1,721,051 research outputs found
Surface modifications of flint tools and their functional meaning
No full textThe possibility to interpret prehistoric tools function, that in many cases constitutes the only preserved evidence of a certain human group activities, allows to acquire information on the poor knowledge of prehistoric daily way of life such as subsistence strategies and environmental exploitation adopted during prehistory. Starting with the English translation, in 1964, of the reference work of the sovietic archaeologist S. A. Semenov Prehistoric Technology, the discipline of functional analysis on prehistoric stone tools became more and more diffused since becoming nowadays a very significant issue for the studies on stone tools operative chains. The method is based on the recognition of the microscopic alterations that endures the surface of stone tools (among which flint is one of the most used) when the rock surface enters in contact with the worked material. The information that can be obtained from this type of study regard the activity carried out by the implement (its cinematic e.g. to abrade, to cut) and the worked material (skin, bone, wood). The heuristic devices suitable for the observation of use-wear traces are currently optical and electronic microscopes (metallographic microscope, SEM and AFM). In this paper we propose an overview on such methodological application in the field of prehistoric studies with reference to the on going research
Pianosa – Nascita di un’isola. Diciannove milioni di anni di storia geologica. Dalle prime rocce alla migrazione dei cervi nell’ultimo periodo glaciale
No full textPremessa alla Guida a cura di Franca Zanichelli e Luca Maria Foresi:
A Cala di Biagio, nel buio di una caverna che si
apre sul mare alcuni studiosi hanno raccolto resti
di faune che hanno popolato quelle terre che oggi
chiamiamo isola di Pianosa. Già nella seconda metà
dell’Ottocento l’archeologo don Gaetano Chierici,
il fondatore della paletnologia in Italia, scavò in
quello stesso anfratto con l’intento di raccogliere
indizi delle antiche presenze umane concentrandosi
su affioramenti che restituirono significativi
elementi dell’Età del Bronzo. Rimase intatto un
importante giacimento, di età precedente, che
oggi ci ha restituito reperti fossili di mammiferi,
3 crani di cervi mostrati al pubblico per la prima
volta in questa esposizione e altre ossa di faune
minori, tuttora in studio. Nelle parti della grotta,
sollevando lo sguardo verso l’alto sono peraltro
visibili i tondi fori di litodomi, inequivocabile indizio
della dissoluzione chimica provocata da organismi
marini, per cui di una fase in cui il livello del mare
era più alto di quello attuale.
Questa breve narrazione ci fa riflettere su alcune
questioni. La grotta è solo a pochi metri sul mare e
questo non sarebbe stato davvero un luogo sicuro
per i nostri antenati, forti e intraprendenti, ma
poco attrezzati. Quindi è probabile che il livello
dell’acqua fosse più in basso di quello attuale e
probabilmente l’anfratto doveva essere un riparo in
quota. Se poi c’erano stati in giro ungulati grande
taglia come i cervi che pascolano nelle foreste,
dovevano esservi spazi ampi per avere sufficiente
nutrimento, in definitiva non poteva non esservi un
collegamento più o meno ampio con la terraferma.
La mostra perciò si intitola la nascita di un’isola
e l’esposizione didattica ne racconta l’origine
geologica e gli eventi desumibili dai resti fossili
e dalle rocce. Sotto la guida degli esperti quegli
ammassi di gusci più o meno pietrificati si animano
e ci consentono di leggere le vicende geologiche
che hanno portato alla formazione dell’isola, al
susseguirsi di eventi tettonici e bioclimatici che
hanno segnato profondamente la storia iniziale
Socio-economic relations and settlement dynamics in the Upper Tiber Valley during the Bronze Age. The case-study of Gorgo del Ciliegio (Tuscany – Italy)
No full textSummary – Socio-economic relations and settlement dynamics in the Upper Tiber Valley during
the Bronze Age. The case-study of Gorgo del Ciliegio (Tuscany – Italy). The Middle Bronze Age
site of Gorgo del Ciliegio is located in the Upper Tiber valley near the Apennine passes to the Adriatic side, in
an area subject to socio-cultural and economic influences stemming from both eastern and western regions of
Central Italy. Pottery production, faunal association and the occurrence of allochthonous materials, like amber
and flint, connected to a specific settlement pattern, suggest the development of relationships and exchanges
between this site and the Adriatic area during the Middle Bronze Age.
