This work aims to the reconstruction of intra-site space management modalities among Neanderthal hunter-gatherers groups. This theme is part of a wider research issue: the study of Paleolithic settlements strategies. This is a topic of great interest in the present-day scientific debate and involves a varied range of methods and scales of analyses. The sample-sites here analyzed comprise some living contexts of Center-Southern Italy: Molare Rock shelter – SU 56 (MIS 5, Post-Tyrrhenian), Oscurusciuto Rock shelter – SU 13, 11 (MIS 3, approximately 55-43 ka BP) and Grotta dei Santi – SU 150 (MIS 3, approximately 47-40 ka BP). These sites were selected to cover Neanderthal presence throughout the Last Glacial, within different palaeo-environmental contexts. It was, in this way, possible to contextualize stratigraphic entities with different values in terms of formation modes and times. Spatial analyses were carried out with a multidisciplinary approach, integrating results from other disciplines into the GIS. The analytical protocol employed is common to all the sites, however, peculiarities of the different context and of the available data-set were taken into account, each time adapting the employed analytic methods and the specific aims of the study. Preliminarily, data collected were analyzed both from a taphonomic point of view (in order to determine the preservation state of the sites) and from a temporal one (in order to assess to which extent the palimpsest effect does alter the level of “archaeological visibility”). Results clearly highlight the problem of the strong link between the spatial variable and the temporal one arising from the palimpsest effect. SU 11 of Oscurusciuto Rock shelter (Ginosa – TA, Sothern Italy) is a large palimpsest where it is difficult to disentangle single events or to understand the time interval framing its formation. Analyses of hearths and of the vertical distribution of finds (by Cartesian coordinates) have allowed recognizing at least two sub-levels. These, however, appear to be themselves palimpsests in which a relatively high number of occupations is recorded. Even if this situation hinders the identification of “high resolution” activity areas, it is still possible to see some general regularities. There are clues to the presence of possible sleeping area by the NW corner of the Rock-Shelter (where the rock wall makes a U-bend). The evident redundancy of some parameter, such as hearths spatial pattern and the micro-debris accumulations (which are functionally linked together), suggests the idea of a reiteration of the same behavior following a common model. The fascinating possibility that this could reflect the existence of a sort of “historical memory of places”, handed down during the camp cyclical transfers, has a strong interpretive limit in the palimpsest effect. Indeed, in the formation of such patterns an important role could be played by the duration of each camp episode, by the settlement model, by the mobility pattern and by the site function itself. At the moment it is not possible to exclude that some external forcing, such as the actual extension of the rock shelter site in term of available space for setting up the camp (also in relation to human group size), could have played a role (a secondary one at least) in creating recurrent spatial patterns. A completely different picture derives from contexts where a short lifespan is reflected (short palimpsests and actual living floors), such as SU 13 of Oscurusciuto Rock shelter, the upper living floor in SU 150 of Grotta dei Santi (Monte Argentario – GR, Central Italy) and SU 56 of Molare Rock-shelter (S. Giovanni a Piro – SA, Southern Italy). SU 13, can be interpreted as a short palimpsest as suggested by RMU (Raw Material Units) analyses and by spatial patterns. To put it simply, its formation can be framed within a relatively short time period. This has allowed recognizing a complex functional articulation of space, linked to the relation between the Rock-Shelter wall and the hearths alignment which is sub-parallel to it. Deriving from this relation is a dichotomous structure, with a spatially isolated “inner” sector distinguished from an “external” one. The “inner sector”, between the Rock-Shelter wall and the hearths, was presumably used as a sleeping area. The “external” zone was used for a set of domestic activities linked to the presence of the hearths (hearth-related activity areas). The evidence of “preventive maintenance” activities is especially interesting. These are suggested by the presence of a “peripheral” sector with an unusual concentration of waste (such a large size bones and exhausted cores), “isolated” there in order to keep the working areas cleaner. In this case, the observed persistence of the same model of camp management and the results coming from the palimpsest dissection, allow to validate the hypotheses of a “historical memory” in the use of space, by which the same hunter-gatherers group could have been the maker of the occupation/s reflected in this layer. Despite the limited extension of the area excavated so far, the upper living floor of SU 150 of Grotta dei Santi (an actual living floor), yielded very interesting results. This context was in fact probably buried relatively rapidly and has undergone little post-depositional disturbances. In this case it was possible to make a high resolution distinction between areas devoted to different functions. Two areas of domestic activities are spatially separated by a sector with less density of finds and both appear to be related to hearths. Clues to possible “preventive maintenance” emerged at the edge of one of these activity areas. Finally, SU 56 of Molare Rock shelter is both a living floor and a short palimpsest (because interlayered between two thick sterile clay layers and because important structural variations of the spatial patterns and micro-stratigraphic variations could be recognized within its depth). The sub-level corresponding to the initial moment is characterized by a massive use of fire whereas the ensuing one is characterized by a structure made of aligned stones and hearth evidence is lacking therein. The activity areas organization and the RMU patters seem to suggest that these two sub-levels belong to two short term occupations, not very far from each other in time. All the same, it is not possible at the moment to exclude that layer 56 is instead the result of a succession of two moments with totally different managements but to be placed within a same occupational phase. Evidence indicating an exploitation of lithic and faunal resources within a local territorial scale have emerged in all of the investigate sites. Within this setting of short range mobility, the RMU spatial and technological patterns and the selective transportation of some body parts of hunted preys define a dynamic framework, characterized by a certain degree of fragmentation of the operational sequences.

