scholarly journals Stone Tools in the High Molise Mountains (Italy): a first Report

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio Mironti ◽  
Melissa Vilmercati ◽  
Enrico Lucci ◽  
Rachele Modesto
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Material Procurement ◽  
Mountainous Landscape ◽  
Molise Region ◽  
University Of Rome

In the last decades, several researches focused on the inland areas of Molise Region (Central-Southern Italy) to investigate the occupation and exploitation of this environment during Pleistocene and Holocene. The “Molise Survey Project” started in 2015 with the aim to explore, through systematic surveys, an area of 60 square kilometres, chiefly characterized by a mountainous landscape and part of the Central-Southern Italy Apennines. The project seeks to investigate the patterns of human occupation in the mountainous landscape between the provinces of Campobasso and Isernia. The surveys, carried out during the last four years, allowed the identification of 19 prehistoric sites ranging from Palaeolithic to Bronze Age: the archaeological materials belonging to the latter period are being studied by the team of “Paletnologia” of Sapienza University of Rome. This work aims to show the preliminary results of the analysis of the lithic assemblage acquired during the summer of 2016 surveys, focusing on raw material procurement and the related chaîne opératoire, also considering post-depositional agents. The obtained data allowed to reassess the human presence over inland and high-altitude areas of Molise during prehistoric times, stressing a seasonal use of the territory, from Palaeolithic to Late Prehistory, with different patterns of occupation and exploitation.

scholarly journals Obsidian from the Site of Piano dei Cardoni, Ustica (Palermo, Italy): Preliminary Results on the First Occupation of the Island

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-290
Author(s):  
Claudia Speciale ◽  
Kyle P. Freund ◽  
Sandro de Vita ◽  
Nunzia Larosa ◽  
Vincenza Forgia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Material ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Southern Side ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
First Time ◽  
Xrf Analyses

Abstract New investigations on Ustica (Palermo, Sicily) originated from the need to improve our knowledge of the island’s archaeological and environmental heritage. Through field surveys, particular attention was paid to human occupation in the Neolithic phases and focused on the less investigated southern side of the island. The systematic survey of the area of Piano dei Cardoni in 2018 brought to light a new Middle/Late Neolithic site, already partially documented in the literature. The island was settled for the first time during these phases, as also testified from the area of Punta Spalmatore. The presence of Serra d’Alto, incised dark burnished, and Diana styles suggests that the site and the archaeological assemblage dates from the mid to late 5th millennium BC, as confirmed by AMS dating. In addition to pottery, obsidian artifacts were also recovered, and a preliminary study of these materials is presented here. Portable XRF analyses on a sample of 41 obsidian artifacts, representing a high percentage of the lithic assemblage compared to chert tools, show that the provenance of the raw material is Gabellotto Gorge (Lipari) and Balata dei Turchi (Pantelleria). These results provide new insight into broader regional debates about obsidian technology and its exchange during the Neolithic and open an important consideration for sites that are far from the raw material sources.

Settlement and Economy in Southern Italy in the Neothermal Period

1969 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 332-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth D. Whitehouse
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Subsistence Economy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Made In

The post-Pleistocene archaeology of southern Italy is a rapidly developing study and for this reason, while many facets of it are still little known, others are undergoing fundamental changes as new discoveries are made. Particularly notable contributions have been made in the last 20 years by, among others, L. Cardini, P. Graziosi, A. Palma di Cesnola, E. Borzatti von Löwenstern, O. Cornaggia Castiglioni and F. Zorzi in the palaeolithic and mesolithic field, R. B. K. Stevenson, L. Bernabò Brea, D. Trump and S. Tinè in the Neolithic sphere and D. Trump, S. M. Puglisi, R.Peroni, F. G. Lo Porto and H. Muller-Karpe for the bronze age. As a result of this work it is now possible for us to reconstruct in outline the later prehistory of southern Italy. Most of the work that has been done has been on individual topics, and, while some attempts at synthesis have been made (most notably those of A. M. Radmilli, D. Trump and R. Peroni), these have taken the form of a culture-by-culture description, as it were a commentary upon a vast composite stratigraphy of the area. No attempt, however, has yet been made to produce a history of the human occupation of the land and it is towards this aim that my paper is directed.The emphasis in this paper is on settlement and economy in relation to environment. It is through the techniques of his subsistence economy that man deals with (or in evolutionary terms, adapts to) his environment, and in this sense it can be regarded as the most important factor contributing to the nature and development of society.