Riassunto – Rapporti socio-economici e dinamiche insediative nell’Alta Valtiberina durante
l’età del Bronzo. Il caso-studio di Gorgo del Ciliegio (Toscana – Italia). L’abitato della media età
del Bronzo di Gorgo del Ciliegio è situato nell’Alta Valtiberina vicino ai passi appenninici che conducono al
versante adriatico, in un’area soggetta ad influssi socio-culturali ed economici provenienti sia dalle regioni
orientali che da quelle occidentali del Centro-Italia. La produzione ceramica, l’associazione faunistica e la presenza di materiali esogeni, come ambra e selce, unitamente all’adozione di un particolare modello insediativo,
suggeriscono l’esistenza di rapporti e scambi tra questo sito e l’area adriatica durante la media età del Bronzo
Manifestazioni d’arte inedite e analisi tecnologica dell’arte mobiliare di Grotta Paglicci (Rignano Garganico - Foggia)
No full textUnpublished artistic evidences and technological analysis of the portable art of Paglicci cave (Rignano Garganico - Fog- gia) - Paglicci cave (Rignano Garganico), more than representing the only evidence of the italian Paleolithic wall painting, shows moreover an artistic production of exceptional importance, that offers a rich and articulated documentation about portable art. Excavations have brought to light numerous artistic objects, some of them coming from a precise stratigraphic position which ranges between Evolved Gravettian and Final Epigravettian. This study faces the technological analysis of the bone objects with naturalistic engravings, with an approach that allows to deepen what previously put in light, over the years, from Mezzena and Palma di Cesnola under the stylistic and chronological aspect. Particular attention has been placed in the reconstruction of the gestures (operative chain), in the search of eventual diversities in diachronic sense and in the ochre use modalities. © Museo delle Scienze, Trento 2012
Manifestazioni (Parte inedite e analisi tecnologica dell'arte mobiliare di Grotta Paglicci (Rignano Garganico - Foggia)
No full textUnpublished artistic evidences and technological analysis of the portable art of Paglicci cave (Rignano Garganico - Fog- gia) - Paglicci cave (Rignano Garganico), more than representing the only evidence of the italian Paleolithic wall painting, shows moreover an artistic production of exceptional importance, that offers a rich and articulated documentation about portable art. Excavations have brought to light numerous artistic objects, some of them coming from a precise stratigraphic position which ranges between Evolved Gravettian and Final Epigravettian. This study faces the technological analysis of the bone objects with naturalistic engravings, with an approach that allows to deepen what previously put in light, over the years, from Mezzena and Palma di Cesnola under the stylistic and chronological aspect. Particular attention has been placed in the reconstruction of the gestures (operative chain), in the search of eventual diversities in diachronic sense and in the ochre use modalities. © Museo delle Scienze, Trento 2012
How to make and use a bone “spatula”. An experimental program based on the Mesolithic osseous assemblage of Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca (Salurn/Salorno, BZ, Italy)
No full textThis paper focuses on the techno-functional study of a tool with a smooth end, typologically classifiable as spatula, made from a red deer metatarsal recovered at the early Mesolithic rock-shelter GalgenbÃ1⁄4hel/Dos de la Forca. The site is located in the middle Adige Valley at Salurn/Salorno (South Tyrol â Northern Italy) and was dwelled by Sauveterrian hunter-gatherer-fisher-communities from the mid-9th to the mid-8th millennium cal. BC. Subsistence was based on the exploitation of wetland and valley bottom resources including an intense and at times specialized fishing activity. The identification of a probable harpoon fragment among the few but well preserved bone and antler artefacts detected at the site could in fact be part of fishing equipment. The main goal of this study was to recognize the specific use of the tool with a smooth end by means of use-wear analysis. It is quite difficult, indeed, to establish a specific function for this kind of tools as their morphological characters make them suitable for various tasks. A dedicated experimental program was developed to this scope, which involved manufacture and use of spatula replicas for different activities: fish scaling, beading fish heads, working tanned skin, net making, sewing reeds and working birch bark. The implementation of the experimental activity was also aimed at testing tool functionality in the course of the various tasks. The comparison between archaeological and experimental use-wear seems to indicate that the bone tool from GalgenbÃ1⁄4hel was used as a needle for working vegetal material. On the other hand our experiments revealed a high functionality of this kind of tool also in beading fish heads, working tanned hide and bending birch bark
