1,721,070 research outputs found
The arrival of Homo sapiens in the Near East and Europe
No full textHomo sapiens evolved in Africa during the late Middle Pleistocene, dispersed to South-East and East Asia at c. 100 ka BP, and only at c. 50 ka BP crossed the gates of Europe. Thus far, the European archaeological data suggest consecutive waves of migrations of H. sapiens from the Levant and both along the Danube River and the Mediterranean coast. The earliest dispersal reached Bulgaria and Moravia as well as southern Europe at ~ 47–44 ka BP, whereas another wave diffused rapidly between ~ 44 and 42 ka BP to Central Europe and the Western Mediterranean. In concomitance of these migrations, new cultural behaviours emerged in the European territories and, at ~ 41–39 ka BP, Neanderthals, the autochthonous European population, demised. The foremost consequence of these displacements in different territories and environments is that H. sapiens lasted as the only human species on Earth
Re-sharpening the arguments: integrating data on Ahmarian technology and typology in Al-Ansab 1 (Jordan)
No full textThe Ahmarian is an Upper Palaeolithic industry developing in the Levant between 45-42 and 36
ka cal BP. Al-Ansab 1 is one of the most recently excavated Ahmarian stratified sites (Richter et
al., 2020). The site is featuring a rich assemblage of findings, that can be subjected to in-depth
analyses to better understand Ahmarian life-ways (Richter et al., 2020; Schoenenberg & Sauer,
2022). As part of that, we investigated the relationship between the lithic technology and the
Ahmarian fossil directeur, the El - Wad point. The El-Wad point is a much-discussed type, but
most of the authors agree that it features a tip “shaped by fine and/or steep retouch, usually on
their dorsal face”(Shea, 2013, p. 140). Seminal research on the southern Ahmarian suggested that
El-Wad points are perfectly inserted within the technological system, which produces
unidirectional slender blades and bladelets from narrow-fronted cores (Belfer-Cohen & Goring-
Morris, 2008; Goring-Morris & Davidzon, 2006). To bring fresh arguments, we selected 2175
artefacts for the technological analysis (cores and complete and semi-complete flakes, blades and
bladelets) and 25 complete El-Wad points. The technological analysis appoints on a chaîne
opératoire approach corroborated by morpho-technological attributes, the typological analysis
isacombinationofmorphometricattributestobetterconstrainthetype.Thetechnologicalanalysis
revealed a complete on-site reduction focused on the obtention of straight in profile, regular,
unipolar blanks from narrow portions of the flaking surface: most of them are bladelets, i.e. less
than 12 mm in width. The El-Wad points are fabricated on blanks having the aforementioned characteristics, they are mostly concentrated in a narrow interval of width values (13.3-10.2 mm)
and they are significantly more elongated than the rest of simple blades and/or bladelets. They
feature a variety of retouch combinations, but mostly a continuous retouch along one edge that
couldvaryfromslighttomoresubstantialmodificationtowardsthetip.Asaresultofbothanalyses,
we suggest that Ahmarian knappers in Al-Ansab 1 were mostly looking for regular hafting
implements.Therefore,theyfocusedonsmallersizes,whichprovidedahigherchanceofregularity.
