Grotta Romanelli (Southern Italy, Apulia). Legacies and issues in excavating a key site for the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean

Grotta Romanelli, located on the Adriatic coast of southern Apulia (Italy), is considered a key site for the Mediterranean Pleistocene for its archaeological and palaeontological contents. The site, discovered in 1874, was re-evaluated only in 1900, when P. E. Stasi realised that it contained the first evidence of the Palaeolithic in Italy. Starting in 1914, G. A. Blanc led a pioneering excavation campaign, for the first-time using scientific methods applied to systematic palaeontological and stratigraphical studies. Blanc proposed a stratigraphic framework for the cave. Different dating methods (C-14 and U/Th) were used to temporally constrain the deposits. The extensive studies of the cave and its contents were mostly published in journals with limited distribution and access, until the end of the 1970s, when the site became forgotten. In 2015, with the permission of the authorities, a new excavation campaign began, led by a team from Sapienza University of Rome in collaboration with IGAG CNR and other research institutions. The research team had to deal with the consequences of more than 40 years of inactivity in the field and the combined effect of erosion and legal, as well as illegal, excavations. In this paper, we provide a database of all the information published during the first 70 years of excavations and highlight the outstanding problems and contradictions between the chronological and geomorphological evidence, the features of the faunal assemblages and the limestone artefacts

Shape Variation in Aterian Tanged Tools and the Origins of Projectile Technology: A Morphometric Perspective on Stone Tool Function

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that the North African Middle Stone Age technocomplex known as the Aterian is both much older than previously assumed, and certainly associated with fossils exhibiting anatomically modern human morphology and behavior. The Aterian is defined by the presence of 'tanged' or 'stemmed' tools, which have been widely assumed to be among the earliest projectile weapon tips. The present study systematically investigates morphological variation in a large sample of Aterian tools to test the hypothesis that these tools were hafted and/or used as projectile weapons. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Both classical morphometrics and Elliptical Fourier Analysis of tool outlines are used to show that the shape variation in the sample exhibits size-dependent patterns consistent with a reduction of the tools from the tip down, with the tang remaining intact. Additionally, the process of reduction led to increasing side-to-side asymmetries as the tools got smaller. Finally, a comparison of shape-change trajectories between Aterian tools and Late Paleolithic arrowheads from the North German site of Stellmoor reveal significant differences in terms of the amount and location of the variation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The patterns of size-dependent shape variation strongly support the functional hypothesis of Aterian tools as hafted knives or scrapers with alternating active edges, rather than as weapon tips. Nevertheless, the same morphological patterns are interpreted as one of the earliest evidences for a hafting modification, and for the successful combination of different raw materials (haft and stone tip) into one implement, in itself an important achievement in the evolution of hominin technologies

La lavorazione della pietra nell'Epigravettiano finale: i ciottoli incisi della Grotta della Ferrovia (Ancona)

L'articolo illustra con un approccio tecnologico, funzionale e stilistico alcuni manufatti su ciottolo del Paleolitico superiore italiano

Ricerca, didattica e comunicazione: un esempio di GIS 3D di un villaggio dell'Età del rame

Si presenta la ricostruzione in 3D di un villaggio dell’Età del Rame e dell’ambiente naturale circostante sulla base dei dati scientifici acquisiti nel corso di scavi archeologici sistematici e delle analisi di laboratorio

La selce si usa, non si “spreca”

RIASSUNTO - la SelCe Si uSa, non Si “SpreCa” - Il valore sociale dei corredi funerari è un tema di ricerca fondamentale per la comprensione delle comunità dell’Eneolitico. Per acquisire nuovi dati riguardanti i proiettili in pietra scheggiata, che costituiscono una categoria di oggetti molto comuni nell’ambito dei corredi eneolitici dell’Italia centrale, è stata effettuata l’analisi tecno-funzionale dell’intera collezione di punte di freccia provenienti dalla necropoli di Selvicciola (VT). Il sito di Selvicciola è stato frequentato per ca. 1500 anni. Questa continuità di utilizzo permette di valutare gli eventuali cambiamenti avvenuti nel rituale funebre delle comunità che hanno frequentato la necropoli. L’analisi delle punte di freccia ha messo in evidenza un miglioramento delle capacità tecniche di realizzazione di questi strumenti verificatasi negli ultimi periodi di utilizzo del sito. Inoltre, molti proiettili sono stati utilizzati e ravvivati prima di essere deposti nelle tombe

“I Experiment so I Participate” Italian Experimental Archaeology Festival: Experience in Didactics and Scientific Dissemination

Participation in archaeology is the basic “inclusive process” of a human community, which allows it to identify its cultural values. Experimental archaeology with its rediscovery of gestures and techniques allows re-appropriation, a sense of belonging and consequent participation in cultural heritage