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Almost 70 years after the first excavations, the site of Colombare di Villa di Negrar di Valpolicella is now the focus of a project of archaeological and paleoenvironmental investigations led by the University of Milan and the Cultural Heritage Office for the provinces of Verona, Rovigo and Vicenza. In the light of the archaeological evidence, the site was occupied from the Recent Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age, apparently without interruption. Probably it was founded in the context of systematic activities of extraction, processing and export of the high quality flint of the western Lessini Mountains, but its long duration also implies a deep-rooted presence in the territory due to the agricultural exploitation of the land. The project is based on a rigorously interdisciplinary methodology of investigation, oriented towards the study of the relations between the community settled at Colombare and the surrounding territory, and it avails itself of the collaboration of several research institutes. The results of pollen and archaeobotanical studies show a relatively developed agricultural economy, with cereal growing and wild fruit picking activities. Among these, the vine and the hazelnut are particularly important as species that must have been present in the site, probably cared for and systematically used for human consumption. Radiocarbon dates document a reduction of tree species in favor of herbaceous species starting from the last centuries of the fifth millennium BC, which can be interpreted as the effect of an extensive deforestation. Archaeozoological data, although they’re substantially unreliable in terms of function and chronological detail, indicate a prevalence of domestic animals, including typically Neolithic large cattle, and hunting activities, especially of the large ungulates of forest habitat. The very detailed data of the paleo-environmental researches at Colombare di Negrar allow to advance some considerations on the construction of the agra

The original version of this Article contained errors in the author list where Marjolein D. Bosch was omitted from the author list, and Mikołaj Urbanowski was incorrectly listed as an author of the original Article, and has subsequently been removed. The Author contributions section now reads: “S.T. W.N. and A.N. conceived the project; S.T., W.N., A.P., M.B., S.C., M.D., H.F., A.M., M.D. B., D.P., M.P.R., C.M.R., V.S-M., G.M.S., P.S., M.S., K.S., A.V., F.W., H.W., A.W., M.Z., S.B., A.N., J-J. H., performed research; S.T., A.P., W.N., M.B., M.D.B., S.C., M.D., H.F., A.M., D.P., M.P.R., C.M.R., V.S-M., G.M.S., P.S., M.S., K.S., A.V., F.W., H.W., A.W., M.Z., S.B., A.N., J-J. H. analysed all archaeological data; S.T. and A.P. wrote the paper with the collaboration of all the co-authors.” The original Article and its accompanying Supplementary Information file have been corrected.

Evidence of mobiliary art and body augmentation are associated with the cultural innovations introduced by Homo sapiens at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Here, we report the discovery of the oldest known human-modified punctate ornament, a decorated ivory pendant from the Paleolithic layers at Stajnia Cave in Poland. We describe the features of this unique piece, as well as the stratigraphic context and the details of its chronometric dating. The Stajnia Cave plate is a personal 'jewellery' object that was created 41,500 calendar years ago (directly radiocarbon dated). It is the oldest known of its kind in Eurasia and it establishes a new starting date for a tradition directly connected to the spread of modern Homo sapiens in Europe.