Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Uluzzian in the north of Italy: insights around the new evidence at Riparo Broion

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In attempt to enlighten the debate on the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, this work contributes new data from a yet unpublished site, Riparo Broion in the north-east of Italy. Studies confirm the presence of the Uluzzian technocomplex embedded in an archaeological sequence which includes Mousterian, Gravettian and Epigravettian. These layers have yielded finds of bone and lithic technology, shell beads, engraved portable art and the use of red mineral pigments, which make this archive a unique case for evaluating the implications of cultural dynamics in Northern Italy 44.0–42.4 ky BP. The diversity of the faunal assemblage recovered in layers 1f and 1g is representative of the different environments surrounding the site, with ungulates being targeted for hunting and consumption. The lithic assemblage records a high fragmentation rate due to the extensive use of the bipolar knapping technique, responsible for a large variety of splintered pieces and associated chips which also affected the backed pieces, lunates and end-scrapers. The features of the bone tools, as well as those of the marine and freshwater beads, echo the technique used in the Uluzzian in the south of Italy, confirming the geographic spread of this technocomplex in the North Adriatic region, as previously envisaged at Grotta Fumane. However, comparisons between these two sites stimulate a discussion around the possible driving forces responsible for the differences observed in technological, typological and structural lithic assemblages. A definitive scenario for the Middle Palaeolithic–Upper Palaeolithic transition in this region of Southern Europe is ongoing and Riparo Broion is adding key contributions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aitken RJ (1974) Delayed implantation in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). J Reprod Fertil 39:225–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Aleo A, Duches R, Rots V, Peresani M (2017) A technological and functional examination of the Aurignacian end-scrapers from Grotta di Fumane. PESHE 6:8

  • Bartolomei G, Broglio A, Cassoli P, Castelletti L, Cremaschi M, Giacobini G, Malerba G, Maspero A, Peresani M, Sartorelli A, Tagliacozzo A (1992) La Grotte-Abri de Fumane. Un site Aurignacien au Sud des Alps. Preistoria Alpina 28:131–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Bar-Yosef O, Bordes J-G (2010) Who were the makers of the Châtelperronian culture? J Hum Evol 59:586–593

    Google Scholar 

  • Benazzi S (2012) The first modern Europeans. J Anthropol Sci 90:3–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Benazzi S, Douka K, Fornai C, Bauer CC, Kullmer O, Svoboda J, Pap I, Mallegni F, Bayle P, Coquerelle M, Condemi S, Ronchitelli A, Harvati K, Weber GW (2011) Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour. Nature 479:525–528

    Google Scholar 

  • Benazzi S, Bailey SE, Peresani M, Mannino M, Romandini M, Richards MP, Hublin JJ (2014) Middle Paleolithic and Uluzzian human remains from Fumane Cave, Italy. J Hum Evol 70:61–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Benazzi S, Slon V, Talamo S, Negrino F, Peresani M, Bailey SE, Sawyer S, Panetta D, Vicino G, Starnini E, Mannino MA, Salvadori PA, Meyer M, Pääbo S, Hublin JJ (2015) The makers of the Protoaurignacian and implications for Neandertal extinction. Science 348(6236):793–796

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertola S (2001) Contributo allo studio del comportamento dei primi gruppi di H. Sapiens diffusi in Europa—Sfruttamento della selce, produzione dei supporti lamellari, confezione delle armature litiche nel sito aurignaziano della Grotta di Fumane nei Monti Lessini (Verona). PhD dissertation, Consortium universities of Ferrara, Bologna and Parma

  • Bertola S, Peresani M (2000) Variabilità tecnologica in due insiemi litici di superficie dei Colli Berici. Quaderni di Archeologia del Veneto XVI:92–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertola S, Peresani M, Peretto C, Thun-Hohenstein U (1999) Le site paléolithique moyen de la Grotta della Ghiacciaia (Préalpes de Vénétie, Italie du Nord). L’Anthropologie 103(3):377–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertola S, Broglio A, Cristiani E, de Stefani M, Gurioli F, Negrino F, Romandini M, Vanhaeren M (2013) La diffusione del primo Aurignaziano a sud dell’arco alpino. Preistoria Alpina 47:17–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Bietti A, Negrino F (2007) The transition between Mousterian and Aurignacian industries in continental Italy: a status report. In: Riel-Salvatore J, Clark GA (eds) Transitions great and small: new approaches to the study of early Upper Paleolithic ‘transitional’ industries in Western Eurasia. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp 41–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Bietti A, Cancellieri E, Corinaldesi C, Grimaldi S, Spinapolice E (2009-2010) La percussion sur enclume en Italie centrale tyrrhénienne. In: Mourre V, Jarry M (eds) Entre le marteau et l’enclume. Proceedings of the Round Table, Paléo, Numero Speciale, pp 143–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Binford LR (1981) Bones, ancient men and modern myths. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumenshine RJ (1995) Percussion marks, tooth marks, and experimental determinations of the timing of hominid and carnivore ace to long bones at FLK Zinjanthropus, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. J Hum Evol 27:197–213

