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Excavations for the construction of thermal pools at Poggetti Vecchi (Grosseto, Tuscany, central Italy) exposed a series of wooden tools in an open-air stratified site referable to late Middle Pleistocene. The wooden artifacts were uncovered, together with stone tools and fossil bones, largely belonging to the straight-tusked elephant Paleoloxodon antiquus. The site is radiometrically dated to around 171,000 y B.P., and hence correlated with the early marine isotope stage 6 [Benvenuti M, et al. (2017) Quat Res 88:327-344]. The sticks, all fragmentary, are made from boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) and were over 1 m long, rounded at one end and pointed at the other. They have been partially charred, possibly to lessen the labor of scraping boxwood, using a technique so far not documented at the time. The wooden artifacts have the size and features of multipurpose tools known as "digging sticks," which are quite commonly used by foragers. This discovery from Poggetti Vecchi provides evidence of the processing and use of wood by early Neanderthals, showing their ability to use fire in tool making from very tough wood.

Work on thermal pools at Poggetti Vecchi in Grosseto, Italy, exposed an up to 3-meter-thick succession of seven sedimentary units. Unit 2 in the lower portion of the succession contained vertebrate bones, mostly of the straight-tusked elephant, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, commingled with stone, bone, and wooden tools. Thermal carbonates overlying Unit 2 are radiometrically dated to the latter part of the middle Pleistocene. This time span indicates that early Neanderthals produced the human artifacts from Poggetti Vecchi. The elephant bones belong to seven individuals of different ages. Sedimentary facies analysis and paleoecological evidence suggest a narrow lacustrine-palustrine embayment affected by water-level fluctuations and, at times, by hydrothermal water. Cyclic lake-level variations were predominantly forced by the rapid climatic fluctuations that occurred at Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6–7 transition and throughout the MIS 6. Possibly an abrupt, intense, and protracted cold episode during the onset of MIS 6 led to the sudden death of the elephants, which formed an unexpected food resource for the humans of the area. The Poggetti Vecchi site adds new information on the behavioral plasticity and food procurement strategies that early Neanderthals were able to develop in Italy during the middle to the late Pleistocene transition.

International audience; The present study is a review of the archaeobotanical analyses carried out in the last decade at the three ancient Roman port/dock system sites of Pisae, Portus, and Neapolis. Pollen, plant macrofossils (leaf, wood, seed/fruit macroremains) and wood constituting the shipwrecks were considered, and the results, partly unpublished, integrated and interpreted. Waterlogged sediments from these port areas turned out to be particularly suited for archaeobotanical analysis and opened new perspectives in ancient harbour studies. This is the first time that a synthesis of archaeobotanical data from Italian archaeological sites of the same typology is attempted for the Roman period. The disparate sampling strategies and available materials for macrofossil analysis in the various sites – cores in Portus, short sediment sequences in Pisae, and single visible hand-collected macroremains in Neapolis – conditioned the results obtained for these remains, making the comparison among sites a particularly difficult task. The urgency of establishing a common protocol between archaeologists and archaeobotanists is thus emphasized. The plant micro-and macrofossils highlight that in Roman times the landscape of the Italian coasts between Pisa and Naples was formed by deciduous oak plain forests (whose relicts are preserved in some protected areas, like in Parco Nazionale del Circeo, south of Rome and along the coast of the Pisan plain, in the Migliarino San Rossore Regional Park) with prevalence of mesophilous elements. The Mediterranean vegetation was not widespread as expected and maquis was limited to small areas by the coast. Surprisingly, mountain elements such as beech and silver fir were not so rare in pre-Roman times, suggesting that these trees could have occupied wider areas than at present. Besides food plant remains typical of the Roman age, the port sediments also preserved seeds, fruits and leaves of the wild vegetation. Comparing the results obtained by palynology with the shipwreck wood study showed that the boats were prevailingly built with local timber, often with conifers. The use of silver fir, though never very frequent, still confirms the preference of shipbuilders for this timber, which was not always available in the close surroundings of the three sites.

Master Erasmus Mundus em Quaternário e Pré-História O sítio arqueológico de Via Neruda, localizado em Sesto Fiorentino (Florença, Itália), é datável entre o final da Antiga Idade do Bronze e o início da Média Idade do Bronze. Foi objeto de uma campanha de escavações no 1999, efetuada com a direção científica da secção de Pré-História da Universidade de Siena e de Florença, sendo estas encarregadas pela Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana. Ó sítio arqueológico devolveu uma quantidade de macro restos vegetais, entre os quais muitos carvões e alguns lenhos, que são o objeto de estudo na presente dissertação. Entre os carvões, alguns são consideráveis pertencentes a estruturas relativas a frequentação humana. Objetivo da presente dissertação é de perceber as conhecenças e o uso do lenho desta comunidade humana da Idade do Bronze. As análises furam feitas no Laboratório da Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana. A análise antracológica dos carvões das estruturas evidenciou o uso de: Ulmus cfr. minor, Quercus spp. caducifolia, Fraxinus excelsior L., Acer cfr. campestre, Sorbus sp., Prunus cfr. avium e Populus cfr. alba. A escolha de alguns destes taxa arbóreos parece indicar uma boa conhecença das características das várias madeiras fornecidas pelas diferentes árvores identificadas (Sorbus sp., Acer cfr. campestre, Prunus cfr. avium e Populus cfr. alba); enquanto, para as outras madeiras identificadas (Sorbus sp., Acer cfr. campestre, Prunus cfr. avium e Populus cfr. alba) parecem a por em relação, mais que a escolhas especificas, ao seu abastecimento no território, provavelmente fácil, explorando as árvores das quais furam obtidos. Os resultados finais da análise xilo-antracológica de Via Neruda permitiram de identificar além das taxa já elencadas, também: Phyllirea cfr. latifolia, Cornus cfr. mas e Abies cfr. alba. O conjunto dos taxa identificados parece representar o testemunho de uma floresta sub-humida de planície. A única evidência de Abies cfr. alba, por causa das diferentes exigências eco edáficas desta espécie, em respeito as outras reconhecidas, parece a por em relação a um provável abastecimento em diferentes ambientes, provavelmente os das colinas nos arredores.