Less optimal blanks, mostly coming from the earliest part of the reduction, were additionally
shaped to increase symmetry or edge convergence
Follow the river: the Pontecosi Upper Palaeolithic site in NW Tuscany (Italy)
No full textPontecosi is a Late Pleistocene open-air site on a riverbank of the Serchio river (NW Tuscany, Italy). It was exposed in 1996 by construction works and a rescue excavation ensued in 1998-2000, leading to the discovery of lithic artefact concentrations in loamy-silty sediments. No organic material was preserved, except for rare and dispersed charcoals. A charcoal concentration, without associated artefacts, was found in a pit. The 14C dating gave a Late Mesolithic age (6740 ± 70 BP). Instead, the artefacts' techno-typology suggests a much earlier chronology, i.e. late Aurignacian. The major feature supporting this attribution is the presence of small, carinated artefacts, similar to nosed endscrapers (Dini et al. 2010). Most of the knapped stone assemblage suggests the use of raw materials available from primary and secondary sources in the site’s surroundings. Moreover, a minor percentage comes from non-local sources In the framework of a new research project (MobiliTy), the Pontecosi assemblage is being re-analysed to provide new insights into technology and raw material economy at the site. The general scarcity of Aurignacian/early Gravettian sites in Central Italy makes Pontecosi of great importance to understand the peopling of this area during the Early Upper Palaeolithic. Preliminary considerations on the techno-typology and the raw material use will be presented. The carinated artefacts are part of a strategy to produce microbladelets from narrow surfaces. The presence of microgravettes and only one Dufour bladelet show that the assemblage is probably of Gravettian tradition or at the boundary with the Aurignacian. The macroscopical raw material determination shows that at least two lithic raw materials are likely exotic or rare, due to their small occurrence and frequent curation. Planned new surveys, raw material determination with a petrological approach, spatial analysis and new 14C dating will shed light on the Upper Palaeolithic occupation of Pontecosi and the surrounding region.
Acknowledgements:
I am thankful to Prof. Carlo Tozzi for sharing documentation and information about the Pontecosi site excavation. I am thankful to the SABAP (Soprintendenza Archaeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio) of Lucca and Massa Carrara for granting the study permit. Research is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No. 101061427 – MobiliTy.
References:
Dini, M., Baills, H., & Tozzi, C. (2010). Pontecosi : un site aurignacien en Toscane (Italie). L’Anthropologie, 114(1), 26–47
Tooth microwear and mesowear raw data of the Holsteinian large herbivores from Steinheim and Heppenloch (Middle Pleistocene, Germany)
No full textRaw data from the tooth mesowear and microwear analyses of the large herbivores from Steinheim and Heppenloch
Tooth microwear and mesowear raw data of the horse (Equus ferus) from Divnogor'ye 9 (Late Pleistocene, Russia)
No full textTooth microwear and mesowear raw data of the horse (Equus ferus) specimens from layers 5 and 6 from Divnogor'ye 9 (Late Pleistocene, Russia
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Reinvestigation of Buca della Iena and Grotta del Capriolo shed light onto late Neanderthals in northwestern Tuscany (Italy)
No full textBuca della Iena and Grotta del Capriolo are two small karst caves in northwestern Tuscany
(Italy). At both sites, the deposits were completely excavated between 1966 and 1972 and
revealed Mousterian lithic assemblages associated with Pleistocene fauna (Pitti and Tozzi, 1971).
The archaeological sequence at Buca della Iena rests upon a flowstone dividing spit 14 from spit
15. No artefact was reported from underneath the flowstone and spit 15 is considered a
carnivore den. The flowstone’s TH230/U238 date from 1968 is <41 ka and <51 ka, therefore
aligning with those obtained from a flowstone in the neighbouring Grotta all’Onda site (39.3 ±
3.2 ka - Fornaca-Rinaldi and Radmilli, 1968). This suggests the presence of Neanderthals in
northern Tuscany at the very end of their history (41.1–39.3 ka cal - Higham et al., 2014).
Unfortunately, the flowstones were destroyed, with no samples preserved, and subsequent
investigations at Grotta all’Onda failed to replicate the original date (Berton et al., 2003). Consequently, together with a stratigraphical and artefact reassessment, a decision was made to
conduct new radiocarbon dating on bones from Buca della Iena and Grotta del Capriolo. Bone
samples, selected to represent the entirety of the archaeological sequence, underwent scrutiny
for nitrogen content. Ten samples were processed for AMS radiocarbon dating: five Buca della
Iena samples treated with ultrafiltration pretreatment, one Buca della Iena sample and four
Grotta del Capriolo samples treated without ultrafiltration due to lower collagen yields.
