New Multi-disciplinary Studies Re-shape our Understanding of Neolithic Peopling and Biocultural Adaptations in Western Liguria (Northwestern Italy)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances in the Prehistory of Liguria and Neighboring Regions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Beginning in the mid-1800s, about 200 burials and an undefined number of scattered human remains have been reported from several caves and rock shelters in western Liguria. The skeletal series, excavated following the methodology of the time, were considered likely/probably/possibly "Neolithic" or "Middle Neolithic", and as such were studied by anthropologists. As a result, anthropologists could make only general inferences on "Neolithic" funerary behaviors, biological adaptations, and health and well-being.

We obtained higher-resolution information through surveying the extant Neolithic skeletal series from Liguria, re-analyzing the available documentation, and performing new direct radiocarbon dates (c 150). This allowed for the discovery of burials from the 8th, and 6th millennium cal BC. Most burials belong to the 5th millennium cal BC, when the Neolithic Square Mouth Pottery Culture was attested in Liguria. Scattered human remains span from the 6th millennium, through the Metal Ages, to historic times, attesting for a long-term use of the Ligurian caves as funerary sites. The new chronological framework allows for a characterization of possible funerary practices. In addition, through the integration of chronological, funerary, and skeletal data, we can explore possible differential funerary behaviors based on biological traits, including sex/age, but also pathology and trauma.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Recent Advances in the Prehistory of Liguria and Neighboring Regions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24409