1. New data on Sicilian prehistoric and historic evolution in a mountain context, Vallone Inferno (Scillato, Italy)
- Author
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Diego E. Angelucci, Giuseppa Scopelliti, Hugues-Alexandre Blain, Giovanni Di Simone, Josep Maria Vergès, Juan Ignacio Morales, Andreu Ollé, Anna Rodríguez, Vincenza Forgia, Llorenç Picornell, Francesc Burjachs, Giovanni Virruso, Juan Manuel López-García, Andrea Dario Messina, Enrico Pagano, Massimo Arnone, Oscar Belvedere, Patricia Martín, Isabel Expósito, Luca Sineo, Enrico Alessi, Ethel Allué, Forgia, V, Martín, P, LópezGarcía JM, Ollé, A, Vergès, JM, Allué, E, Angelucci, DE, Arnone, M, Blain, HA, Burjachs, F, Expósito, I, Messina, A, Picornell, L, Rodríguez, A, Scopelliti, G, Sineo, L, Virruso, G, Alessi, E, Di Simone, G, Morales, JI, Pagano, E, and Belvedere, O
- Subjects
Settore L-ANT/01 - Preistoria E Protostoria ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Context (archaeology) ,General Engineering ,Excavation ,Settore L-ANT/09 - Topografia Antica ,Archaeology ,language.human_language ,Prehistory ,Sequence (geology) ,Geography ,Aridification ,language ,Pottery ,Multidisciplinary study, Neolithic-medieval period, Pastoral activities, Environmental changes, Madonie mountain range, Sicily ,Sicilian ,Mountain range - Abstract
Vallone Inferno rock-shelter is an archaeological site located in the Madonie mountain range in Sicily. Archaeological excavation and research have provided a long prehistoric and historic sequence from the Neolithic to the medieval period, this being the most complete work in this area at present. In this paper we present the preliminary data provided by a multidisciplinary study based on pottery, lithic, human, faunal and plant remains. Stratigraphic studies have identified four complexes, of which complex 3 has provided almost all the archaeological remains. 14C AMS dates, obtained from four samples, place the human activities between 2601 cal BC and 644 cal AD. These dates are coherent with the cultural attribution of the ceramic and lithic remains. Macrofaunal and plant remains show a persistent use of the shelter for pastoral activities. Environmental data, obtained from microvertebrate and archaeobotanical remains, show the aridification and opening of the landscape from the base to the top of the sequence as a consequence of the human impact. © 2012 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
- Published
- 2013