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumenschine RJ, Selvaggio MM (1988) Percussion marks on bone surfaces as a new diagnostic of hominid behaviour. Nature 333(6175):763–765

    Google Scholar 

  • Bökönyi S (1970) A new method for determination of the number of individuals in animal bone material. Am J Archaeol 74:291–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Bordes F (1968) La question périgordienne. In: Bordes F, de Soneville-Bordes D (eds) La Préhistoire. Problèmes et Tendances. CNRS, Paris, pp 59–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Bordes F (1984) Leçons sur le Paléolithique. CNRS Editions, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Bordes J-G, Teyssandier N (2011) The Upper Paleolithic nature of the Châtelperronian in South-Western France: archeostratigraphic and lithic evidence. Quat Int 246:382–388

    Google Scholar 

  • Boscato P, Crezzini J (2012) Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in Southern Italy: Uluzzian macromammals from Grotta del Cavallo (Apulia). Quat Int 252:90–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Boscato P, Gambassini P, Ranaldo F, Ronchitelli A (2011) Management of paleoenvironmental resources and exploitation of raw materials at the Middle Paleolithic site of Oscurusciuto (Ginosa, southern Italy): units 1 and 4. In: Conard NJ, Richter J (eds) Neanderthal lifeways, subsistence and technology. Springer, New York, pp 87–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Brain CK (1981) The hunters or the hunted? An introduction to African cave taphonomy. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Broglio A, Cilli C, Giacobini G, Gurioli F (2006) Osso, palco, dente, conchiglia: i supporti in materia dura animale dei manufatti dei primi Uomini moderni a Fumane (Verona). Atti XXXIX Riunione Scientifica Istituto Italiano Preistoria e Protostoria, Firenze, pp 815–827

    Google Scholar 

  • Broglio A, Bertola S, De Stefani M, Gurioli F (2009) The shouldered points of the Early Epigravettian of the Berici Hills (venetian region-north of Italy). Materials, blanks, typology, exploitation. In: Understanding the past. Papers offered to Stefan K. Kozlowski. Center for Research on the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe. University of Warsaw, Warsaw, pp 59–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Capaldo SD, Blumenschine RJ (1994) A quantitative diagnosis of notches made by hammerstone percussion and carnivore gnawing on bovid long bones. Am Antiq 59(04):724–748

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavallo G, Fontana F, Gonzato F, Peresani M, Riccardi MP, Zorzin R (2017) Textural, microstructural and compositional characteristics of Fe-based geomaterials and Upper Palaeolithic ocher in the Lessini Mountains, Northeast Italy: implications for provenance studies. Geoarchaeology 32(4):437–455

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavallo G, Fontana F, Gialanella S, Gonzato F, Riccardi MP, Zorzin R, Peresani M (2018) Heat treatment of mineral pigment during Upper Palaeolithic in North-Eastern Italy. Archaeometry 60(5):1045–1061

    Google Scholar 

  • Crabtree DE (1982) An introduction to flintworking. Occasional Papers Idaho Museum Natural History 28, Pocatello

  • D’Angelo E, Mussi M (2005) Galets et lamelles de l’Aurignacien du Latium (Italie centrale): le cas de Grotta Barbara. In: Lebrun-Ricalens F, Bordes JG, Bon F (eds) Productions lamellaires attribuées à l’Aurignacien: chaînes opératoires et perspectives techno-culturelles. Luxembourg, Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art, pp 313–322

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Errico F, Vanhaeren M (2002) Criteria for identifying red deer (Cervus elaphus) age and sex from their canines: application to the study of Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ornaments. J Archaeol Sci 29:211–232

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Errico F, Borgia V, Ronchitelli A (2012) Uluzzian bone technology and its implications for the origin of behavioural modernity. Quat Int 259:59–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Dal Lago A, Mietto P (2003) Grotte dei Berici. Aspetti fisici e naturalistici. Museo Naturalistico Archeologico, Vicenza

