14 results on '"Romandini, Matteo"'
Search Results
2. Animal Exploitation Strategies during the Uluzzian at Grotta di Fumane (Verona, Italy)
- Author
-
Tagliacozzo, Antonio, Romandini, Matteo, Fiore, Ivana, Gala, Monica, Peresani, Marco, Delson, Eric, Series editor, Sargis, Eric J., Series editor, Clark, Jamie L., editor, and Speth, John D., editor
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. The De Nadale Cave, a single layered Quina Mousterian site in the North of Italy
- Author
-
Jéquier Camille, Peresani Marco, Delpiano Davide, Joannes Boyau Renaud, Lembo Giuseppe, Livraghi Alessandra, López García Juan Manuel, Obradović Marija, Nicosia Cristiano, ROMANDINI, MATTEO, Jéquier Camille, Peresani Marco, Romandini Matteo, Delpiano Davide, Joannes-Boyau Renaud, Lembo Giuseppe, Livraghi Alessandra, López-García Juan Manuel, Obradović Marija, and Nicosia Cristiano
- Subjects
Lithic industry ,010506 paleontology ,060102 archaeology ,Berici hills ,Cave ,Excavation ,Mousterian ,Zooarchaeology ,Socio-culturale ,06 humanities and the arts ,01 natural sciences ,0601 history and archaeology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2016
4. Analisi archeozoologica, tafonomica, paleontologica e spaziale dei livelli Uluzziani e tardo-Musteriani della Grotta di Fumane (VR). Variazioni e continuità strategicocomportamentali umane in Italia Nord Orientale: i casi di Grotta del Col della Stria (VI) e Grotta del Rio Secco (PN)
- Author
-
Romandini, Matteo
- Subjects
North Italy ,Archeozoologia ,Mousterian ,Settore BIO/08 - Antropologia ,Musteriano ,Uluzzian ,Uluzziano. Nord Italia ,Archaeozoology - Published
- 2012
5. A retouched bone shaft from the Late Mousterian at Fumane cave (Italy). Technological, experimental and micro-wear analysis.
- Author
-
Romandini, Matteo, Cristiani, Emanuela, and Peresani, Marco
- Subjects
- *
BONE shafts , *MOUSTERIAN culture , *FLINTKNAPPING , *ROCK craft , *PALEOLITHIC Period - Abstract
This paper describes a retouched bone shaft found in a Late Mousterian layer at Fumane Cave, northern Italy. The interpretation of the anthropic nature of the retouch is based on the identification of specific morpho-technological markers through experimentation. An integrated taphonomic and technological analysis was applied to the archaeological artifact. The evidence suggests that the bone shaft modifications involved the use of direct percussion through a transfer of technical knowledge from flint knapping. However, this does not necessarily imply that this technique was used in the absence of a more effective one. Similar cases of the use of bone as raw material for tool manufacturing are documented in the Lower Palaeolithic, and might have been related to the lack of appropriate lithic raw material, although this is not the case for Fumane cave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. New evidence for the Mousterian and Gravettian at Rio Secco Cave, Italy.