The resulting dates indicate that the associated lithic assemblages can be confidently attributed
to the mid-MIS 3 period (54 – 40 ka cal BP at Grotta del Capriolo, 50 – 40 ka cal BP at Buca della
Iena). These new results provide a reliable chronology for the late Mousterian sites in
northwestern Tuscany and stimulate hypotheses concerning the fate of Neanderthal groups
living along the western coast of the Italian peninsula
Late Neanderthals and their environment in northwestern Tuscany: news from Buca del Tasso
No full textBuca del Tasso is a karst cave located in northern Tuscany in the southern Apuan Alps mountain range (10.338128E, 43.948155N WGS84; 465 a.s.l.). The cave was discovered in 1919 and completely excavated in the three following years (Stefanini et al. 1922). The original excavators found Pleistocene fauna in association with Mousterian artifacts. The stratigraphic succession consists of three main levels: Level A with abundant fauna and Mousterian industry, level B sterile, and level C with scarce fauna and Mousterian artifacts. Later, a more in-depth analysis of 90 the fauna assemblage showed the existence of a fragmentary human femur diaphysis attributed to a juvenile individual of H. neanderthalensis (Alciati et al. 2005). The fauna shows taxa typical of a mountain alpine range (C. ibex, M. marmota) and extinct taxa (U. spelaeus) or taxa more compatible with open steppe environments (S. kirchbergensis). Albeit no radiometric dating was available, comparison with nearby caves where Mousterian artifacts and Pleistocene fauna were found, suggested an age spanning the Riss-Wurm interglacial phases. The scarce lithic industry (7 artifacts in Level C and 37 in Level A) is linked with the Late Mousterian, characterized by the Levallois method to produce elongated blanks (Palma di Cesnola 1970). The accumulated faunal remains can be attributed to human input given the few carnivore remains. Two recent complementary research projects are re-investigating the significance of the site to compare it with the Apennine Peninsula late Pleistocene context. In this work, we present the site to the international community and new, important radiocarbon dating obtained on faunal remains from Level A and C. Level A returned a 40,2 ± 1,3 ka BP date while Level C is 48,0 ± 3,4 ka BP. According to the dating, we selected the climatic dataset using R package Pastclim, with a spatial resolution of 0.5° × 0.5° at intervals of 1,000 years (Leonardi et al. 2022). Findings pointed out that the temperature steadily declined towards the recent phase, but while the temperature was relatively mild at times of frequentation (Level A and C) there is a drop in temperature between the two periods, consistent with the sterile Level B. Findings at Buca del Tasso might highlight an area of late Neanderthal survival along the Ligurian-northern Tyrrhenian coast (Riel-Salvatore et al. 2022).
References:
Alciati, G., Delfno Pesce, V., & Vacca, E. (Eds.). (2005). Catalogue of Italian fossil human remains from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic. Journal of Anthropological Sciences, 83(Suppl.), 1–184.
Leonardi, M., Hallett, E. Y., Beyer, R., Krapp, M., & Manica, A. (2022). pastclim: an R package to easily access and use paleoclimatic reconstructions Preprint. Evolutionary Biology.
Palma di Cesnola, A. (1970). Cenni sui più antichi insediamenti umani della Alpi Apuane. Lavori Soc. Ital. Biogeogr., 1, 715–740.
Riel-Salvatore, J., Negrino, F., Pothier Bouchard, G., Vallerand, A., Costa, S., & Benazzi, S. (2022). The ‘Semi-Sterile Mousterian’ of Riparo Bombrini: evidence of a late-lasting Neanderthal refugium in Liguria. Journal of Quaternary Science, 37(2), 268–282.
Stefanini, G., Fabiani, R., Del Campana, D., & Puccioni, N. (1922). La ‘Buca del Tasso’ a Metato (Alpi Apuane) scavi del 1919, 1920 e 1922. Archivio per l’Etnologia e l’Antropologia, 52, 226–26
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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