  • de la Peña P (2016) A qualitative guide to recognize bipolar knapping for flint and quartz. Lithic Technol 40(4):316–331

    Google Scholar 

  • De Stefani M, Gurioli F, Ziggiotti S (2005) Il Paleolitico superiore del Riparo del Broion nei Colli Berici (Vicenza). Rivista Scienze Preistoriche Suppl 1:93–107

    Google Scholar 

  • De Stefani M, Dini M, Klempererova H, Peresani M, Ranaldo F, Ronchitelli A, Ziggiotti S (2012) Continuity and replacement in flake-making across the MP-UP boundary: a view over the Italian Peninsula. In: Pastoors A, Peresani M (eds) Flakes not blades. Wissenschaftliche Schriften Neanderthal Museum 5, pp 135–151

  • Delpiano D, Heasley K, Peresani M (2018) Assessing Neanderthal land use and lithic raw material management in discoid technology. J Anthrop Sci 96. https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.96006

  • Dini M, Tozzi C (2012) La transizione Paleolitico medio—Paleolitico superiore nella Grotta La Fabbrica (Grosseto-Toscana). Atti Società Toscana Scienze Naturali, Memorie A:117-119

  • Douka K, Higham TFG, Wood R, Boscato P, Gambassini P, Karkanas P, Peresani M, Ronchitelli A (2014) On the chronology of the Uluzzian. J Hum Evol 68:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Falcucci A, Peresani M (2018) Protoaurignacian core reduction procedures: blade and bladelet technologies at Fumane Cave. Lithic Technol 43(2):125–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Falcucci A, Conard NJ, Peresani M (2017) A critical assessment of the Protoaurignacian lithic technology at Fumane Cave and its implications for the spread of modern humans into Europe. PlosOne 12(12):189–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Falcucci A, Peresani M, Roussel M, Normand C, Soressi M (2018) What’s the point? Retouched bladelets variability during the Protoaurignacian. Results from Fumane, Isturitz and Les Cottés. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 10:539–554

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiore I, Tagliacozzo A (2006) Lo sfruttamento dello stambecco nel Tardiglaciale di Riparo Dalmeri (TN): il livello 26c. In: Tecchiati U, Sala B (eds) Archaeozoological studies. Ripartizione Beni Culturali, Bolzano, pp 59–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher JW (1995) Bone surface modifications in zooarchaeology. J Archaeol Method Theory 2(1):7–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu Q, Posth C, Hajdinjak M, Petr M, Mallick S, Fernandes D, Furtwängler A, Haak W, Meyer M, Mittnik A, Nickel B, Peltzer A, Rohland N, Slon V, Talamo S, Lazaridis I, Lipson M, Mathieson I, Schiffels S, Skoglund P, Derevianko AP, Drozdov N, Slavinsky V, Tsybankov A, Cremonesi RG, Mallegni F, Gély B, Vacca E, Morales MRG, Straus LG, Neugebauer-Maresch C, Teschler-Nicola M, Constantin S, Moldovan OT, Benazzi S, Peresani M, Coppola D, Lari M, Ricci S, Ronchitelli A, Valentin F, Thevenet C, Wehrberger K, Grigorescu D, Rougier H, Crevecoeur I, Flas D, Semal P, Mannino MA, Cupillard C, Bocherens H, Conard NJ, Harvati K, Moiseyev V, Drucker DG, Svoboda J, Richards MP, Caramelli D, Pinhasi R, Kelso J, Patterson N, Krause J, Pääbo S, Reich D (2016) The genetic history of ice age Europe. Nature 534(7606):200–205

  • Gambassini P (1997) Il Paleolitico di Castelcivita. Culture e Ambiente. Materiae 5, Electa, Napoli

  • Giaccio B, Isaia R, Fedele FG, Di Canzio E, Hoffecker J, Ronchitelli A, Sinitsyn AA, Anikovich M, Lisitsyn SL, Popov VV (2008) The Campanian Ignimbrite and Codola tephra layers: two temporal/stratigraphic markers for the Early Upper Palaeolithic in southern Italy and eastern Europe. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 177:208–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Gravina B (2016) Critical Revision of Le Moustier layers K & I based on new excavations and assessment of older collections. La fin du Paléolithique moyen en Poitou-Charentes et Périgord. Considérations à partir de l’étude taphonomique et technoéconomique des sites du Moustier (niveaux G à K) et La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint Césaire (niveau EJOP supérieur). Dissertation, Université Bordeaux 1

