Valcamonica is known all over the world for the development of rock art between the Lateglacial and the Middle Ages. We present here an updated synthesis on the environmental history of Valcamonica, focussing on the relationships between natural ecosystems, climate and human peopling. Among the natural archives reviewed, a reference is the Pian di Gembro succession, a middle-altitude site offering a chronologically and taxonomically highly-resolved ecological investigation for the last 15.5 cal ka BP. For this site we present quantitative reconstructions of climate parameters obtained from fossil pollen spectra. The deglaciation of the valley floor occurred about 18-17.5 cal ka BP. Remnants of a hut and rock engravings, referred to the Upper Paleolithic, are indication of human groups on the valley floor, possibly related to hunting activities on wild mammals sheltering in newlyestablished pine and larch forests. Lowering of the timberline and expansion of xerophytic formations affected the montane and subalpine belts in the Younger Dryas. Fast afforestation and timberline rise mark the Holocene onset, as a result of abrupt climate improvement. A phase of hemisphaeric climate change, also recorded in ice cores at 8.2 cal ka BP, promoted the expansion of spruce and fir at middle altitudes. Very high treeline altitudes (> 2,600 m asl) were withstood between 9.1-7.4 cal ka BP, as testified by finds of Pinus cembra trunks and seeds of relevant age in high-altitude mires. In this span, high-altitude camps of Mesolithic hunters, moving seasonally from the valley floor, left traces of forest fires, in the forms of charcoal fragments from hearths and pits with heat-fractured pebbles. Archaeological and palaeoecological data suggest peopling discontinuity between 7.5 to ca. 6.5 cal ka BP, when farming started to develop. The oldest cereal pollen grain is detected at ca. 6 cal ka BP, consistently with the cultural chronology of early settlements in Valcamonica. Mountain pastoralism is documented only for later periods (Bronze Age onward) but detecting earliest traces high-altitude husbandry needs further research at subalpine areas preserving natural archives. Alpine pastures and cereal fields further expanded since the Early Bronze Age, despite a poor archaeological record for the period. During the first millennium BC rock art spread across Valcamonica. Iron Age and Roman time display high rates of forest exploitation, often related to iron-smelting activities, and agriculture expansion. Chestnut and walnut appear between the I BC II AD centuries.

Ecological changes and human interaction in Valcamonica, the rock art valley, since the last deglaciation

An overview of the palynological research carried out in Italy is presented, including 94 late Quaternary dated pollen sites, mainly studied in the last ten years. These pollen records are mostly distributed in northern and central Italy, while in the southern part of the peninsula and in the islands they are very sparse. They are representative of different vegetational belts, being located at all altitudes between the sea level and 2300 m a.s.l. A number of late Pleistocene records provide a unique opportunity to study the last glacial period. Over 40 pollen diagrams record the late glacial vegetation development and over 60 diagrams span time intervals of at least 4000 years during the postglacial. These records show very diversified vegetational features, which are partly due to the mosaic of physiographic and climatic conditions of the Italian peninsula, partly to a long-term human impact on the landscape, and partly to the location and extent of the glacial refugia for temperate and Mediter...

Advances in Italian palynological studies: late Pleistocene and Holocene records

Abstract The paper illustrates the results of an archaeometric project on the raw material characterization of some collections of prehistoric polished stone tools, dated from the Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age, from sites located in Northern Italy. The petrographic analyses (surface and thin-section microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence, atomic absorption spectrometry) revealed a raw material circulation network involving the whole of Northern Italy. Here occur the outcrops of high-pressure (HP) meta-ophiolites, which were widely utilized from the Early Neolithic onwards for the manufacture of polished cutting-edged tools, which are represented by axes, adzes and chisels. Other raw materials, such as serpentinites, seem to have been preferred for the production of other types of artefacts, including stone rings used as bracelets. The analyses revealed that the prehistoric polished stone artefacts were made from uncommon lithologies such as Alpine eclogites, jades and other HP meta-ophiolites. These rocks were exploited from primary and secondary sources, mainly located in Piedmont, the Aosta Valley and Liguria. During the Neolithic these lithologies are the dominant raw material for the polished stone tools in Northern Italy and southeastern France. In the same period, in other European countries the same lithologies occur less frequently as axe or adze blades; in NW Europe they were frequently used for manufacturing long ceremonial axes, which have a typology that does not appear to belong to the Italian tradition.

Prehistoric polished stone artefacts in Italy: a petrographic and archaeological assessment

This paper is a preliminary report of excavations carried out between 1990 and 2000 at Edera Cave in the Trieste Karst. The cave is 3km from the present coast. It was first occupied during the Boreal period by Mesolithic (Sauveterrian) hunter-gatherers. The remains of this occupation comprise pits and hearths, abundant faunal remains, and typical chipped stone and bone tools, many of which were recovered in situ on an almost intact palaeosurface (layer 3c). A hearth in layer 3a above belongs to the Late Mesolithic Castelnovian culture, and has yielded a few potsherds of non-local production, as well as bones of domesticated animals. Layer 2a consists of several superimposed charcoal lenses attributed to the local Early Neolithic Vla1ka group on the basis of characteristic vessel shapes and a series of four radiocarbon ages that date this horizon to c. 6500 BP (5450 cal BC). Although the cave continued to be used sporadically until the Migration Period, this paper is concerned mainly with the problem of the relationship between the last hunter-gatherers and the first food producers who used the cave during the mid-seventh millennium BP. So far, layer 3a of Edera Cave is the only evidence from this part of the Adriatic of interaction between the last Castelnovian bands and the first Neolithic farmers.

/pdf/the-mesolithic-neolithic-transition-in-the-trieste-karst-2epezjpdqk.pdf

The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Trieste Karst (north-eastern Italy) as seen from the excavations at the Edera Cave

The Late Mesolithic in Southern Europe is dated to the 7th and the first part of the 6th millennia BCE and is marked by profound changes which are mostly evident in the technical know-how and tool-kit of the last hunter-fisher-gatherer societies. The significance of this phase also relates to the fact that it precedes the Early Neolithic, another period of major transformations of human societies. Nonetheless, the Late Mesolithic still remains a poorly known age in this area. A burial discovered at Mondeval de Sora (Northern Italy) in 1987, represents a unique window into this period. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of more than 50 lithic and osseous artifacts associated with this burial. We highlight important contextual data regarding the techno-economic dimension and the notion of personal burial possessions. Based on the association and location of some items, we propose a new interpretation of the social status of this individual and the possible impact of technological innovation on the social organization and symbolic sphere of Late Mesolithic groups.

/pdf/a-snapshot-of-late-mesolithic-life-through-death-an-3y3vfoy4nw.pdf

A snapshot of Late Mesolithic life through death: An appraisal of the lithic and osseous grave goods from the Castelnovian burial of Mondeval de Sora (Dolomites, Italy).

Excavations at the high altitude Mesolithic site of Laghetti del Crestoso (Bovegno, Brescia - Northern Italy)

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Excavations at the high altitude Mesolithic site of Laghetti del Crestoso (Bovegno, Brescia - Northern Italy)