Cristiano Nicosia

The De Nadale Cave, a single layered Quina Mousterian site in the North of Italy

This article presents the results of archaeological exploration at De Nadale Cave, a new Late Middle Palaeolithic site recently discovered in the Berici Hills, a karstic plateau in the north-east of Italy. A first survey and field campaigns have brought to light a small cavity almost totally filled with sediments embedding one single Mousterian layer sandwiched by sediments avoid of any relevant archaeological remains. A large herbivore tooth has been U-Th dated, with a minimum age of 70.2 +1/-0.9 ky BP. Several economic and cultural aspects make this site peculiar with respect to the others at the regional scale. The faunal remains record the abundance of large ungulates, mostly Megaloceros giganteus, but also Cervus elaphus and Bos/Bison. Their bone surfaces bear traces of human modification produced during skinning, dismembering, and fracturing of the carcasses and the long bone shafts for marrow recovery. There is a high number of bone retouchers in proportion to the fragmented shafts, used for shaping and rejuvenating different types of scrapers. The lithic industry shows typical Quina characteristics in its technology and typology, with several thin and thick scrapers made of non-local flint due to its absence in proximity of the site. On-going research will investigate in more detail a so specific evidence in the Middle Palaeolithic of the North-Adriatic rim. Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag stellt Ergebnisse von Sondagen in der neu entdeckten De Nadale Höhle vor. Es handelt sich um eine Fundstelle des späten Mittelpaläolithikums in den Berici-Bergen, einem Karstplateau in Nordostitalien. Im Rahmen einer ersten Ausgrabung wurde die vollständig mit Sediment gefüllt Höhle untersucht. Eingebettet in sterile Schichten wurde eine moustérienzeitliche Fundschicht angetroffen. Der Zahn eines großen Herbivoren aus der Fundschicht konnte mit Hilfe der Uran-Thorium-Methode auf ein Mindestalter von 70 200 +1 000/900 Jahre BP datiert werden. Einige technologische und kulturelle Besonderheiten zeichnen den Fundplatz im Vergleich zu anderen Fundplätzen in der Region aus. Die Faunenreste belegen das Vorkommen von großen Huftieren, hauptsächlich Megalocerus giganteus sowie Cervus elaphus und Boviden. Die Oberflächen der Knochen zeigen deutliche Schnittund Schlagspuren vom Häuten und Zerlegen der Tiere sowie vom Aufschlagen der Langknochen zur Markgewinnung. Im Vergleich zu den vorhandenen Schaftfragmenten liegt eine hohe Zahl von Knochenretuscheuren vor, die offenbar zur Formgebung und Nachschärfung verschiedener Schabertypen eingesetzt wurden. Das Steingeräteinventar weist typische Merkmale des Moustérien vom Typ Quina auf mit mehreren dünnen und dicken Schabern aus nicht-lokalem Silex. Weitere Untersuchungen sind geplant, um mehr Daten zur Beurteilung dieses mittelpaläolithischen Fundplatzes des nordadriatischen Bogens zu gewinnen.

Comparative study of two late pleistocene sequences with paleosols and aeolian deposits at the southern alpine foreland

Two pedostratigraphic sequences located between the Euganean and Berici hills (Veneto region, north-eastern Italy) were investigated. In such sequences, morphogenic and pedogenic processes could be ascribed to the Late Pleistocene climatic evolution, based on pedostratigraphic characteristics and on archaeological finds. The series prove the degradation of the vegetation cover along the local slopes, followed by the truncation of paleosols due to widespread hillwash phenomena. The latter result in the concentration of coarser elements along an erosional surface, with successive displacement due to gelifluction. This process indicates climatic change towards glacial conditions, with an open environment that is characterized also by loess sedimentation.

Il sito gravettiano di Piovesello sullo spartiacque dell’Appennino settentrionale. Risultati da un’indagine geoarcheologica, archeobotanica, palinologica e archeologica.

Gli insediamenti gravettiani dell’Europa sono tradizionalmente considerati come l’espressione della capacita di adattamento a condizioni climatiche rigide e talvolta estreme (Bocquet-Appel et al., 2005). Nell’Europa meridionale, climi piu miti hanno tuttavia permesso di mantenere il popolamento di vaste regioni e di creare le condizioni per una sostenibilita della frequentazione antropica di aree marginali (Willis et al., 2000), come il margine della pianura padana settentrionale e lo spartiacque appenninico. L’influenza del clima mediterraneo ha quindi favorito la resilienza dei gruppi di cacciatori-raccoglitori e permesso loro di mantenere reti di scambio su lunga distanza. Il settore piu settentrionale degli Appennini, ritenuto un’area priva di ritrovamenti, e stato la cornice di una recente indagine effettuata sul sito Gravettiano antico del Piovesello, localizzato a 870 m di quota sullo spartiacque ligure-emiliano (Peresani et al ., 2016). Ricognizioni di superficie e attivita di scavo programmato hanno permesso di indagare una paleosuperficie con manufatti litici in posizione primaria sigillati da una serie di colluvi limosi. L’integrazione di date radiocarbonio, analisi palinologiche e antracologiche ha concorso a ricostruire il paleoambiente dell’area circostante, dimostrando che il sito doveva trovarsi al di sopra del limite della foresta, in un ambiente semidesertico con vegetazione petrofitica, in prossimita delle fronti glaciali in corso di culminazione durante il GS5 (Peresani et al., in stampa). Le tracce della frequentazione umana si rivelano piuttosto effimere e sono legate all’utilizzo di strutture di combustione e alla produzione di manufatti litici, realizzati anche su materie prime provenienti dalla Francia meridionale. Nel loro insieme, le evidenze del Piovesello permettono di approfondire le conoscenze sulkle strategie messe in opera dai gruppi gravettiani nel quadro del popolamento umano durante la glaciazione. Sul piano paleoecologico, i risultati di questo studio assumono anche nuove implicazioni per la storia della biogeografia delle piante petrofile e dei loro relitti nell’Appennino settentrionale.

From Neandertals to modern humans: New data on the Uluzzian

Having thrived in Eurasia for 350,000 years Neandertals disappeared from the record around 40,000–37,000 years ago, after modern humans entered Europe. It was a complex process of population interactions that included cultural exchanges and admixture between Neandertals and dispersing groups of modern humans. In Europe Neandertals are always associated with the Mousterian while the Aurignacian is associated with modern humans only. The onset of the Aurignacian is preceded by “transitional” industries which show some similarities with the Mousterian but also contain modern tool forms. Information on these industries is often incomplete or disputed and this is true of the Uluzzian. We present the results of taphonomic, typological and technological analyses of two Uluzzian sites, Grotta La Fabbrica (Tuscany) and the newly discovered site of Colle Rotondo (Latium). Comparisons with Castelcivita and Grotta del Cavallo show that the Uluzzian is a coherent cultural unit lasting about five millennia, replaced by the Protoaurignacian before the eruption of the Campanian Ignimbrite. The lack of skeletal remains at our two sites and the controversy surrounding the stratigraphic position of modern human teeth at Cavallo makes it difficult to reach agreement about authorship of the Uluzzian, for which alternative hypotheses have been proposed. Pending the discovery of DNA or further human remains, these hypotheses can only be evaluated by archaeological arguments, i.e. evidence of continuities and discontinuities between the Uluzzian and the preceding and succeeding culture units in Italy. However, in the context of “transitional” industries with disputed dates for the arrival of modern humans in Europe, and considering the case of the Châtelperronian, an Upper Paleolithic industry made by Neandertals, typo-technology used as an indicator of hominin authorship has limited predictive value. We corroborate previous suggestions that the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition occurred as steps of rapid changes and geographically uneven rates of spread.

Heart of darkness: an interdisciplinary investigation of the urban anthropic deposits of the Baptistery of Padua (Italy)

Archeological excavations beside the Baptistery of the Dome of Padua (north-eastern Italy) unearthed anthropic deposits formed between the seventh- and tenth-century ad. These were analyzed using soil micromorphology, soil chemical analyses (especially aimed at the definition of organic matter properties and dynamics), and GC/MS analyses of fecal biomarkers, the latter corroborated by principal component analysis. This inter-disciplinary study allowed differentiating between units resulting from in situ accumulation of trampled domestic waste and other, more frequent, units derived from repeated dumping or backfilling episodes. Fast accumulation of organic-rich domestic waste, coupled with an incomplete evolution of organic molecules appears as a fundamental formation process of these anthropic deposits. The overall level of fecal contamination in the Padua Baptistery sediments proved to be very low or absent.

An agricultural field of Hellenistic date at Pauli Stincus, Terralba, Sardinia

Excavation at Pauli Stincus in Sardinia has revealed an ancient plough soil, with associated evidence of intensive prehistoric agricultural activities.