  • Gravina B, Bachellerie F, Caux S, Discamps E, Faivre JP, Galland A, Michel A, Teyssandier N, Bordes JG (2018) No reliable evidence for a Neanderthal-Châtelperronian association at La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire. Sci Rep 8:15134

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurioli F, Cilli C, Giacobini G, Broglio A (2005) Le conchiglie perforate aurignaziane della Grotta di Fumane (VR). In: Malerba G, Visentini P (eds) Atti del IV Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia. Quaderni Museo Archeologico Friuli occidentale 6, Comune di Pordenone, Pordenone, pp 59–65

  • Gurioli F, Cappato N, De Stefani M, Tagliacozzo A (2006) Considerazioni Paleontologiche, Paleoecologiche e Archeozoologiche dei livelli del Paleolitico superiore del Riparo del Broion (Colli Berici, Vicenza). In: Tagliacozzo A, Fiore I, Marconi S, Tecchiati U (eds) Atti del V Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia. Edizioni Osiride, Rovereto, pp 47–56

  • Hayden B (1980) Confusion in the bipolar world: bashed pebbles and splintered pieces. Lithic Technol 9:2–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Hershkovitz I, Weber GW, Quam R, Duval M, Grün R, Kinsley L, Ayalon A, Bar-Matthews M, Valladas H, Mercier N et al (2018) The earliest modern humans outside Africa. Science 359(6374):456–459

  • Higham T (2011) European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic radiocarbon dates are often older than they look: problems with previous dates and some remedies. Antiquity 85(327):235–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Higham TFG, Brock F, Peresani M, Broglio A, Wood R, Douka K (2009) Problems with radiocarbon dating the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic transition in Italy. Quat Sci Rev 28:1257–1267

    Google Scholar 

  • Higham T, Douka K, Wood R, Bronk Ramsey C, Brock F, Basell L, Camps M, Arrizabalaga A, Baena J, Barroso-Ruíz C et al (2014) The timing and spatio-temporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance. Nature 512:306–309

  • Hiscock P, Clarkson C, Mackay A (2011) Big debates over little tools: ongoing disputes over microliths on three continents. World Archaeol 43(4):653–664

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann DL, Angelucci DE, Villaverde V, Zapata J, Zilhão J (2018) Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals 115,000 years ago. Sci Adv 4:eaar5255

    Google Scholar 

  • Hublin JJ (2015) The modern human colonization of western Eurasia: when and where? Quat Sci Rev 118:194–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Inizan ML, Reduron-Ballinger M, Roche H, Tixier J (1995) Préhistoire de la pierre taillée t. 4—Technologie de la pierre taillée. CREP, Meudon

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaubert J, Bordes J-G, Discamps E, Gravina B (2011) A new look at the end of the middle Palaeolithic sequence in southwestern France. In: Actes Du colloque “International Symposium Characteristic Features of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition in Eurasia”. Development of Culture and Evolution of Homo Species, Denisova

    Google Scholar 

  • Jéquier CA, Romandini M, Peresani M (2012) Les retouchoirs en matières dures animales: une comparaison entre Moustérien final et Uluzzien. C R Palevol 11(4):283–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaczanowska M, Kozłowski JK, Sobczyk K (2010) Upper Palaeolithic human occupations and material culture at Klissoura Cave 1. Eur Preh 7(2):133–286

  • Karavanić I, Vukosavljević N, Janković I, Ahern JCM, Smith FH (2018) Paleolithic hominins and settlement in Croatia from MIS 6 to MIS 3: Research history and current interpretations. Quat Int 494:152–166

  • Knight J (1991) Technological analysis of the anvil (bipolar) technique. Lithics 12:57–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn SL, Bietti A (2000) The late Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic in Italy. In: Bar-Yosef O, Pilbeam D (eds) The geography of Neandertals and modern humans in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean. Peabody Museum Bulletin 8. Harvard University, Cambridge, pp 49–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Brun-Ricalens F (2006) Les pièces esquillées: état des connaissances après un siècle de Reconnaissance. Paléo 18:95–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemorini C, Peresani M, Rossetti P, Malerba G, Giacobini G (2003) Techno-morphological and use-wear functional analysis: an integrated approach to the study of a discoid industry. In: Peresani M (ed) Discoid Lithic Technology. Advances and Implications. British Archaeological Reports, Int S 1120, pp 257–275

