic ash on human communities, offering the opportunity to investigate the settlement and technological choices made by Neanderthals who were constrained by such an adverse environmental event

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

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. The position of the Uluzzian at stratified sequences, always overlying late Mousterian layers and underlying early Upper Palaeolithic ones, highlights its significance in understanding the passage from the Middle to 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 has remained extremely poorly-known, based on a handful of dubious chronometric determinations. Here we aim to elucidate the chronological aspect of the technocomplex by presenting an integrated synthesis of new radiocarbon results and a Bayesian statistical approach from four stratified Uluzzian 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, Protoaurignacian) 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 at w39,500 years ago, its end synchronous (if not slightly earlier) with the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption