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Homo sapiens and Neanderthal Use of Space at Riparo Bombrini (Liguria, Italy)

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Abstract

Because it is often assumed that fundamental behavioral differences distinguish Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, the ability to structure space within the sites they occupied into distinct activity areas is often invoked as a key distinctive trait of our species. However, this behavior has never been assessed for both groups at a single site, hindering direct comparisons to date. To help resolve this question, this study uses a single methodology to evaluate the spatial organization in the Protoaurignacian levels (A1-A2, associated with Homo sapiens) and the latest Mousterian levels (MS1-MS2, associated with Neanderthals) at Riparo Bombrini (Liguria, Italy) to assess the changes over these three stratigraphic units vis a vis other information about site use. Combining GIS and quantitative methods allows the study of the spatial distribution of plotted finds and features in these levels, showing that Neandertals and Homo sapiens organized their living spaces in accordance with the duration of occupation, the occupation intensity, the tool assemblage and the faunal exploitation. Our results indicate that there is a logic behind the distribution of plotted finds and the use of the space, suggesting comparable cognitive capacities for both anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals. This contributes further data that undermines the notion of ‘behavioral modernity’ as a useful heuristic in human origins research.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study is available in the GitHub repository at https://github.com/amelievallerand/Riparo-Bombrini.git, reference number 10.5281/zenodo.10537095.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers and Vincenzo Spagnolo for their helpful comments on the original manuscript. Thanks to Claudine Gravel-Miguel and Michelle Drapeau for constructive comments on the project that led to this paper, and to Simon Paquin for help in digitizing the 1976-2018 excavation data from Riparo Bombrini. Our sincere thanks also to Matt Peeples (ASU) for help with the Unconstrained Cluster Analysis software. Ongoing research at the site is funded by FRQSC grant 2016-NP-193048 (J.R.S), the Direction des affaires internationales UdeM (JRS), SSHRC Insight Grant 435-2017-1520 (J.R.S. & F.N.), the SPHeritage Project (MUR grant: FIRS2019_00040, P.I.: M. Pappalardo) and the SSHRC Research Training and Talent Development grant 180480 (A.V.). Fieldwork is conducted under authorization of the Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali with local supervision by the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le province di Imperia e Savona, with logistical support from the Istituto Internazionale di Studi Liguri (Bordighera), Museo preistorico dei "Balzi Rossi" e zona archeologica and the Direzione Regionale Musei Liguria.

Funding

This study was funded by FRQSC grant 2016-NP-193048 (J.R.S), the Direction des affaires internationales UdeM (JRS), SSHRC Insight Grant 435–2017-1520 (J.R.S. & F.N.), the SPHeritage Project (MUR grant: FIRS2019_00040, P.I.: M. Pappalardo) and the SSHRC Research Training and Talent Development grant 180480 (A.V.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département d’antropologie, Université de Montréal, CP 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Amélie Vallerand & Julien Riel-Salvatore

  2. Dipartimento Di Antichità, Filosofia e Storia (DAFIST), Università di Genova, Via Balbi 2, Genova, GE, 16136, Italy

    Fabio Negrino

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  1. Amélie Vallerand
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Contributions

A.V. and J.R.S. designed the project. J.R.S. supervised the research. J.R.S. and F.N. directed the excavations. A.V. established the methodology, performed the spatial analysis and interpreted the results. A.V. and J.R.S. wrote the first version of the main manuscript text. A.V. prepared all figures and tables. All authors extensively discussed the results and reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Amélie Vallerand.

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Vallerand, A., Negrino, F. & Riel-Salvatore, J. Homo sapiens and Neanderthal Use of Space at Riparo Bombrini (Liguria, Italy). J Archaeol Method Theory (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09640-1

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