  • Locht J-L, Swinnen C (1994) Le débitage discoïde du gisement de Beauvais (Oise): aspect de la chaîne opératoire au travers de quelques remontages. Paléo 6:89–104

    Google Scholar 

  • López-García JM, Dalla Valle C, Cremaschi M, Peresani M (2015) Reconstruction of the Neanderthal and modern human landscape and climate from the Fumane cave sequence (Verona, Italy) using small-mammal assemblages. Quat Sci Rev 128:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas G, Hays M (2004) Les pièces esquillées du site paléolithique du Flageolet I (Dordogne): outils ou nucléus? In: Bodu P, Constantin C (eds) Approches fonctionnelles en Préhistoire. Actes du XXVème Congrès Préhistorique de France. Société Préhistorique Française, Paris, pp 107–120

  • Lyman LD (1994) Vertebrate taphonomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Marciani G, Spagnolo V, Aureli D, Ranaldo F, Boscato P, Ronchitelli A (2016) Middle Palaeolithic technical behaviour: material import-export and Levallois production at the SU 13 of Oscurusciuto rock shelter, Southern Italy. J Lithic Stud 3(2):xx-xx. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v3i2.1414

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariezkurrena K (1983) Contribution al conocimiento del desarrollo de la denticion y el esqueleto postcraneal de Cervus elaphus. Munibe 35:149–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellars P (1989) Major issues in the emergence of modern humans. Curr Anthropol 30(3):349–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Monegato G, Pini R, Ravazzi C, Reimer PJ, Wick L (2011) Correlating alpine glaciation with adriatic sea-level changes through lake and alluvial stratigraphy. J Quat Sci 26(8):791–804

    Google Scholar 

  • Moroni A, Boscato P, Ronchitelli A (2013) What roots for the Uluzzian? Modern behaviour in Central-Southern Italy and hypotheses on AMH dispersal routes. Quat Int 316:27–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Moroni A, Ronchitelli A, Arrighi S, Aureli D, Bailey SE, Boscato P, Boschin F, Capecchi G, Crezzini J, Douka K et al (2018) Grotta del Cavallo (Apulia—Southern Italy). The Uluzzian in the mirror. J Anthropol Sci 96. https://doi.org/10.4436/jass:96004

  • Mourre V, Jarry M (eds) (2009-2010) Entre le marteau et l’enclume. Paléo, Numéro Spécial, pp 143–180

  • Mussi M, Gioia P, Negrino F (2006) Ten small sites: the diversity of the Italian Aurignacian. In: Bar-Yosef O, Zilhão J (eds) Towards a definition of the Aurignacian. Trabalhos de Arqueologia 45:189–209

  • Palma di Cesnola A (1989) L’Uluzzien: faciès Italien du Leptolithique archaïque. L’Anthropologie 93:783–812

    Google Scholar 

  • Palma di Cesnola A (1993) Il Paleolitico superiore in Italia. Introduzione allo studio. Garlatti & Razzai, Firenze

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelegrin J, Soressi M (2007) Le Châtelperronien et ses rapports avec le Moustérien. In: Vandermeersch B, Maureille B, Coppens Y (eds) Les Néandertaliens. Biologie et Cultures. Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, Paris, pp 283–296

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M (1995-96) Sistemi tecnici di produzione litica nel Musteriano d’Italia. Studio tecnologico degli insiemi litici delle unità VI e II della Grotta di San Bernardino (Colli Berici, Veneto). Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche XLVII:79–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M (2008) A new cultural frontier for the last Neanderthals: the Uluzzian in Northern Italy. Curr Anthropol 49(4):725–731

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M (2011) The end of the Middle Palaeolithic in the Italian Alps. An overview on Neandertal land-use, subsistence and technology. In: Conard N, Richter J (eds) Neanderthal lifeways, subsistence and technology. One hundred fifty years of Neanderthal study. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series, Springer, Dordrecht, pp 249–259

  • Peresani M (2012) Fifty thousand years of flint knapping and tool shaping across the Mousterian and Uluzzian sequence of Fumane cave. Quat Int 247:125–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M (2014) L’Uluzzien en Italie. In: Otte M (ed) Néandertal/Cro-Magnon. La Rencontre. Editions Errance, Arles, pp 61–80