Questo lavoro è finalizzato alla ricostruzione delle modalità di gestione dello spazio da parte dei gruppi di cacciatori-raccoglitori neandertaliani all’interno dei loro accampamenti. Questo tema rientra all’interno di una più vasta problematica di ricerca (lo studio delle strategie insediative dei gruppi paleolitici), che riscontra un particolare interesse nel dibattito scientifico contemporaneo, coinvolgendo un variegato spettro di scale e metodi analitici. I siti-campione comprendono alcuni contesti insediativi dell’Italia Centro-Meridionale: Riparo il Molare – US 56 (MIS 5, Post-Tirreniano), Riparo l’Oscurusciuto – US 13, 11 (MIS 3, tra circa 55-43 ka BP) e Grotta dei Santi – US 150 (MIS 3, tra circa 47-40 ka BP). Sono stati selezionati in modo da coprire la presenza del Neandertal durante l’Ultimo Glaciale, in contesti paleoambientali differenti e, soprattutto, inquadrando entità stratigrafiche con differente valore in termini di tempi e modi di formazione. Le analisi spaziali sono state effettuate con una prospettiva multidisciplinare, includendo i risultati di altri studi all’interno di un ambiente GIS. Il protocollo analitico è comune a tutti i siti, tuttavia, le caratteristiche peculiari di ciascun sito e dei dati disponibili sono stati tenuti in conto, adattando di volta in volta i metodi analitici adottati e le specifiche finalità dello studio. I dati raccolti sono stati preliminarmente analizzati da un punto di vista tafonomico (al fine di determinare lo stato di conservazione dei contesti), e temporale (in modo da valutare quanto l’effetto palinsesto alteri il livello di “visibilità archeologica”). I risultati evidenziano chiaramente la problematicità del forte legame tra la variabile spaziale e quella temporale dell’effetto palinsesto. L’US 11 del Riparo l’Oscurusciuto (Ginosa – TA) è un grosso palinsesto di cui è difficile distinguere singoli eventi individuali o comprendere l’arco temporale in cui si colloca la sua formazione. L’analisi dei focolari e della distribuzione verticale dei reperti con coordinate cartesiane hanno consentito il riconoscimento di almeno due sottolivelli che, tuttavia, sembrano rappresentare essi stessi dei palinsesti in cui è registrato un numero di occupazioni relativamente elevato. Se ciò ostacola un’identificazione di aree di attività ad “alta risoluzione”, tuttavia non impedisce di cogliere delle regolarità generali. Alcuni indizi sembrano suggerire la presenza di una possibile sleeping area in corrispondenza dell’angolo NW del Riparo (dove la parete curva a gomito). L’evidente ridondanza di alcuni parametri, come il pattern spaziale dei focolari e gli addensamenti del micro-debris (funzionalmente collegati tra loro), sembra suggerire l’idea di una certa reiterazione di comportamenti secondo un modello comune. La suggestiva possibilità che ciò rifletta l’esistenza di una sorta di “memoria storica dei luoghi” tramandata nel corso degli spostamenti ciclici dell’accampamento trova un forte limite interpretativo nell’effetto palinsesto. Nella formazione di questi patterns, infatti, un ruolo importante può avere avuto la durata dei singoli episodi di accampamento, il modello insediativo, il pattern di mobilità e la stessa funzione dei siti. Ad ora, non si può escludere che, nella formazione di alcuni patterns spaziali ricorrenti, un ruolo quantomeno secondario possa essere stato giocato da forcing esterni come l’effettiva estensione dell’area riparata sotto roccia in termini di spazio disponibile per l’allestimento dell’accampamento (anche in rapporto alla dimensione dei gruppi umani). Un quadro completamente diverso deriva dai contesti in cui è riflessa una minore durata temporale (palinsesti brevi e vere e proprie paleo-superfici), come l’US 13 del Riparo l’Oscurusciuto, la