scholarly journals The Eneolithic/Bronze Age Transition at Tegole di Bovino (Apulia): Geoarchaeological Evidence of Climate Change and Land-Use Shift

Quaternary ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Guido S. Mariani ◽  
Italo M. Muntoni ◽  
Andrea Zerboni
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Sedimentary Deposits ◽  
The Bronze Age

Human communities at the transition between the Eneolithic period and the Bronze Age had to rapidly adapt to cultural and climatic changes, which influenced the whole Mediterranean. The exact dynamics involved in this crucial passage are still a matter of discussion. As newer studies have highlighted the key role of climatic fluctuations during this period, their relationship with the human occupation of the landscape are yet to be fully explored. We investigated the infilling of negative structures at the archaeological site of Tegole di Bovino (Apulia, Southern Italy) looking at evidence of the interaction between climate changes and human strategies. The archaeological sedimentary deposits, investigated though geoarchaeological and micromorphological techniques, show the presence of natural and anthropogenic infillings inside most structures. Both human intervention and/or natural events occurred in the last phases of occupation of the site and its subsequent abandonment. The transition to unfavorable climatic conditions in the same period was most likely involved in the abandonment of the site. The possible further impact of human communities on the landscape in that period, testified by multiple other archives, might have in turn had a role in the eventual change in land use.

scholarly journals A multidisciplinary study of an exceptional prehistoric waste dump in the mountainous inland of Calabria (Italy): Implications for reconstructions of prehistoric land use and vegetation in Southern Italy

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 1310-1331
Author(s):  
Jan Sevink ◽  
Wieke de Neef ◽  
Mauro A Di Vito ◽  
Ilenia Arienzo ◽  
Peter AJ Attema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Occupational History ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Multidisciplinary Study ◽  
History Of

The mountainous inland of northern Calabria (Southern Italy) is known for its sparse prehistoric human occupation. Nevertheless, a thorough multidisciplinary approach of field walking, geophysical survey and invasive research led to the discovery of a major archaeological archive. This archive concerns a rich multi-phased dump, spanning about 3000 years (Late Neolithic to Late Imperial Roman Age) and holding two Somma-Vesuvius tephra. Of these, the younger is a distinct layer of juvenile tephra from the Pompeii eruption, while the older concerns reworked tephra from the Bronze Age AP2 eruption (ca. 1700 cal. yr BP). The large dump contains abundant ceramics, faunal remains and charcoal, and most probably originated through long-continued deposition of waste in a former gully like system of depressions. This resulted in an inversed, mound-like relief, whose anthropogenic origin had not been recognized in earlier research. The tephras were found to be important markers that support the reconstruction of the occupational history of the site. The sequence of occupational phases is very similar to that observed in a recent palaeoecological study from nearby situated former lakes (Lago Forano/Fontana Manca). This suggests that this sequence reflects the more regional occupational history of Calabria, which goes back to ca. 3000 BC. Attention is paid to the potential link between this history and Holocene climatic phases, for which no indication was found. The history deviates strongly from histories deduced from the few, but major palaeorecords elsewhere in the inlands of Southern Italy (Lago Grande di Monticchio and Lago Trifoglietti). We conclude that major regional variation occurred in prehistoric land use and its impacts on the vegetation cover of Southern Italy, and studies of additional palaeoarchives are needed to unravel this complex history. Finally, shortcomings of archaeological predictive models are discussed and the advantages of truly integrated multidisciplinary research.

scholarly journals Manufacture, use and management of macro-lithic resources in the Bronze Age settlement of Bruszczewo (Poland)

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Selina Delgado-Raack ◽  
Jutta Kneisel ◽  
Janusz Czebreszuk ◽  
Johannes Müller
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
Metal Artefacts ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Archaeological Materials