- Author
-
Peresani, Marco, Romandini, Matteo, Duches, Rossella, Jéquier, Camille, Nannini, Nicola, Pastoors, Andreas, Picin, Andrea, Schmidt, Isabell, Vaquero, Manuel, and Weniger, Gerd-Christian
- Subjects
- *
ARCHAEOLOGICAL excavations , *NEANDERTHALS , *MOUSTERIAN culture , *GRAVETTIAN culture , *CAVES , *ZOOARCHAEOLOGY , *PREHISTORIC tools , *STONE implements - Abstract
The dearth of evidence for late Neanderthals in Europe reduces our ability to understand the demise of their species and the impact of the biological and cultural changes that resulted from the spread of anatomically modern humans. In this light, a recently investigated cave in the northern Adriatic region at the border between the Italian Alps and the Great Adriatic Plain provides useful data about the last Neanderthals between 46.0 and 42.1 ky CAL B.P. Their subsistence is inferred from zooarchaeological remains and patterns in Middle Palaeolithic lithic technology. Unexpected evidence of the ephemeral use of the cave during the early Upper Palaeolithic Gravettian period shows a change in lithic technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. Les retouchoirs en matières dures animales : une comparaison entre Moustérien final et Uluzzien
- Author
-
Jéquier, Camille Anne, Romandini, Matteo, and Peresani, Marco
- Subjects
- *
MOUSTERIAN culture , *ZOOGEOGRAPHY , *FOSSIL brown bear , *ANIMAL species , *PALEOLITHIC Period , *ANIMAL classification - Abstract
Abstract: Retouching tools made of bone and other hard animal material have very broad chronological and geographical distribution throughout the Paleolithic period in Europe that also involves the Latest Mousterian and the Uluzzian in Italy. We investigated possible behavioural differences between these two cultural complexes in the use of these implements, based on the evidence from Fumane Cave, with its MP-EUP transitional sequence that has so far yielded more than 150 such artifacts. Although they are mostly made from bone shafts, a few remarkable examples of two fragments of cervid antler are also present. At a general level, these tools form an homogenous group: taxonomically, the bones fit with the faunal composition dominated by red deer and cervids, which were the most commonly hunted animals. The identified stigmata are punctiform impressions, linear impressions, striae and wells, usually grouped in small zones. Each retouching tool has up to three of these zones. Significant similarities in species, the skeletal part, and weight between the tools from the two cultural complexes have been detected, but also a difference due to the use of brown bear bones in the Uluzzian. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. Bone tools, ornaments and other unusual objects during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Italy.
- Author
-
Arrighi, Simona, Moroni, Adriana, Tassoni, Laura, Boschin, Francesco, Badino, Federica, Bortolini, Eugenio, Boscato, Paolo, Crezzini, Jacopo, Figus, Carla, Forte, Manuela, Lugli, Federico, Marciani, Giulia, Oxilia, Gregorio, Negrino, Fabio, Riel-Salvatore, Julien, Romandini, Matteo, Peresani, Marco, Spinapolice, Enza Elena, Ronchitelli, Annamaria, and Benazzi, Stefano
- Subjects
- *
BONES , *DECORATION & ornament , *NEANDERTHALS , *BEHAVIOR , *RESOURCE exploitation , *MANUFACTURING processes - Abstract
The arrival of Modern Humans (MHs) in Europe between 50 ka and 39 ka coincides with significant changes in human behaviour, notably regarding the production of tools, the exploitation of resources and the systematic use of ornaments and colouring substances. The emergence of the so-called modern behaviour is usually associated with MHs, although claims of symbolic thinking in non-MH groups have been advanced in past decades. In this paper, we present a synthesis of the Italian evidence concerning bone tool manufacturing and the use of ornaments and pigments in the time span encompassing the replacement of Neandertals by MHs. Current data show that Mousterian bone tools were mostly obtained from bone fragments used "as is". Conversely an organized production of "finely shaped" bone tools is characteristic of the Uluzzian and the Protoaurignacian, and the complexity inherent in the manufacturing processes suggests that bone artefacts are not to be considered expedient. Some traces of symbolic activities are associated with Neandertals in northern Italy. Ornaments (mostly tusk shells) and pigments used for decorative purposes are well recorded during the Uluzzian. Their features and distribution suggest an intriguing cultural homogeneity within this technocomplex. The Protoaurignacian is characterized by a wider range of archaeological evidence, consisting of personal ornaments (mostly pierced gastropods), pigments and engraved items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. Refining the Uluzzian through a new lithic assemblage from Roccia San Sebastiano (Mondragone, southern Italy)
- Author
-
Carlo Donadio, Carmine Collina, Giulia Marciani, L Repola, Carla Figus, Gregorio Oxilia, Sara Silvestrini, Federico Lugli, Matteo Romandini, Ivan Martini, Simona Arrighi, Eugenio Bortolini, Marcello Piperno, Federica Badino, Stefano Benazzi, Collina, Carmine, Marciani, Giulia, Martini, Ivan, Donadio, Carlo, Repola, Leopoldo, Bortolini, Eugenio, Arrighi, Simona, Badino, Federica, Figus, Carla, Lugli, Federico, Oxilia, Gregorio, Romandini, Matteo, Silvestrini, Sara, Piperno, Marcello, Benazzi, Stefano, Collina, C., Marciani, G., Martini, I., Donadio, C., Repola, L., Bortolini, E., Arrighi, S., Badino, F., Sigus, C., Lugli, F., Oxilia, G., Romandini, M., Silvestrini, S., Piperno, M., and Benazzi, S.
- Subjects
010506 paleontology ,Pleistocene ,Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition ,Uluzzian, Lithic technology, Bipolar technique, Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, Italy, Geoarchaeology ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Natural (archaeology) ,Cave ,Bipolar technique ,Assemblage (archaeology) ,Sequence stratigraphy ,Quantitative Biology - Populations and Evolution ,Uluzzian Lithic technology Bipolar technique Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition Italy Geoarchaeology ,Geoarchaeology ,Lithic technology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Earth-Surface Processes ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE) ,Mousterian ,Uluzzian ,Archaeology ,Debitage ,Italy ,FOS: Biological sciences ,Aurignacian ,Geology - Abstract
Roccia San Sebastiano is a tectonic-karstic cave located at the foot of the southern slope of Mt. Massico, in the territory of Mondragone (Caserta) in Campania (southern Italy). Systematic excavation has been carried out since 2001, leading to the partial exploration of an important Pleistocene deposit, extraordinarily rich in lithic and faunal remains. The aim of this paper is to (1) present the stratigraphic sequence of Roccia San Sebastiano, and (2) technologically describe the lithic materials of squares F14 t18, t19, t20; E16 t16, t17, t18 recently recognised as Uluzzian. The stratigraphic sequence is more than 3 m thick and dates from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic. It contains different techno-complexes: Gravettian, Aurignacian, Uluzzian and Mousterian. In the Uluzzian lithic assemblage mostly local pebbles of chert were used in order to produce small-sized objects. The concept of debitage mainly deals with unidirectional debitage with absent or fairly accurate management of the convexities and angles; the striking platforms are usually natural or made by one stroke. It is attested the use of both direct freehand percussion and bipolar technique on anvil in the same reduction sequence. Amongst the retouched tools the presence of two lunates is of note. This study of the Roccia San Sebastiano Uluzzian lithic complexes is significant for understanding the dynamics of the transition from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic in the Tyrrhenian margin of southern Italy.
- Published
- 2020
10. Lithic techno-complexes in Italy from 50 to 39 thousand years BP: an overview of lithic technological changes across the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic boundary
- Author
-
Federico Lugli, Jacopo Crezzini, Carla Figus, Armando Falcucci, Fabio Negrino, Matteo Romandini, Stefano Benazzi, Annamaria Ronchitelli, Adriana Moroni, Enza Elena Spinapolice, Eugenio Bortolini, Paolo Boscato, Marco Peresani, Julien Riel-Salvatore, Francesco Boschin, Gregorio Oxilia, Federica Badino, Davide Delpiano, Simona Arrighi, Giulia Marciani, Marciani, Giulia, Ronchitelli, Annamaria, Arrighi, Simona, Badino, Federica, Bortolini, Eugenio, Boscato, Paolo, Boschin, Francesco, Crezzini, Jacopo, Delpiano, Davide, Falcucci, Armando, Figus, Carla, Lugli, Federico, Oxilia, Gregorio, Romandini, Matteo, Riel-Salvatore, Julien, Negrino, Fabio, Peresani, Marco, Spinapolice, Enza Elena, Moroni, Adriana, and Benazzi, Stefano
- Subjects
Late MousterianUluzzianProtoaurignacianLithic technologyItaly ,010506 paleontology ,Italy ,Late Mousterian ,Lithic technology ,Protoaurignacian ,Uluzzian ,Late Mousterian Uluzzian Protoaurignacian Lithic technology Italy ,Socio-culturale ,Late Mousterian, Uluzzian, Protoaurignacian, Lithic technology, Italy ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Prehistory ,protoaurignacian ,italy ,late mousterian ,uluzzian ,lithic technology ,Quantitative Biology - Populations and Evolution ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Earth-Surface Processes ,Technological change ,Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE) ,Mousterian ,SH6_2 ,Archaeology ,Debitage ,Geography ,Châtelperronian ,FOS: Biological sciences ,Bladelets ,Aurignacian - Abstract
