Palaeolithic Italy

The picture of the Palaeolithic adaptations in the Italian Peninsula has always been coarse-grained compared to various well-researched regional hotspots in central and western Europe, as a result of historical research bias preventing the application of new research methodologies. Nonetheless, discoveries regarding Neanderthal extinction and behavioural complexity, the dispersal of Anatomically Modern Humans as well as the origin and diffusion of modern technologies and symbolic behaviour in Europe have brought Italy into focus as an ideal region for understanding the evolutionary development of various hominin species that inhabited the continent in the Late Pleistocene. In particular the dynamics of the earliest human peopling of Europe, the reasons and timing of Neanderthals demise and how environmental factors affected human prehistoric behaviour, rates of technological innovation and connectivity of hunter-gatherer groups in Europe.The edited volume "Palaeolithic Italy" aims to contribute to our better understanding of the previous, still open, research questions. This will be achieved by presenting the latest advances in Palaeolithic research in Italy due to the application of a variety of modern analytical methods and cutting-edge techniques when studying numerous collections of materials from both old and new excavations as well as the latest results of field research in the country. The volume is intended for the international academia, representing a key reference for all archaeologists and readers interested in Early Prehistory of the Mediterranean region.Contents:Foreword: Graeme BarkerIntroduction: Valentina Borgia and Emanuela CristianiThe Italian case in the context of the first European peoplingMarta ArzarelloSmall Tools and the Palaeoloxodon- Homo interaction in the Lower Palaeolithic: the contribution of use-wear analysisCristina LemoriniBlade and bladelet reduction systems in the Italian Middle Paleolithic. The case of Grotta del Cavallo, (Nardò - Lecce)Leonardo Carmignani, Lucia SartiThe Lower Tyrrhenian Versant: was it a techno-cultural area during the Middle Palaeolithic? Evolution of the lithic industries of the Riparo del Molare sequence in the frame of Neanderthal peopling dynamics in ItalyDaniele Aureli, Annamaria RonchitelliNeanderthal mobility pattern and technological organization in the Salento (Apulia, Italy)Enza SpinapoliceThe socio-economic significance of Neanderthal shell technology: A new perspective on Middle Palaeolithic adaptation to intertidal zones from disregarded toolsFrancesca RomagnoliThe Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition interpreted through the Italian human remainsStefano BenazziFrom Neanderthals to Anatomically Modern Humans in Liguria (Italy): the current state of knowledgeFabio Negrino, Julien Riel-SalvatoreHuman exploitation of avifauna during the Italian Middle and Upper PaleolithicMonica Gala, Ivana Fiore, Antonio TagliacozzoLithic raw material circulation and settlement dynamics in the Upper Palaeolithic of the Venetian Prealps (NE Italy). A key-role for palaeoclimatic and landscape changes across the LGM?Stefano Bertola, Federica Fontana, Davide VisentinLaminar tools with sinuous profile from Grotta Continenza (Trasacco - AQ, Italy): a specialized production from the Late Epigravettian levelsMarco SerradimigniAn overview of early Epigravettian lithic technology of the western Adriatic areaEmanuele CancellieriRe-colonising the Southern Alpine fringe: diachronic data on the use of sheltered space in the Late Epigravettian site of Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Italy)Federica Fontana, Laura Falceri, Alessia Gajardo, Stefano Bertola, Maria Giovanna Cremona, Fabio Cavulli, Antonio Guerreschi, Davide Visentin.Epigravettian osseous technology from the eastern Alpine region of Italy. The case of Riparo Dalmeri (Trentino)Emanuela CristianiRecent excavations and new insights into complex final Epigravettian funerary ritual at Caverna delle Arene Candide (Liguria)Julien Riel Salvatore, Claudine Gravel-Miguel, Roberto Maggi, Gabriele Martino, Stefano Rossi, Vitale Stefano Sparacello.Changing mobility patterns at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition: lower limb biomechanics of Italian Gravettian and Mesolithic individualsVitale Sparacello, Sebastien Villotte, Colin Shaw, Federica Fontana, Elisabetta Mottes, Elisabetta Starnini, Giampaolo Dalmeri, Damiano Marchi.The role of aquatic resources in 'Italian' hunter-gatherer subsistence and dietsMarcello Mannino, Michael RichardsAfterword: Carlo Peretto