Contrary to pottery or metal artefacts, macro-lithic tools are still not fully integrated into the archaeological research programs concerning the Early Bronze Age of Central Europe. While such kind of archaeological materials usually do not easily allow typological approaches, their constant participation in several productive spheres makes them a crucial element for understanding the economic processes and the organisation of past societies. This paper presents the general results of the investigation carried out on an assemblage of 1073 macro-lithic items recovered in the wet soil area of the site of Bruszczewo (municipality of Śmigiel, Poland). This fortified settlement was inhabited during the Early Bronze Age (2100-1650 BCE) and later on in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (1100-800 BCE), with minor archaeological evidences from Middle Ages. The methodology applied in this assessment is a holistic one, which combines manufacturing (petrography and morphometry), functional (use-wear and residues) and spatial analyses. This approach has allowed recording a mainly local raw material supplying system, based on the gathering of pebbles in the vicinity of the site and a minimal transformation of raw pieces previous to use. Moreover, Bruszczewo comes out to be a central settlement managing and controlling exogenous ores, such as copper and gold, as shown by residues found on some macro-lithic forging anvils. All in all, the recognition in the macro-lithic tool assemblage of different tasks related to subsistence (food preparation) as well as to manufacture (metallurgy, probably bone working) processes contributes to (a) defining the settlement's organisation and the management of resources in the site and (b) improving our understanding of the role played by central settlements in the socio-economic networks, at a time when the first class societies emerged in Central Europe.

scholarly journals The hunter-gatherer site BES II (Jacaré-Guaçu River low terraces, central Sao Paulo state, Brazil): Interface with geomorphical and environmental fluctuations of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Fabio Grossi Santos ◽  
Pedro Michelutti Cheliz
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Large River ◽  
Structure Study ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Ephemeral Channels

The lithic site Boa Esperança II (BES II), in the São Paulo segment of the Brazilian Plateau, next to the boundary between the cities of Araraquara (SP) and Boa Esperança do Sul (SP), presents a collection of almost 2,000 lithic artifacts (predominantly chert and sandstone), being interpreted as a settlement of diversified functions with possibly continuous or successive occupation. In this work, we approach the site based on interface of its insertion in the regional physical-environmental context - with emphasis on the interface with relief frames, surface structure study and estimated geomorphic sequences of the alluvial plain of Jacaré-Guaçu river - and techno-typological analysis. It was verified that the BES II artifacts are distributed along vertical profiles and relief pictures lined by records that mark the transition from semi-arid conditions to others of increasing humidity, successive oscillations of base levels and modifications of fluvial regimes (ephemeral channels passing to perennial channels of different hydrological meandrings patterns), indicating that human occupation has dealt with conditions of quite distinct landscapes between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. Local lithic industry would have taken advantage of attributes derived from these modifications in the landscape over time - in particular the exposure of gravels of large river pebbles deposited by torrential ephemeral channels. The past  abundance of raw material of fluvial origin would have contributed to the location of the site in the regional geomorphological context, as well as for a lithic assemblage based on the production of large unipolar flakes. We observed in the correlations between the position of artifacts, geomorphical and pedological data, OSL and Carbone-14 dates at archaeological levels, elements that allow us to discuss considering BES II as an archaeological site to integrate the interval of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and to had interfaces with the geomorphological and environmental changes of such time. The archaeological implications of the issue and the fact that only one dating of photoluminescence has been reported from the deepest level of the site (basal gravel layer) emphasize the need for new, denser and more diversified studies.

Production and Transport of Blanks and Tools at the French Middle Paleolithic Site of Combe-Capelle Bas

1998 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Roth ◽  
Harold L. Dibble
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Paleolithic Site ◽  
Group Mobility ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Lithic Assemblages ◽  
Material Procurement ◽  
Core Reduction

Recent studies of Middle Paleolithic lithic assemblages have focused on questions of interest to lithic analysts everywhere, including the effect of raw material availability, occupation span, and tool maintenance on assemblage characteristics. In this paper, we add to the growing database on Middle Paleolithic assemblages using material recently excavated at Combe-Capelle Bas in the Dordogne region of southern France. The site provides a unique opportunity for addressing questions concerning lithic assemblage variability because it is located on a high quality flint source. We present data on core reduction, blank selection, raw material procurement, and lithic transport that provide information on lithic use pertinent for both Old World and New World archaeologists. Our data show that raw material availability and group mobility influenced blank selection, production, and transport at Combe-Capelle.

scholarly journals TECHNOLOGICAL ALGORITHMS OF THE PASTORAL MODEL OF METAL PRODUCTION IN THE STEPPE REGIONS OF NORTH EURASIA IN THE BRONZE AGE

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Bogdanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
Cattle Breeding ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
Ore Preparation ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
North Eurasia ◽  
Mining Model

