1,721,047 research outputs found
Exploitation of carnivores, lagomorphs and rodents at Grotta Paglicci during the Epigravettian: The dawn of a new subsistence strategy?
No full textData about exploitation of carnivore, rodent and lagomorph taxa from the Epigravettian of Grotta Paglicci are presented in this paper. Grotta Paglicci is characterized by a long term stratigraphy, whose Epigravettian part covers, quite continuously, a time span from about 20,000 years cal. BP to about 13,500 years cal. BP. During this time, among mammals, the percentage of non-ungulate taxa increases with an abrupt change during the Final Epigravettian, and reaches a maximum of 45% of NISP at the top of the sequence. Taphonomy, carried out also by means of 3D-microscopy, clearly testifies to an anthropic accumulation of faunal remains. The increase in non-ungulate taxa doesn't seem to be related to a climatic change. If, on the one hand, it seems to follow the decrease in mean body size of hunted ungulates, on the other hand it is clear that the contribution of small games to the diet in terms of biomass is ephemeral. This change in the exploitation of mammal resources is probably linked to other cultural phenomena, different than the necessity to catch more food
Holocene macromammal remains from Grotta dell'Edera/Stenašca, Trieste Karst (excavations in 1990-2001)
Full text linkThe zooarchaeology and taphonomy of large mammal remains from Grotta dell'Edera (Trieste Karst, northern Italy) are presented in this paper. A Mesolithic (Sauveterrian) Preboreal assemblage testifies to a first human occupation, followed by a second longer Sauveterrian frequentation from the Boreal until the beginning of the Atlantic. The last Mesolithic groups are represented by a Castelnovian assemblage, in which the bones of domesticates were detected with wild games remains. The presence of weathered bones in this layer indicates possible slow sedimentation, which may have led to the formation of a palimpsest, but more geoarchaeological data are needed to clarify this context. Neolithic and Eneolithic layers are characterized by an overwhelming presence of caprines and by an increase in the domestic pig and cattle through time. A number of caprine foetal remains points to the presence of individuals accumulated due to natural death and to the caution needed in evaluating caprine age profiles from sites used as stables
Nuove considerazioni sugli “aghi da rete” rinvenuti in alcuni siti archeologici del Carso triestino
No full textMicroCT imaging of canid diaphyses: Bone ontogeny from a zooarchaeological and digital perspective
Full text linkX-ray microCT offers the possibility of studying the internal structure of animal remains by detecting age-related changes in bone microstructure. In the present work, we analyse developmental patterns of the diaphyseal structure in canids. In particular, the first metacarpal of current and archaeological individuals of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and wolf (Canis lupus) was analysed. Variables describing bone structure were measured by inferring bone development through the observation of cross-sections. The results show how bone structure changes over the course of a lifetime and how this approach makes it possible to separate young and older individuals. This is important from a zooarchaeological point of view to estimate the age at death of fragmentary animal remains and to discriminate taxa characterised by similar morphology but different adult body size using a non-destructive approach
Depositional processes and environmental settings in rock shelters: The case of the prehistoric Oscurusciuto site (Southern Italy)
Full text linkClastic successions in rock shelters commonly host important archaeological findings, especially of prehistoric and protostoric times. The understanding of depositional and post-depositional processes in these environments is crucial to understand the lifestyle settings of humans, as well as the reliability of archaeological data obtained during excavations. Rock shelters are genetically related to caves, but while depositional processes in caves are generally well known, less information is available concerning the depositional processes active in rock shelters. This paper tries to contribute to this issue, describing the sedimentary succession exposed at the Oscurusciuto rock shelter (Ginosa, Southern Italy). This is one of the most important Middle Palaeolithic sites of the Italian peninsula, and its sedimentary infill hosts witnesses of very late Neanderthal populations that lived in Italy just before their total decline and complete replacement by Modern Humans (MH). This work presents the results of a sedimentologically based study integrated with an ichnological study of selected beds. The combination of these two methodologies allowed us to: (i) define the main depositional processes active in the rock shelter environment, as well as the relationships between different processes; (ii) discuss the meaning of peculiar ichnofabrics recognized at the site, and (iii) discuss the meaning of structureless strata at an archeological site in the framework of human trampling vs bioturbation as a cause of the obliteration of primary sedimentary structures
MicroCT imaging of Red Fox talus: a non-destructive approach to age at death estimation
No full textX-ray microCT imaging offers the possibility to study age-related changes of bone microstructure. In the present paper we analyse the talus of 15 modern red foxes of different ages, from 2 months old to adulthood, to investigate the possibility of identifying their different ages at death. Surface and volumetric variables describing bone properties are measured or evaluated from the microCT images following three approaches: (i) the bone volume to total volume ratio, quantified for the whole bones; (ii) two homologous subvolumes of trabecular tissue, virtually extracted and analysed to evaluate trabecular bone structure; and (iii) the development of the cortical region, deduced through the analysis of bone cross-sections. All approaches yielded interesting information on bone development, and preliminary results show that the third approach clearly allows us to discriminate among different age groups. This is important both from a zooarchaeological and a palaeontological perspective, suggesting that microCT imaging can be considered a new non-invasive tool to estimate the age at death of animal remains, or to discriminate taxa characterized by a close morphology but different adult body size
MicroCT analysis of archaeozoological remains: a non-destructive approach to the age estimation
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Climbing the time to see Neanderthal behaviour’s continuity and discontinuity: SU 11 of the Oscurusciuto Rockshelter (Ginosa, Southern Italy)
Full text linkThe Oscurusciuto Rockshelter (Ginosa, Southern Italy) is a perfect sample-site for the reconstruction of multiple aspects of the last Neanderthals life. Different settlement strategies are attested in the excavated portion of the stratigraphic sequence, dated between ~ 55 and 43 ka BP. As a first goal, the reconstruction of the site spatial organization across the palimpsest SU 11 was achieved by a high-temporal-resolution approach (assisted by sedimentological analysis), integrating lithic technology, zooarchaeology and spatial analysis (by means of the GIS technology). As a second goal, a diachronic perspective was adopted by comparing results from SU 11 with the previously studied evidence from the underlying SU 13. Results were processed at a diachronic scale, highlighting similarities and differences related both to the type of activities carried out at the site and to their spatial management. This allowed us to recognize discontinuities and, especially, continuities of settlement dynamics, which can be related to phenomena of cultural transmission hinting to a “memory of places”. Such results stimulate the debate not only on the necessity to study Middle Palaeolithic contexts at different temporal scales but also on the necessity to develop more refined multidisciplinary analytical protocols. The study of settlement dynamics at high-resolution scales allows to take advantage of the potentialities of contextual analysis i.e. the integration of results from different disciplines and data from the whole range of archaeological evidence in order to reconstruct solid behavioural models
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