  • Peresani M, Porraz G (2004) Ré-interprétation et mise en valeur des niveaux moustériens de la Grotte du Broion (Monti Berici, Vénétie). Etude techno-économique des industries lithiques Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche LIV:181–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Chravzez J, Danti A, De March M, Duches R, Gurioli F, Muratori S, Romandini M, Tagliacozzo A, Trombino L (2011a) Fire-places, frequentations and the environmental setting of the final Mousterian at Grotta di Fumane: a report from the 2006-2008 research. Quartär 58:131–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Fiore I, Gala M, Romandini M, Tagliacozzo A (2011b) Late Neandertals and the intentional removal of feathers as evidenced from bird bone taphonomy at Fumane Cave 44 ky B.P., Italy. Proc Natl Acad Sci 108:3888–3893

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Centi L, Di Taranto E (2013a) Blades, bladelets and flakes: a case of variability in tool design at the onset of the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in Italy. C R Palevol 12(4):211–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Vanhaeren M, Quaggiotto E, Queffelec A, d’Errico F (2013b) An ochered fossil marine shell from the Mousterian of Fumane Cave, Italy. PLoS One 8(7):e68572

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Romandini M, Duches R, Jéquier C, Nannini N, Pastoors A, Picin A, Schmidt I, Vaquero M, Weniger GC (2014) New evidence for the Mousterian and Gravettian at Rio Secco Cave, Italy. J Field Archaeol 39(4):401–416

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Boldrin M, Pasetti P (2015) Assessing the exploitation of double patinated artifacts during the Late Mousterian. Implications for settlement dynamics and mobility in the North of Italy. Quat Int 361:238–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Cristiani E, Romandini M (2016) The Uluzzian technology of Grotta di Fumane and its implication for reconstructing cultural dynamics in the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition of Western Eurasia. J Hum Evol 91:36–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Peresani M, Forte M, Quaggiotto E, Colonese AC, Romandini M, Cilli C, Giacobini G (2018) Marine shell exploitation in the Early Upper Palaeolithic. Re-examination of the shell assemblages from Fumane Cave (N-E Italy). In: Bar-Yosef D, Bosch M (eds) Humans’ earliest personal ornaments: symbolism, production & distribution. PalaeoAnthropology, Palaeoanthropology Society (in press)

  • Picin A, Peresani M, Vaquero M (2010) Application of a new typological approach to classifying denticulate and notched tools: the study of two Mousterian lithic assemblages. J Archaeol Sci 38:711–722

    Google Scholar 

  • Pini R, Ravazzi C, Donegana M (2009) Pollen stratigraphy, vegetation and climate history of the las 215 ka in the Azzano Decimo core (plain of Friuli, north-eastern Italy). Quat Sci Rev 28:1268–1290

    Google Scholar 

  • Pini R, Ravazzi C, Reimer PJ (2010) The vegetation and climate history of the last glacial cycle in a new pollen record from Lake Fimon (southern Alpine foreland, N-Italy). Quat Sci Rev 29:3115–3137

    Google Scholar 

  • Porraz G, Peresani M (2006) Occupation du territoire et exploitation des matières premières lithiques. Présentation et discussion sur la mobilité des groupes humains au Paléolithique moyen dans le Nord-Est de l’Italie. In: Bressy C, Burke A, Chalard P, Martin H (eds) Notions de territoire et de mobilité. Exemples de l’Europe et des premières nations en Amérique du Nord avant le contact européen, vol 116. Actes Xe congrès annuel Association Européenne des Archéologues (EAA), Liège, ERAUL, pp 11–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Potts R, Shipman P (1981) Cutmarks made by stone tools on bones from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Nature 291(5816):577–580

    Google Scholar 

  • Riel-Salvatore J (2009) What is a ‘transitional’ industry? The Uluzzian of Southern Italy as a case study. In: Camps M, Chauhan P (eds) Sourcebook of Paleolithic transitions. Methods, theories, and interpretations. Springer Science, New York, pp 377–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Riel-Salvatore J, Negrino F (2018) Human adaptations to climatic change in Liguria across the Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition. J Quat Sci 33(3):313–322