Materiali della media età del bronzo da santa marinella (spello-pg)
No full textThe Bronze age site of santa Marinella is located in the Umbra Valley (spello). Material (mainly pottery and metalwork) was recovered during a number of surface surveys. pottery is featured by the presence of prevailing coarse shards belonging to ovoid and globular vessels. a smaller component is made up of less deep well finished pots, occasionally decorated in the appennine style. the discovery of Bertarina-like daggers and of upright cylindrical extensions handles, suggest that the site of santa Marinella can be attributed to a transitional phase from the Middle to the recent Bronze age
Gorgo del Ciliegio (Sansepolcro-AR): un abitato della media età del Bronzo nell’Alta Valtiberina toscana (campagne di scavo 2001-2008)
Full text linkLa scoperta dell’insediamento di Gorgo del Ciliegio costituisce, per quanto riguarda il territorio altotiberino, un’importante acquisizione; fino allo scorso secolo le conoscenze sulla pre-protostoria della zona si arrestavano, infatti, alle fasi iniziali della media età del Bronzo attestate, in modo più o meno consistente, in una serie di stanziamenti dislocati per la maggior parte lungo la valle del Tevere.
L’estensione dell’abitato e la presenza di strutture di varia tipologia, talora complesse, possono considerarsi indicative di una certa stabilità e durata. Le evidenze finora portate alla luce documentano inoltre l’esistenza di una precisa organizzazione degli spazi abitativi con aree deputate a funzioni diversificate. L’indagine condotta sui resti faunistici descrive un’economia a carattere misto in cui l’allevamento di ovicaprini aveva senz’altro un ruolo centrale fra le attività dell’insediamento, assieme a quello dei suini e dei bovini. Lo studio dei macroresti vegetali, ancora in fase iniziale, potrà contribuire a meglio delineare il quadro delle informazioni relative agli aspetti paleoeconomici e paleoambientali
Geometric morphometrics reveal relationship between cut-mark morphology and cutting tools
Full text linkThe analysis of bone-surface modifications (BSM), such as butchering marks, is necessary to better understand how the exploitation of animal resources by past hominins influenced their biological and cultural evolution. In this paper, we try to quantify to what extent the depth of the cut marks influences the shape of their cross sections. This is of crucial importance for a valid interpretation of the shape data collected on archaeological BSMs. Two groups of slicing cut-mark cross sections were experimentally produced with two flint burins on a defleshed cattle innominate, and a set of butchering marks were produced with an unretouched flint flake. These were analysed by means of 3D microscopy and geometric morphometrics. The resulting sets of striae show different depths and different cross-sectional shapes. Shallower cross sections display less steep walls and, consequently, a wider opening angle. When the characteristics of the burin cutting edges were investigated, it was clear that the difference in shape between the two groups of striations was probably a function of the way in which the tool penetrated the bone. These results are taphonomically relevant since similar differences in cross-sectional shapes have been found in marks produced with different tools
Materials from the Middle Bronze Age of Santa Marinella (Spello-PG) [Materiali della media età del Bronzo Da Santa Marinella](Spello-PG)
No full textThe Bronze age site of santa Marinella is located in the Umbra Valley (spello). Material (mainly pottery and metalwork) was recovered during a number of surface surveys. pottery is featured by the presence of prevailing coarse shards belonging to ovoid and globular vessels. a smaller component is made up of less deep well finished pots, occasionally decorated in the appennine style. the discovery of Bertarina-like daggers and of upright cylindrical extensions handles, suggest that the site of santa Marinella can be attributed to a transitional phase from the Middle to the recent Bronze age
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