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The Quina Mousterian is one of the well-defined Middle Paleolithic techno-complexes. Despite the pivotal research carried out in south-western France, the presence of this techno-complex across the rest of Europe is still poorly documented. Here we apply a techno-functional approach, combining technological and use-wear analyses, for reconstructing lithic core-reduction, tool-reduction, and tool use at De Nadale Cave, a single-layered Mousterian site with Quina features located in northern Italy and dated to the early MIS 4. Our results indicate that the flexible core reduction strategies identified at De Nadale show some similarities with the Quina knapping method, in addition to the adoption of centripetal methods on single surfaces. Variations of this scheme identified at De Nadale are the exploitation of lateral and narrow fronts which are aimed to the production of elongated, small blanks. A parallel, ramified reduction is applied to limace cores and Quina or demi-Quina scrapers having diversified purpose (mixed matrix). These blanks are exploited as tools and cores-on-flakes from which thinner, usable flakes or bladelets are detached. The use-wear identified on both scrapers and reaffutage flakes further confirm this behavior, demonstrating the use of both tools, albeit for different tasks (i.e., scraping and cutting). We discuss the ecological implications of this behavior within the Quina Mousterian. The high frequency of retouched tools and Quina or demi-Quina scrapers seems to accompany the highly mobile human groups associated with this techno complex and their seasonally organized subsistence strategies. Finally, by combining available multidisciplinary data on paleoenvironment, subsistence, and chronology, we were able to embed the neanderthal settlement of De Nadale in a regional and Western European frame, underlining the importance of the Quina Mousterian in Western Eurasia between MIS 4 and early MIS 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forager focus on wild cereal plants has been documented in the core zone of domestication in southwestern Asia, while evidence for forager use of wild grass grains remains sporadic elsewhere. In this paper, we present starch grain and phytolith analyses of dental calculus from 60 Mesolithic and Early Neolithic individuals from five sites in the Danube Gorges of the central Balkans. This zone was inhabited by likely complex Holocene foragers for several millennia before the appearance of the first farmers ~6200 cal BC. We also analyzed forager ground stone tools (GSTs) for evidence of plant processing. Our results based on the study of dental calculus show that certain species of Poaceae (species of the genus Aegilops) were used since the Early Mesolithic, while GSTs exhibit traces of a developed grass grain processing technology. The adoption of domesticated plants in this region after ~6500 cal BC might have been eased by the existing familiarity with wild cereals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several works have proved the reliability of the application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of stone tool use. Monitoring surface morphometry resulting from the use of lithic tools has the potential to objectively quantify and identify patterns of modifications associated to specific activities and worked materials. In particular, the combination of surface morphometry with a systematic experimental framework and use wear analysis has the potential of foreseeing residue distribution areas over the groundstone surfaces, hence providing a key aid in establishing sampling strategies applied to archeological specimens. Here, we propose an approach that applies 3D modeling, performed through a close-range photogrammetry, and the use of GIS software to investigate surface modifications and residue distribution on groundstones used to process wild plants. Our work comprises a dedicated experimental framework in which modern tool replicas have been used to process different species of wild plant foods through grinding, crushing, and pounding. By applying 3D modeling and spatial analysis, we were able to characterize patterns of surface modifications related to each of the worked substances and activities performed. Moreover, we monitored the distribution of starch granules over the experimental groundstone surfaces and its variation in relation to the state of the worked substance and the action carried out. Our results provide one of the first experimental dataset focused on the use of groundstones for wild plant processing, and a reliable methodology for further studies related to the exploitation of stone technology and wild vegetal substances in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent excavations (2006-2009) at the Mesolithic-Neolithic site of Vlasac in the Danube Gorges region of the north-central Balkans have focused on a reevaluation of previous conclusions about site formation processes, stratigraphy, chronology, and the nature of occupation. Mostly Late Mesolithic remains had been encountered in the preserved portion of the site, but, for the first time, in a restricted zone of the excavated area, vertical stratification of burial and occupation features yielded evidence about the use of the site in the period that is contemporaneous with Phase l-ll at Lepenski Vir, the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition phase in this region, ca. 6200-5900 cal b.c. Various strands of archaeological evidence show both continuities and discontinuities in Late Mesolithic forager life- and deathways at the start of the Neolithic in the central Balkans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The site of Riparo Dalmeri yielded numerous flint, bone, and shell artifacts, as well as faunal and botanical remains, which are evidence of the Late Upper Palaeolithic (or Late Epigravettian culture, ca. 16,000-12,000 CAL B.P.) occupation of the Alps region. The importance of the site is related to the discovery of 267 stones painted with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric designs. Here we report on ground stone tools from Riparo Dalmeri investigated by means of an integrated technofunctional and experimental approach to reconstruct their production and use. The results support the hypothesis that the ground stone artifacts were employed in specialized activities (e.g., hide treatment, flintknapping) as well as in the production of some of the painted stone artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]