    Google Scholar 

  • Romandini M, Gurioli F, Parere V (2012) Oggetti ornamentali del Paleolitico Superiore nei Colli Berici (VI). In: De Grossi MJ, Saccà D, Tozzi C (eds) Atti VI Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia. San Romano in Garfagnana, Lucca, pp 113–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Romandini M, Cristiani E, Peresani M (2014) A retouched bone shaft from the late Mousterian at Fumane cave (Italy). Technological, experimental and micro-wear analysis. C R Palevol 14:63–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Romandini M, Bertola S, Nannini N (2015) Nuovi dati sul Paleolitico dei Colli Berici: risultati preliminari dello studio archeozoologico e delle materie prime litiche della Grotta del Buso Doppio del Broion (Lumignano, Longare, Vicenza). Studi di Preistoria e Protostoria 2:53–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Romandini M, Terlato G, Nannini N, Tagliacozzo A, Peresani M (2018) Bears and humans, a Neanderthal tale. Reconstructing uncommon behaviors from zooarchaeological evidence in Southern Europe. J Archaeol Sci 90:71–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronchitelli A, Boscato P, Gambassini P (2009) Gli ultimi Neandertaliani in Italia: aspetti culturali. In: Facchini F, Belcastro G (eds) La lunga storia di Neandertal. Biologia e comportamento. Jaka Book, Bologna, pp 257–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronchitelli A, Moroni A, Boscato P, Gambassini P (2018) The Uluzzian 50 years later. In: Valde-Nowak P, Sobczyk K, Nowak M, Źrałka J (eds) Multas per gentes et multa per saecula. Amici Magistro et Collegae Suo Ioanni Christopho Kozłowski dedicant. Institute Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, pp 71–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Roussel M, Soressi M, Hublin JJ (2016) The Châtelperronian conundrum: blade and bladelet lithic technologies from Quinçay, France. J Hum Evol 95:13–32

  • Ruebens K, McPherron SJ, Hublin J-J (2015) On the local Mousterian origin of the Châtelperronian: integrating typo-technological, chronostratigraphic and contextual data. J Hum Evol 86:55–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarti L, Romagnoli F, Carmignani L, Martini F (2017) Grotta del Cavallo (scavi Sarti): tradizione e innovazione nella sequenza musteriana sulla base dell’indicatore litico. Studi di Preistoria e Protostoria 4:131–138

  • Sauro U (2002) The Monti Berici: a peculiar type of karst in the southern Alps. Acta Carsologica 31(3–6):99–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Shipman P (1981) Life history a fossil. An introduction to taphonomy and paleoecology. Harvard University Press, Harvard

    Google Scholar 

  • Shipman P, Rose JJ (1984) Cutmark mimics on modern and fossil bovid bones. Curr Anthropol 25(1):116–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Shott MJ (1999) On bipolar reduction and splintered pieces. North Am Archaeol 20(3):217–238

  • Sinitsyn A (2003) A Paleolithic Pompeii at Kostenki. Antiquity 295:9–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Skrdla P, Rychtaříková T (2012) Levallois point or blade—which blank was the target artifact of the Bohunician technology? In: Pastoor A, Peresani M (eds) Flakes not blades. The role of flake productionat the onset of the Upper Paleaeolithic in Europe. Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, pp 199–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Slimak L (ed) (2008) Artisanats et territoires des chasseurs moustériens de Champ Grand. Artisanats et territoires 1, Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme, Aix-en-Provence

  • Soressi M (2002) Le Moustérien de tradition acheuléenne du sud-ouest de la France. Discussion sur la signification du faciés á partir de l’étude comparée de quatre sites: Pech-de-l’Azé I, Le Moustier, La Rochette et la Grotte XVI. PhD Dissertation. Université Bordeaux 1

  • Stiner MC (2010) Shell ornaments from the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic layers of Klissoura Cave 1 by Prosymnia, Greece. Eur Prehist 7(2):287–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiner MC, Kuhn SL, Weiner S, Bar-Yosef O (1995) Differential burning, recrystallization and fragmentation of archaeological bone. J Archaeol Sci 22:223–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Suríc M, Juracić M (2010) Late Pleistocene - Holocene environmental changes -records from submerged speleothems along the Eastern Adriatic Coast (Croatia). Geologica Croatica 63(2):155–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Svoboda J, Škrdla P (1995) The Bohunician technology. In: Bar-Yosef O, Dibble H (eds) The definition and interpretation of Levallois technology. Monographs in World Archaeology, Madison, pp 429–438

    Google Scholar 

  • Taborin Y (1993) La Mer et les Premiers Hommes Modernes. In: Vandermeersch B (ed) Échanges et diffusion dans la Préhistoire Méditerranéenne. Actes Congrés CTHS, Paris, pp 113–122