Defining the processes involved in the technical/cultural shifts from the Late Middle to the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe (~50-39 thousand years BP) is one of the most important tasks facing prehistoric studies. Apart from the technological diversity generally recognised as belonging to the latter part of the Middle Palaeolithic, some assemblages showing original technological traditions (i.e. Initial Upper Palaeolithic: Bohunician, Bachokirian; so called transitional industries: Châtelperronian, Szeletian, Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician, Uluzzian; Early Upper Palaeolithic: Protoaurignacian, Early Aurignacian) first appear during this interval. Explaining such technological changes is a crucial step in order to understand if they were the result of the arrival of new populations, the result of parallel evolution, or of long-term processes of cultural and biological exchanges. In this debate Italy plays a pivotal role, due to its geographical position between eastern and western Mediterranean Europe as well as to it being the location of several sites showing Late Mousterian, Uluzzian and Protoaurignacian evidence distributed across the Peninsula. Our study aims to provide a synthesis of the available lithic evidence from this key area through a review of the evidence collected from a number of reference sites. The main technical features of the Late Mousterian, the Uluzzian and the Protoaurignacian traditions are examined from a diachronic and spatial perspective. Our overview allows the identification of major differences in the technological behaviour of these populations, making it possible to propose a number of specific working hypotheses on the basis of which further studies can be carried out. This study presents a detailed comparative study of the whole corpus of the lithic production strategies documented during this interval, and crucial element thus emerge: 1. In the Late Mousterian tools were manufactured with great attention being paid to the production phases and with great investment in inizializing and managing core convexities; 2. In contrast, Uluzzian lithic production proceeded with less careful management of the first phases of debitage, mainly obtaining tool morphologies by retouching. 3. In the Protoaurignacian the production is carefully organized and aimed at obtaining laminar blanks (mainly bladelets) usually marginally retouched. These data are of primary importance in order to assess the nature of the "transition" phenomenon in Italy, thus contributing to the larger debate about the disappearance of Neandertals and the arrival of early Modern Humans in Europe.
- Published
- 2019
11. The Uluzzian technology of Grotta di Fumane and its implication for reconstructing cultural dynamics in the Middle – Upper Palaeolithic transition of Western Eurasia
- Author
-
Marco Peresani, Matteo Romandini, Emanuela Cristiani, Peresani Marco, Cristiani Emanuela, and Romandini Matteo
- Subjects
010506 paleontology ,Technology ,bone tool ,innovation ,Italy ,Palaeolithic ,stone knapping ,Uluzzian ,animals ,archaeology ,fossils ,humans ,cultural evolution ,Neanderthals ,technology ,ecology, evolution, behavior and systematics ,3304 ,arts and humanities (miscellaneous) ,Socio-culturale ,01 natural sciences ,Paleontology ,Palaeolithic, Uluzzian, Stone knapping, bone tool, Innovation, Italy ,Stone knapping ,Cultural Evolution ,evolution ,Animals ,Humans ,0601 history and archaeology ,Innovation ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,060102 archaeology ,Bone tool ,Fossils ,Mousterian ,06 humanities and the arts ,behavior and systematics ,Archaeology ,Cultural dynamics ,Anthropology ,Initial phase ,Bladelets ,ecology ,Aurignacian ,Geology ,Chronology - Abstract
From the intricate ensemble of evidence related to the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition and the presumed first spread of anatomically modern humans in Europe, the Uluzzian has attracted major attention in the past few years. Although the Uluzzian has been supposedly viewed as a product of modern humans settling in Mediterranean Europe, the techno-cultural complex has been the subject of few investigations aiming to clarify its chronology, bone industry, and settlement dynamics. Further, little is known of its technological structure. This article presents the results of an extensive study of the lithic and bone technologies from assemblages recovered at Fumane Cave in the north of Italy. Results confirm that the Uluzzian is a flake-dominated industry that brings together a set of technological innovations. The Levallois is the most used method in the initial phase, which is replaced by more varied flaking procedures and an increase in bladelets and flake-blades. Sidescrapers and points also represent a Mousterian feature in the initial phase, while splintered pieces, backed knives and other Upper Palaeolithic tools increase in the later phase. Our results suggest that the Uluzzian is rooted in the Mousterian lithic technological context and cannot be viewed as a proxy for anatomically modern humans, the carriers of the abrupt cultural changes related with the Aurignacian.