The original model of metal production was realized in the steppe of North Eurasia since 4th to 2nd millenium BC. It was characterized by unique features of the natural-climatic, territorial, economic-cultural (cattle-breeding) production system. Also, it was notable for specifics of ore preparation for melting using the pyrotechnic method (beneficiating and fining fire under temperatures to 1 000°C), and the chemical approach (oxidation by potash), recovery of cooper in reverberatory furnaces with segregation of smelted metals on the pyroxene or olivine slag box above and the whole pancake-shaped ingot of blister recovered cooper (93–98 % Cu; 0,5–2 % Fe; 0,5–1,5 % S and others) on the bottom of an iron mold. Various stages of the mining and smelting industry had a seasonal character and correlated with cattle-breeding cycles. In the steppe of North Eurasia, different variants of the pasturable model had existed for several millennia, combining the two largest metal-production systems of the Old World — Circum-Pontic Metallurgical Country (CPMC) and Eurasian Metallurgical Country (EAMP). The final stages of the metal tools production industry connected with molding and forging processing of items varied substantially in different cultures. Still, basic technological algorithms of cooper production had slightly evolved during the Early Metal epoch. In the steppe of North Eurasia, the metallurgical boom exhausted accessible deposits of resources traditional for 4th–2nd millenium BC, for example, sulfide ore (chalcocite and other minerals) in cooper slates and silica-carbonate metal (chrysocolla and others) in copper sandstones of the Late Permian deposits as well as secondary sulfides of “chalcocite horizons” in zones of secondary concentration of principal deposits. It led to the development of Chalcopyrite raw material of copper-pyrite deposits. The boom was connected with the activity of the Srubnaya and Alakulskaya culture’s miners in the Late Bronze Age. Chalcopyrites processing was based on technological algorithms of the pastoral mining model and metallurgical production had been formed before, in the second half of the 2nd millenium BC. Besides the involvement of practically inexhaustible resources of cooper stuff into the metallurgical division, it led to receiving a byproduct — iron and refinery slag. Theoretical points stated in the paper have been verified by archaeological materials, data of scientific analysis and a series of successful archaeological-metallurgical experiments in 2018–2020.

scholarly journals Middle Palaeolithic technical behaviour: Material import-export and Levallois production at the SU 13 of Oscurusciuto rock shelter, Southern Italy

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Marciani ◽  
Vincenzo Spagnolo ◽  
Daniele Aureli ◽  
Filomena Ranaldo ◽  
Paolo Boscato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Main Concept ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Stratigraphic Unit ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Siliceous Limestone

The Oscurusciuto rock shelter, located in southern Italy (Puglia), has yielded a long Middle Palaeolithic stratigraphy rich in lithic assemblages, fireplaces and faunal remains, attesting Neanderthal occupation during the MIS 3. This paper is focused on the stratigraphic unit 13, consisting of a sandy compact deposit mixed with pyroclastic sediment above a thick level of tephra-US 14, identified as Mt. Epomeo green tuff (dated Ar/Ar ~ 55 ka).Level 13 represents the first stable human occupation after the deposition of tephra. Our goal was to examine the lithic assemblage of this stratigraphic unit by means of an interdisciplinary approach (technology, RMU, refitting program) in order to identify the economic behaviour and technical strategies of Neanderthals occupying the stratigraphic unit 13 of Oscurusciuto.The technical strategies applied indicate fragmentation of the reduction processes, as well as probable events of importation and exportation of objects. The lithic material were introduced at different stages of manufacturing. Pieces were introduced in the form of rough objects (pebbles), as well as semi-finished items, and as finished tools. This fragmentation of the chaîne opératoire also demonstrate the palimpsest nature of the level which is made up of different events happening one after another.The main concept of debitage was Levallois, generally realized on local jasper and siliceous limestone pebbles or cortical flakes. Jasper and siliceous limestone flakes, backed flakes and convergent flakes were the technological objectives of the debitage. A marginal volumetric debitage aimed at producing bladelets was also attested. 

The discovery of a Mycenaean-type tholos tomb in the Bronze Age necropolis on the Gazzi buried floodplain (Messina, southern Italy): new geological and anthropological data

Stratigraphy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-263
Author(s):  
Roberta Somma ◽  
Laura Bonfiglio ◽  
Gabriella Mangano ◽  
Roberto Micciche ◽  
Gabriella Pavia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
The Bronze Age
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