  • Tagliacozzo A, Romandini M, Fiore I, Gala M, Peresani M (2013) Animal exploitation strategies during the Uluzzian at Grotta di Fumane (Verona). In: Clark JL, Speth JD (eds) Zooarchaeology and modern human origins: human hunting behavior during the later Pleistocene. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Springer Science, New York, pp 129–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Tixier J (1963) Typologie de l’Epipaléolithique du Maghreb. Arts et Métiers Graphiques, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Tostevin G (2007) Social intimacy, artefact visibility and acculturation models of Neanderthal–Modern Human interaction. In: Mellars P, Boyle K, Bar-Yosef O, Stringer C (eds) Rethinking the human revolution. McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge, pp 341–357

    Google Scholar 

  • van Andel TH, Davies W (2003) Neanderthals and modern humans in the European landscape during the last glaciation: archaeological results of the Stage 3 Project. Mc Donald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanhaeren M, d’Errico F (2006) Aurignacian ethno-linguistic geography of Europe revealed by personal ornaments. J Archaeol Sci 33:1105–1128

    Google Scholar 

  • Vigal CR, Machordom A (1985) Tooth eruption and replacement in the Spanish wild goat. Acta Theriol 30:305–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Villa P, Pollarolo L, Conforti J, Marra F, Biagioni C, Degano I, Lucejko JJ, Tozzi C, Pennacchioni M, Zanchetta G, Nicosia C, Martini M, Sibilia E, Panzeri L (2018) From Neandertals to modern humans: new data on the Uluzzian. PLoS One 13(5):e0196786

    Google Scholar 

  • von den Driesch (1976) A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites. Peabody Museum Bulletin 1. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University

  • Waelbroeck C, Labeyrie L, Michel E, Duplessy JC, Lambeck K, McManus JF, Balbon E, Labracherie M (2002) Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records. Quat Sci Rev 21:295–305

    Google Scholar 

  • White R (2004) Observations technologiques sur les objets de parure. In: Schmider B (ed) L’Aurignacien de la Grotte Du Renne. Gallia Préhistoire, XXXIV supplément, Paris, pp CNRS, 257–C266

  • Zanchetta G, Giaccio B, Bini M, Sarti L (2018) Tephrostratigraphy of Grotta del Cavallo, Southern Italy: insights on the chronology of Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Mediterranean. Quat Sci Rev 182:65–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Zilhão J (2007) The emergence of ornaments and art: an archaeological perspective on the origins of “behavioral modernity”. J Archaeol Res 15:1–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Zilhão J, Banks WE, d’Errico F, Gioia P (2015) Analysis of site formation and assemblage integrity does not support attribution of the Uluzzian to modern humans at Grotta del Cavallo. PLosOne 10(7):e0131181

    Google Scholar 

  • Zilhão J, Anesin D, Aubry T, Badal E, Cabanes D, Kehl M, Klasen N, Lucena A, Martín-Lerma I, Martínez S et al (2017) Precise dating of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Murcia (Spain) supports late Neandertal persistence in Iberia. Heliyon 3:e00435

Download references

Acknowledgments

Microscopic observations using Leica S6D Green Ough stereomicroscope have been done at the L.A.T., Laboratory of Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy of the University of Ferrara. Research at Riparo Broion is coordinated by the Ferrara University in the framework of a project supported by the Ministry of Culture—Veneto Archaeological Superintendency, public institutions (Veneto Region—Department for Cultural Heritage, Longare Municipality), institutions (Leakey Foundation, Spring 2015 Grant; Fondazione CariVerona; Istituto Italiano Preistoria e Protostoria, progetto Saperi Condivisi), associations and private companies. The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and associate editor for constructive suggestions and to Lauren Bell and Tumi Markan Jones for improving the English language.

Funding

This study and excavation campaigns 2017-2019 have received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement no. 724046—SUCCESS http://www.erc-success.eu).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Università di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d’Este, 32, 44100, Ferrara, Italy

    Marco Peresani, Stefano Bertola, Davide Delpiano & Matteo Romandini

  2. Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Università di Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy

    Stefano Benazzi & Matteo Romandini

Authors
  1. Marco Peresani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stefano Bertola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Davide Delpiano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Stefano Benazzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Matteo Romandini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

M.P. and M.R. designed the research; S.Ber., D.D., M.P. and M.R. analysed the data; M.P., S.Ber., D.D. and M.R. wrote the paper with imput by S.Ben.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marco Peresani.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Peresani, M., Bertola, S., Delpiano, D. et al. The Uluzzian in the north of Italy: insights around the new evidence at Riparo Broion. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 3503–3536 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0770-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0770-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation