Multiproxy study of 7500-year-old wooden sickles from the Lakeshore Village of La Marmotta, Italy

[EN] The lakeshore site of La Marmotta is one of the most important Early Neolithic sites of Mediterranean Europe. The site is famous for the exceptional preservation of organic materials, including numerous wooden artefacts related to navigation, agriculture, textile production, and basketry. This article presents interdisciplinary research on three of the most complete and well‑preserved sickles recovered from the site, yet unpublished. All the components of the tools are analysed: the stone inserts, the wooden haft and the adhesive substances used to fix the stones inside the haft. Our innovative methodology combines use‑wear and microtexture analysis of stone tools through confocal microscopy, taxonomical and technological analysis of wood, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of the adhesive substances, and pollen, non‑pollen palynomorphs, and phytolith analysis of the remains incorporated within the adhesive. This multiproxy approach provides a significant insight into the life of these tools, from their production to their use and abandonment, providing evidence of the species of harvested plants and the conditions of the field during the harvesting

Inland and maritime paths of Neolithisation in the Central and Western Mediterranean. The case of the submerged site of "La Marmotta" (Anguillara Savazia, Rome, Italy)

The Neolithic not only implies a change in the subsistence and diet, but as well a radical change in technological and social organization. In this sense, one of the most interesting aspects to be analysed is the emergence and organization of the Neolithic interaction networks. Networks probably played a fundamental role in the rapid expansion of farmers across the Mediterranean. La Marmotta, with the materials recovered from eighteen years of excavation, offers a broad array of artefacts and raw-materials indicating the existence of a complex and large interaction network. Pottery tradition, lithic tools, polished tools, beads and other ornaments, and even materials such as the resins used for hafting give us insights into the Neolithic networks. The village probably played a key role in the Mediterranean and Italian Neolithic. Multidirectional contacts are visible, suggesting that this community established networks and received influences from different geographical and cultural areas, probably including also Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations

La conquête de la montagne : des premières occupations humaines à l’anthropisation du milieu

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