prima paleosuperficie dello strato 150 di Grotta dei Santi (Monte Argentario – GR) e lo strato 56 del Riparo il Molare (S. Giovanni a Piro – SA). L’US 13, come suggerito dall’analisi delle RMU (Raw Material Units) e dagli stessi patterns spaziali, è interpretabile come uno short palimpsest, la sua formazione in altri termini, è inquadrabile entro una durata relativamente breve. Ciò ha consentito il riconoscimento di una complessa articolazione funzionale dello spazio, legata al rapporto tra la parete del Riparo e i focolari allineati (ad essa sub-paralleli). Da questo rapporto deriva una struttura dicotomica, con un settore “interno” spazialmente segregato tra la parete del Riparo e i focolari, presumibilmente adibito a sleeping area e la fascia “esterna” utilizzata per un set di attività domestiche correlate con i focolari (hearth-related activity areas). Di particolare interesse si è rivelata l’evidenza di attività di “preventive maintenance”. A suggerire ciò, l’esistenza di un settore “periferico” e in cui trovano un’insolita concentrazione particolari rifiuti (come ossa di grandi dimensioni e nuclei esauriti), lì “segregati” al fine di mantenere più pulite e operative le aree di lavoro. In questo caso, la persistenza di uno stesso modello di gestione dell’accampamento e i risultati emersi dalla dissezione del palinsesto, consentono di legittimare l’ipotesi di una “memoria storica” nell’uso degli spazi, per cui uno stesso gruppo di cacciatori-raccoglitori potrebbe essere l’artefice della/le occupazione/i riflessa/e in questo strato. Nonostante l’esigua porzione dell’area ad ora indagata, la superficie di occupazione superiore dello strato 150 di Grotta dei Santi (una vera e propria paleosuperficie), ha fornito risultati molto interessanti, poiché questo contesto è stato probabilmente sepolto in tempi relativamente rapidi e ha subito scarsi disturbi post-deposizionali. Anche in questo caso è stato possibile distinguere, ad alta risoluzione, aree destinate a funzioni differenti. Le due aree di attività domestiche individuate sono spazialmente separate da un settore a minore densità di reperti e sembrano entrambe correlate con focolari. Possibili indizi di “preventive maintenance” sono emersi a margine di una di queste aree di attività. Infine, lo strato 56 del Riparo il Molare è al tempo stesso una paleosuperficie e un palinsesto breve (in quanto sottile livello intercalato tra due spessi strati sterili di argilla, nel cui spessore è stato possibile riconoscere variazioni microstratigrafiche e significative differenze strutturali dei patterns spaziali). Il sottolivello corrispondente al momento iniziale è contraddistinto da un massiccio utilizzo del fuoco, quello successivo è caratterizzato dalla una struttura costruita da pietre allineate (ma mancano evidenze di focolari). L’organizzazione delle aree di attività e i patterns delle RMU sembrano suggerire la pertinenza di questi due sottolivelli a due occupazioni di breve durata reciprocamente poco lontane nel tempo. Tuttavia, non è al momento possibile escludere del tutto la possibilità che lo strato 56 rifletta una successione di due momenti con caratteri organizzativi completamente differenti da porre all’interno di una medesima fase di occupazione. In tutti i siti indagati sono emerse evidenze che indicano uno sfruttamento di risorse litiche e faunistiche entro una scala territoriale locale. All’interno di questo panorama di mobilità di breve raggio, i patterns tecnologici e spaziali delle RMU e il trasporto selettivo di alcune parti delle prede cacciate evidenziano un quadro dinamico, caratterizzato da un certo grado di frammentazione delle sequenze operative.

Spagnolo, V. (2017). Studio delle strategie insediative del Paleolitico Medio in Italia centro-meridionale.

