ALLE PENDICI DEI COLLI ALBANI, DINAMICHE INSEDIATIVE E CULTURA MATERIALE AI CONFINI CON ROMA (ON THE SLOPES OF THE ALBAN HILLS, SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS AND MATERIAL CULTURE ON THE CONFINES OF ROME)

Human occupation of the Alban Hills began during the Pleistocene in conjunction with the last eruptive phases of this volcanic district. Anthropic traces from the Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic have been found both at the foot and inside the caldera of the ancient volcanic edifice, indicating discontinuous frequentation of the area, due partly to the eruptive activity and partly to specific behavioral and economic models followed by the different species of Homo

The Late Pleistocene Apennine Chamois from Grotta Mora Cavorsa (Simbruini Mountains, Central Italy)

This paper describes a sub-entire, partially articulated skeleton of chamois found together with other vertebrate remains in a silty lens with limestone clasts between the 104 and 105 SSUU of Grotta Mora Cavorso (Latium, Italy). This silty lens is chronologically correlatable to a temperate oscillation of MIS 3. The skull and post-cranial remains from Grotta Mora Cavorso were compared with the fossil remains of chamois from numerous Late Pleistocene and older Holocene sites of Italy and of Pyrenees and Iberian Peninsula. Additional comparisons were made with large samples of extant chamois, Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata, R. pyrenaica pyrenaica and R. rupicapra rupicapra. Morphological and morphometric features of the skull and the horn-core, as well as other characters of the metacarpus suggest to refer the fossil remains from Grotta Mora Cavorso to Apennine chamois, R. pyrenaica ornata. This is the earliest ascertained record in Central-Southern Italy of the ornata-like chamois, a subspecies so far known with certainty only in the Holocene, or possibly in the Lateglacial

The Late Pleistocene Apennine Chamois from Grotta Mora Cavorsa (Simbruini Mountains, Central Italy)

This paper describes a sub-entire, partially articulated skeleton of chamois found together with other vertebrate remains in a silty lens with limestone clasts between the 104 and 105 SSUU of Grotta Mora Cavorso (Latium, Italy). This silty lens is chronologically correlatable to a temperate oscillation of MIS 3. The skull and post-cranial remains from Grotta Mora Cavorso were compared with the fossil remains of chamois from numerous Late Pleistocene and older Holocene sites of Italy and of Pyrenees and Iberian Peninsula. Additional comparisons were made with large samples of extant chamois, Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata, R. pyrenaica pyrenaica and R. rupicapra rupicapra. Morphological and morphometric features of the skull and the horn-core, as well as other characters of the metacarpus suggest to refer the fossil remains from Grotta Mora Cavorso to Apennine chamois, R. pyrenaica ornata. This is the earliest ascertained record in Central-Southern Italy of the ornata-like chamois, a subspecies so far known with certainty only in the Holocene, or possibly in the Lateglacial

Mora Cavorso Cave: a collective underground burial in Neolithic central Italy

Mora Cavorso Cave, located in South-Eastern Lazio, is a multi-tunnel cave displaying a complex stratigraphy. Its inner rooms revealed the presence of one of the most important funerary deposits of Early Neolithic central Italy. Around 30 individuals of all ages and both sexes, mostly chaotically piled for natural and anthropic reasons, were found along with grave goods and ornaments, whose materials come from different parts of Italy. This key deposit was object of a wide range of analyses, including isotopes and DNA studies, which helped unveil a sliver of life and death of the Neolithic communities of the Apennines

Bioarchaeological remains as indicators of costly signalling: two case studies from the Middle Bronze Age of Central Italy

This paper concerns the role of costly signalling in the ritual expressions of Middle Bronze Age human culture of Central Italy. A wide overview of the existing literature and the accurate examination of recent case studies enabled us to demonstrate that costly signalling is especially identifiable through the study of the ecofactual remains found in caves that are central ritual sites in Apennine protohistory. The dozens of perinatal domesticates from Grotta Mora Cavorso and the quintals of burnt seeds from Grotta di Pastena, had they not been considered in their burial and strongly ritual framework – which has been identified with certainty also thanks to these ecofacts – could have provided only a general and highly unreliable palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomic subsistence reconstruction. The same remains, analysed in a social perspective, have allowed us to recognize a complex set of symbolic practices and to clarify some possible features of the society that performed these rituals

Trace-element fingerprinting of the 69–36 ka Colli Albani eruptive units: A preliminary dataset for archaeological and tephra studies in central-southern Italy

Trace element compositions determined by ICP-MS have been acquired for six eruptive units from the most recent explosive activity of the Colli Albani Volcanic District, central Italy, documented at the Albano maar by seven eruptive units dated at ~69 ka (Albano 1–3) and ~41 ka through ~36 ka (Albano 4–7). Ratios of selected immobile trace elements (e.g. Zr/Y vs Nb/Y) have been used to build an original reference dataset of 15 samples for discriminating the six main units of the Albano maar eruptive succession, albeit it has to be considered preliminarysincescarcityofoutcrops andincompleteoccurrenceoftheseeruptiveunitshinderedtheacquisition of a larger dataset. In order to test its applicability, we have used it as an integrative tool to identify a weathered tephra layer (CIS-1) which has been here dated by 40Ar/39Ar method at 70 ± 2 ka, previously attributed to an undefined Albano unit, occurring in the stratified Paleolithic site of Cava Muracci. The new 40Ar/39Ar and trace element data, alongside the previous major element composition, indicate that tephra CIS-1 correlates with Albano 3 (~69 ka). The results of this study, besides providing a chronological constraint for a local archaeological site, demonstrate how trace element discrimination diagrams combined with other tephrochronological constraints can provide a useful indication for tephrostratigraphic purposes. Although more reference data are needed totestthefull soundnessofthetrace elementratiosfor fingerprintingindividual Albano units,the results also support this method as a new promising tool for the development and application of the tephrochronology, which would offer the great advantage to be potentially applied even to strongly altered and unsuitable volcanic deposits

Identification of ancient Olea europaea L. and Cornus mas L. seeds by DNA barcoding

The analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) provides archaeologists and anthropologists with innovative, scientific and accurate data to study and understand the past. In this work, ancient seeds, found in the "Mora Cavorso" archaeological site (Latium, Central Italy), were analyzed to increase information about Italian Neolithic populations (plant use, agriculture, diet, trades, customs and ecology). We performed morphological and genetic techniques to identify fossil botanical species. In particular, this study also suggests and emphasizes the use of DNA barcode method for ancient plant sample analysis. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations showed seed compact structure and irregular surface but they did not permit a precise nor empirical classification: so, a molecular approach was necessary. DNA was extracted from ancient seeds and then it was used, as template, for PCR amplifications of standardized barcode genes. Although aDNA could be highly degraded by the time, successful PCR products were obtained, sequenced and compared to nucleotide sequence databases. Positive outcomes (supported by morphological comparison with modern seeds, geographical distribution and historical data) indicated that seeds could be identified as belonging to two plant species: Olea europaea L. and Cornus mas L