Italy (Other Keyword)
1-15 (15 Records)
New computer technologies have become indispensable components in Human Sciences. Archaeology has a long history of adopting and using these technologies to document the site and the excavation process, to record the location of excavated artifacts and materials, and to assist in interpretations and analysis of the excavation and recovered finds. However, despite the constant and ever-developing applications in archaeology, the specialization of bioarchaeology has not yet developed unique...
The borders of space and time: Biological continuity at Campovalano (2016)
Territorial and cultural boundaries remain some of the most elusive and compelling areas of anthropological study. We examine biological continuity at Campovalano (Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy) to highlight ways that biology can be used to elucidate interpretations of frontiers and borderlands. We test the hypothesis that geographic location strongly influenced biological continuity in Italian history. Eighteen cranial (n=278) and five maxillary dental (n=377) metric traits, and dental morphological...
Causalities, time-scales and processes of environmental and cultural change in Italy between the Final Upper Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic (2015)
This paper reconsiders the significance of a generally warmer and wetter climate, expanded plant ranges and sea level rise to human groups in mainland and island Italy between the Final Upper Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic. Fundamental cultural changes in demography, subsistence strategies and social organization certainly coincided broadly with these environmental changes, and do suggest a degree of human adaptation, although the cultural resilience of hunter-gatherer lifestyles should not be...
Characterizing Ephemeral Paleolithic Occupations at Arma Veirana (Liguria, Italy) (2017)
This paper presents a description of recently studied assemblages from Middle and Upper Paleolithic levels at the site of Arma Veirana, a large cave located in the mountainous hinterland of Liguria. While one Mousterian level shows an intense occupation, all other levels indicate rather short-lived, low intensity occupations. Beyond technological and typological analyses of these assemblages undertaken to characterize them, we also report preliminary data on raw material procurement patterns...
Eating like a bird. Millet in Iron Age Italy: Economic, Political or identity choice? (2017)
Recent research reevaluating the evidence for consumption of millet in Archaic and Roman Italy indicates that its role has been underestimated. New findings from Iron Age and Archaic contexts at the Latin settlement of Gabii clearly support a more nuanced and complex situation than the one portrayed by ancient Latin authors and modern scholarship alike. The recovery of significant quantities of millet at Gabii is in sharp contrast with the absence of this crop in similar contexts from Iron Age...
From Iron Age Settlement to Etruscan Urban Sanctuary: Zooarchaeological Analysis at Veii (Campetti-Southwest Excavation) (2016)
Veii (Veio) was one of the most significant urban centers in central Italy during the Etruscan Period. The Campetti-Southwest excavations at Veii have uncovered more evidence from this site pertaining to its Iron Age settlement (Period I), the Etruscan period urban sanctuary (Period II), and later occupations. The focus of this research is Period I (late 9th to mid-7th cent. B.C.E.) and II (mid-7th to 4th cent. B.C.E.). The faunal remains from these time periods add to our understanding of the...
An Inland Response to ‘Orientalization’: Funerary Ritual and Local Practice in Central Italy (2017)
Greater trade and connectivity has often been associated with changes in cultural practice. This is particularly the case for the Orientalizing period for which the traditional view holds that objects, ideas and practices from the eastern Mediterranean exerted tremendous influence on local Italian communities during the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. This paper articulates the subtle differences between the presence of imported objects, changes in material culture, and alterations in cultural...
The Langobards in Italy: A Bioarchaeological Analysis of the Seventh-Century A.D. Necropolis of Sovizzo in Vicenza, Italy (2017)
The Romans and Byzantines in Veneto (northeast Italy), experienced invasions from a Germanic tribal group, the Langobards, in AD 567, with occupations lasting until the 8th century AD; however, Langobard diet and health are largely unknown during this period of transition. Information on Langobard diet and health is pertinent to understanding the political, economic, and social changes that occurred during the Langobard arrival and subsequent occupation. To address these questions, we focused on...
Lithic Analysis of Late Mousterian Assemblages at Riparo Bombrini (2015)
We present a preliminary analysis of the Late Mousterian lithic assemblages from Riparo Bombrini, in Northwestern Italy. Riparo Bombrini is an important site because it contains some of the most recent Neanderthal occupations for that region. Our analysis includes both retouched pieces and unretouched debitage, focusing especially on piece dimensions; the presence, kind, and intensity of retouch; platform and termination types; as well as raw material procurement. These multiple dimensions...
The Many Roles of Roman Dogs (2017)
The Romans had a strong interest in the natural world. Their relationships with animals extended from animals as food source to animals as exotic curiosities and everything in between. Dogs held a complicated position for the Romans, filling a wide range of roles. For example, dogs could be companions, war weapons, street cleaners, or victims of sacrifice. This variety shows how dogs were conceptualized sometimes as individuals and pets, sometimes as pests, and other times as powerful and almost...
A Taphonomic Comparison of Two Late Pleistocene Zooarchaeological Assemblages in Northwest Italy and South Africa (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Human Origins Migration and Evolution Research Consortium Poster Symposium" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A driving question in paleoanthropology is the extent of behavioral divergence in hominin species, particularly Anatomically Modern Homo sapiens (AMH) and Neanderthals. Generally, direct comparisons are restricted to Europe, where both hominin species were interacting within the same environmental constraints....
Tool-kits, Subsistence, and Land-use Patterns: The Neanderthal Ecology Revisited across a Dense Cultural Sequence in the Alpine chain (2017)
Studies of the way Neanderthal groups used knapping technologies and organized their economy and land-use are sparse in Europe and even scantier in the Alps, so only in some regions can cyclical and seasonal residential movements be inferred from data on the exploitation of ungulates with variable levels of migratory behavior. Two of the most widespread methods used in stone knapping were the Discoidal and Levallois. However, analyses of these lithic artifacts are not yet sufficiently integrated...
Transmission of Architectural Knowledge through Agricultural Practice (2016)
This paper explores an example of cultural transmission from Neolithic to modern times in central and southern Italy: the passing on of architectural knowledge through agricultural practice. Excavation and analysis of wattle and daub buildings from the Stentinello period (6th and 5th millennia B.C.) of Calabria and observation of their 20th-century counterparts prompted study of the continuation of this architectural tradition. Several constructional components have multiple utility in rural...
Upper Paleolithic Use of Space at Riparo Bombrini (Balzi Rossi, Italy) (2015)
We present an analysis of the spatial distribution of various features (hearths, dripline, etc.) and of four broad artifact classes (lithics, fauna, ochre, shell) in the proto-Aurignacian levels of Riparo Bombrini. The site is a collapsed rockshelter in the Balzi Rossi site complex and is interesting in part for having yielded very late Mousterian and very early proto-Aurignacian levels. The site thus offers an ideal setting in which to study behavioral differences between late Neanderthals and...
Volcanic winter and population replacements? Forager adaptations in Liguria during OIS 3 across the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition (2016)
There has been a lot of focus on the disruptive effects of dramatic climatic shifts on Paloelithic population dynamics, but the topic of cultural continuity across such events has been less intensely investigated. This paper presents data from some of our recent research projects in Liguria, especially from the site of Riparo Bombrini, to investigate the nature of the apparent resilience of the proto-Aurignacian in the face of events like the Phlegrean Fields eruption and the reasons why the...