Studio delle strategie insediative del Paleolitico Medio in Italia centro-meridionale

SPAGNOLO, VINCENZO
2017-01-01

Abstract

This work aims to the reconstruction of intra-site space management modalities among Neanderthal hunter-gatherers groups. This theme is part of a wider research issue: the study of Paleolithic settlements strategies. This is a topic of great interest in the present-day scientific debate and involves a varied range of methods and scales of analyses. The sample-sites here analyzed comprise some living contexts of Center-Southern Italy: Molare Rock shelter – SU 56 (MIS 5, Post-Tyrrhenian), Oscurusciuto Rock shelter – SU 13, 11 (MIS 3, approximately 55-43 ka BP) and Grotta dei Santi – SU 150 (MIS 3, approximately 47-40 ka BP). These sites were selected to cover Neanderthal presence throughout the Last Glacial, within different palaeo-environmental contexts. It was, in this way, possible to contextualize stratigraphic entities with different values in terms of formation modes and times. Spatial analyses were carried out with a multidisciplinary approach, integrating results from other disciplines into the GIS. The analytical protocol employed is common to all the sites, however, peculiarities of the different context and of the available data-set were taken into account, each time adapting the employed analytic methods and the specific aims of the study. Preliminarily, data collected were analyzed both from a taphonomic point of view (in order to determine the preservation state of the sites) and from a temporal one (in order to assess to which extent the palimpsest effect does alter the level of “archaeological visibility”). Results clearly highlight the problem of the strong link between the spatial variable and the temporal one arising from the palimpsest effect. SU 11 of Oscurusciuto Rock shelter (Ginosa – TA, Sothern Italy) is a large palimpsest where it is difficult to disentangle single events or to understand the time interval framing its formation. Analyses of hearths and of the vertical distribution of finds (by Cartesian coordinates) have allowed recognizing at least two sub-levels. These, however, appear to be themselves palimpsests in which a relatively high number of occupations is recorded. Even if this situation hinders the identification of “high resolution” activity areas, it is still possible to see some general regularities. There are clues to the presence of possible sleeping area by the NW corner of the Rock-Shelter (where the rock wall makes a U-bend). The evident redundancy of some parameter, such as hearths spatial pattern and the micro-debris accumulations (which are functionally linked together), suggests the idea of a reiteration of the same behavior following a common model. The fascinating possibility that this could reflect the existence of a sort of “historical memory of places”, handed down during the camp cyclical transfers, has a strong interpretive limit in the palimpsest effect. Indeed, in the formation of such patterns an important role could be played by the duration of each camp episode, by the settlement model, by the mobility pattern and by the site function itself. At the moment it is not possible to exclude that some external forcing, such as the actual extension of the rock shelter site in term of available space for setting up the camp (also in relation to human group size), could have played a role (a secondary one at least) in creating recurrent spatial patterns. A completely different picture derives from contexts where a short lifespan is reflected (short palimpsests and actual living floors), such as SU 13 of Oscurusciuto Rock shelter, the upper living floor in SU 150 of Grotta dei Santi (Monte Argentario – GR, Central Italy) and SU 56 of Molare Rock-shelter (S. Giovanni a Piro – SA, Southern Italy). SU 13, can be interpreted as a short palimpsest as suggested by RMU (Raw Material Units) analyses and by spatial patterns. To put it simply, its formation can be framed within a relatively short time period. This has allowed recognizing a complex functional articulation of space, linked to the relation between the Rock-Shelter wall and the hearths alignment which is sub-parallel to it. Deriving from this relation is a dichotomous structure, with a spatially isolated “inner” sector distinguished from an “external” one. The “inner sector”, between the Rock-Shelter wall and the hearths, was presumably used as a sleeping area. The “external” zone was used for a set of domestic activities linked to the presence of the hearths (hearth-related activity areas). The evidence of “preventive maintenance” activities is especially interesting. These are suggested by the presence of a “peripheral” sector with an unusual concentration of waste (such a large size bones and exhausted cores), “isolated” there in order to keep the working areas cleaner. In this case, the observed persistence of the same model of camp management and the results coming from the palimpsest dissection, allow to validate the hypotheses of a “historical memory” in the use of space, by which the same hunter-gatherers group could have been the maker of the occupation/s reflected in this layer. Despite the limited extension of the area excavated so far, the upper living floor of SU 150 of Grotta dei Santi (an actual living floor), yielded very interesting results. This context was in fact probably buried relatively rapidly and has undergone little post-depositional disturbances. In this case it was possible to make a high resolution distinction between areas devoted to different functions. Two areas of domestic activities are spatially separated by a sector with less density of finds and both appear to be related to hearths. Clues to possible “preventive maintenance” emerged at the edge of one of these activity areas. Finally, SU 56 of Molare Rock shelter is both a living floor and a short palimpsest (because interlayered between two thick sterile clay layers and because important structural variations of the spatial patterns and micro-stratigraphic variations could be recognized within its depth). The sub-level corresponding to the initial moment is characterized by a massive use of fire whereas the ensuing one is characterized by a structure made of aligned stones and hearth evidence is lacking therein. The activity areas organization and the RMU patters seem to suggest that these two sub-levels belong to two short term occupations, not very far from each other in time. All the same, it is not possible at the moment to exclude that layer 56 is instead the result of a succession of two moments with totally different managements but to be placed within a same occupational phase. Evidence indicating an exploitation of lithic and faunal resources within a local territorial scale have emerged in all of the investigate sites. Within this setting of short range mobility, the RMU spatial and technological patterns and the selective transportation of some body parts of hunted preys define a dynamic framework, characterized by a certain degree of fragmentation of the operational sequences.
2017
Spagnolo, V. (2017). Studio delle strategie insediative del Paleolitico Medio in Italia centro-meridionale.
Spagnolo, Vincenzo
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11365/1011000
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