- Published
- 2016
12. Bears and humans, a Neanderthal tale. Reconstructing uncommon behaviors from zooarchaeological evidence in southern Europe
- Author
-
Matteo Romandini, Nicola Nannini, Marco Peresani, Stefano Benazzi, Antonio Tagliacozzo, Gabriele Terlato, Romandini, Matteo, Terlato, Gabriele, Nannini, Nicola, Tagliacozzo, Antonio, Benazzi, Stefano, and Peresani, Marco
- Subjects
010506 paleontology ,Archeology ,Taphonomy ,Neanderthal ,Cave bear ,Cave ,Neanderthal behavior ,Socio-culturale ,Brown bear ,Middle Palaeolithic ,Hunting ,Italy ,01 natural sciences ,Predation ,biology.animal ,0601 history and archaeology ,Ursus ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Archeology (arts and humanities) ,060102 archaeology ,biology ,Mousterian ,06 humanities and the arts ,biology.organism_classification ,Archaeology - Abstract
Cave bear ( Ursus spelaeus ), brown bear ( Ursus arctos ), and Neanderthals were potential competitors for environmental resources (shelters and food) in Europe. In order to reinforce this view and contribute to the ongoing debate on late Neanderthal behavior, we present evidence from zooarchaeological and taphonomic analyses of bear bone remains discovered at Rio Secco Cave and Fumane Cave in northeast Italy, an extended geographic area north of the Adriatic Sea. The remains from both caves come from layers dated to 49-42 ky cal. BP, and suggest close interactions between humans and bears, with data not only limited to the association of Mousterian lithic artifacts with numerous bear remains, but also the detection of clearly preserved traces of human modification such as cut and percussion marks, which enable a reconstruction of the main steps of fur recovery and the butchering process. Examples of Neanderthal bear exploitation are extremely sporadic in Europe, and Grotta Rio Secco and Grotta Fumane can be considered rare cases of remain accumulations generated by the human predation of bears of varied age classes during or near the end of hibernation. All of this evidence suggests that bears had a strategic role in the nomadic economy of Neanderthal hunting groups.
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
13. The Uluzzian in the north of Italy: insights around the new evidence at Riparo Broion
- Author
-
Davide Delpiano, Stefano Bertola, Matteo Romandini, Stefano Benazzi, Marco Peresani, Peresani, Marco, Bertola, Stefano, Delpiano, Davide, Benazzi, Stefano, and Romandini, Matteo
- Subjects
Radiocarbon dating ,010506 paleontology ,Archeology ,Bead ,01 natural sciences ,law.invention ,Lithic technology ,law ,Portable art ,Assemblage (archaeology) ,0601 history and archaeology ,Rockshelter ,Palaeolithic ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Archeology (arts and humanities) ,060102 archaeology ,Knapping ,Mousterian ,06 humanities and the arts ,Uluzzian ,Archaeology ,Geography ,Italy ,Anthropology ,visual_art ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,Faunal assemblage - Abstract
In attempt to enlighten the debate on the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, this work contributes new data from a yet unpublished site, Riparo Broion in the north-east of Italy. Studies confirm the presence of the Uluzzian technocomplex embedded in an archaeological sequence which includes Mousterian, Gravettian and Epigravettian. These layers have yielded finds of bone and lithic technology, shell beads, engraved portable art and the use of red mineral pigments, which make this archive a unique case for evaluating the implications of cultural dynamics in Northern Italy 44.0–42.4ky BP. The diversity of the faunal assemblage recovered in layers 1f and 1g is representative of the different environments surrounding the site, with ungulates being targeted for hunting and consumption. The lithic assemblage records a high fragmentation rate due to the extensive use of the bipolar knapping technique, responsible for a large variety of splintered pieces and associated chips which also affected the backed pieces, lunates and end-scrapers. The features of the bone tools, as well as those of the marine and freshwater beads, echo the technique used in the Uluzzian in the south of Italy, confirming the geographic spread of this technocomplex in the North Adriatic region, as previously envisaged at Grotta Fumane. However, comparisons between these two sites stimulate a discussion around the possible driving forces responsible for the differences observed in technological, typological and structural lithic assemblages. A definitive scenario for the Middle Palaeolithic–Upper Palaeolithic transition in this region of Southern Europe is ongoing and Riparo Broion is adding key contributions.
