Lithic variability and raw material exploitation at the Middle Stone Age (MSA) site of Gotera, southern Ethiopia: A combined technological and quantitative approach

Technological variability within East African Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblages is considered a reflection of regional or local identities. These identities are a possible outcome of different social dynamics in human populations or interaction with the environment. Here we analysed the lithic assemblage from GOT 1-S site, in the Gotera area (Southern Ethiopia) in order to integrate fresh data from the region into the broader discussion on the technological variability of the MSA of Eastern Africa. To reach this goal, we considered lithic data from a surface dispersion, through the combination of different methods. Technological and statistical analyses performed on lithic assemblage suggest the existence of two distinct reduction sequences related to different raw materials: quartz and basalt. The technological analysis shows a more opportunistic reduction strategy on basalt artefacts, while the quartz lithic assemblage exhibits a more accurate preparation of core striking platforms and more predetermined products. The results of technological analyses on flakes, tools and cores were elaborated using Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis. The two analyses allowed to confirm the hypothesis of two reduction strategies according to different raw material selection and managing. Furthermore, the categorical attributes from cores and flakes were processed by means of Correspondence Analysis, highlighting the technological differences linked to the different raw materials exploited. Moreover, the combined results from the technological and statistical analyses proved the validity of this integrated methodology to analyse a lithic collection from a surface context

Integrated multidisciplinary ecological analysis from the Uluzzian settlement at the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter, south-eastern Italy

open20siThe Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, between 50 000 and 40 000 years ago, is a period of important ecological and cultural changes. In this framework, the Rock Shelter of Uluzzo C (Apulia, southern Italy) represents an important site due to Late Mousterian and Uluzzian evidence preserved in its stratigraphic sequence. Here, we present the results of a multidisciplinary analysis performed on the materials collected between 2016 and 2018 from the Uluzzian stratigraphic units (SUs) 3, 15 and 17. The analysis involved lithic technology, use-wear, zooarchaeology, ancient DNA of sediments and palaeoproteomics, completed by quartz single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating of the cave sediments. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a volumetric production and a debitage with no or little management of the convexities (by using the bipolar technique), with the objective to produce bladelets and flakelets. The zooarchaeological study found evidence of butchery activity and of the possible exploitation of marine resources, while drawing a picture of a patchy landscape, composed of open forests and dry open environments surrounding the shelter. Ancient mitochondrial DNA from two mammalian taxa were recovered from the sediments. Preliminary zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry results are consistent with ancient DNA and zooarchaeological taxonomic information, while further palaeoproteomics investigations are ongoing. Our new data from the re-discovery of the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter represent an important contribution to better understand the meaning of the Uluzzian in the context of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition in south-eastern Italy.First published: 13 July 2021openSARA SILVESTRINI, MATTEO ROMANDINI, GIULIA MARCIANI, SIMONA ARRIGHI, LISA CARRERA, ANDREA FIORINI, JUAN MANUEL LÓPEZ-GARCÍA, FEDERICO LUGLI, FILOMENA RANALDO, VIVIANE SLON, LAURA TASSONI, OWEN ALEXANDER HIGGINS, EUGENIO BORTOLINI, ANTONIO CURCI, MATTHIAS MEYER, MICHAEL CHRISTIAN MEYER, GREGORIO OXILIA, ANDREA ZERBONI, STEFANO BENAZZI, SPINAPOLICE ENZA ELENASARA SILVESTRINI, MATTEO ROMANDINI, GIULIA MARCIANI, SIMONA ARRIGHI, LISA CARRERA, ANDREA FIORINI, JUAN MANUEL LÓPEZ-GARCÍA, FEDERICO LUGLI, FILOMENA RANALDO, VIVIANE SLON, LAURA TASSONI, OWEN ALEXANDER HIGGINS, EUGENIO BORTOLINI, ANTONIO CURCI, MATTHIAS MEYER, MICHAEL CHRISTIAN MEYER, GREGORIO OXILIA, ANDREA ZERBONI, STEFANO BENAZZI, SPINAPOLICE ENZA ELEN