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
14. Between the hammerstone and the anvil: bipolar knapping and other percussive activities in the late Mousterian and the Uluzzian of Grotta di Castelcivita (Italy)
- Author
-
Matteo Rossini, Marcos César Pereira Santos, Eugenio Bortolini, Stefano Benazzi, Ivan Martini, Carla Figus, Giulia Marciani, Simona Arrighi, Federica Badino, Daniele Aureli, Matteo Romandini, Federico Lugli, Gregorio Oxilia, Annamaria Ronchitelli, Sara Silvestrini, Adriana Moroni, Andrea Fiorini, Arrighi, Simona, Marciani, Giulia, Rossini, Matteo, Pereira Santos, Marcos César, Fiorini, Andrea, Martini, Ivan, Aureli, Daniele, Badino, Federica, Bortolini, Eugenio, Figus, Carla, Lugli, Federico, Oxilia, Gregorio, Romandini, Matteo, Silvestrini, Sara, Ronchitelli, Annamaria, Moroni, Adriana, and Benazzi, Stefano
- Subjects
010506 paleontology ,Archeology ,060102 archaeology ,Knapping ,Techno-functional approach ,Mousterian ,06 humanities and the arts ,Uluzzian ,Use-wear analysis ,01 natural sciences ,Archaeology ,Prehistory ,Anthropology ,Anvil ,Uluzzian . Mousterian . Hammerstone . Anvil . Use-wear analysis . Techno-functional approach ,0601 history and archaeology ,Hammerstone ,Geology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
Hammerstones and anvils are among the oldest tools used by hominins to perform a variety of tasks including knapping activities. The bipolar technique on anvil is well documented in Prehistory since the Lower Palaeolithic and is usually considered to be an expedient technique in comparison to other knapping systems. This technique plays a pivotal role in the Uluzzian techno-complex lithic production where it is largely used. In the present study, we analyse the anvils and hammerstones recovered in the Mousterian and Uluzzian layers of the site of Castelcivita (Campania region-southern Italy) by a multi-disciplinary approach. Our aim is to investigate the function and functioning of anvils and hammerstones by evaluating the presence and the role of bipolar knapping in these two assemblages. To do this, we integrated techno-functional analysis (sensu Boeda) and use-wear study, by defining each techno-functional unit (transformative and prehensile unities) of anvils and hammerstones and identifying the specific use-wear left by the bipolar technique by means of a dedicated experimental programme. The obtained results allowed us to observe different technical behaviours, concerning both the production and the use of hammerstones and anvils, between Mousterian and Uluzzian. Differences were encountered in the selection of raw material (limestone in the Uluzzian, sandstone in the Mousterian) and in the technical way of approaching the tool as well as in the function: the Mousterian anvil was used ‘as is’ for crushing materials, unlike the Uluzzian anvils which were exclusively employed for bipolar knapping, after adapting their original volume. Hammerstones were mainly used as pestles or retouchers in the Mousterian and for direct percussion in knapping activities during the Uluzzian.
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
Catalog
Discovery Service for Jio Institute Digital Library
For full access to our library's resources, please sign in.