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AbstractThe evolution and development of human mortuary behaviors is of enormous cultural significance. Here we report a richly-decorated young infant burial (AVH-1) from Arma Veirana (Liguria, northwestern Italy) that is directly dated to 10,211–9910 cal BP (95.4% probability), placing it within the early Holocene and therefore attributable to the early Mesolithic, a cultural period from which well-documented burials are exceedingly rare. Virtual dental histology, proteomics, and aDNA indicate that the infant was a 40–50 days old female. Associated artifacts indicate significant material and emotional investment in the child’s interment. The detailed biological profile of AVH-1 establishes the child as the earliest European near-neonate documented to be female. The Arma Veirana burial thus provides insight into sex/gender-based social status, funerary treatment, and the attribution of personhood to the youngest individuals among prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups and adds substantially to the scant data on mortuary practices from an important period in prehistory shortly following the end of the last Ice Age.

Research at TT and DK was supported by the High Risk Research in Archaeology grant of the National Science Foundation (BCS‐0442096) in 2004, British Academy Small Grant 40967 in 2005, the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge grants in 2005, 2008 and 2009, Cardiff University in 2013 and 2017, the NOMIS Foundation in 2019–2020 (all to DB), and the European Research Council Starting Grant Project HIDDEN FOODS grant agreement no. 639286 (to EC) in 2017. Research on cryptotephra and several AMS radiocarbon dates were funded through the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) consortium ‘RESponse of Humans to Abrupt Environmental Transitions’ (RESET, NE/E015670/1 and NE/E015913/1). Stable isotope analyses were supported by the European Research Council Starting Grant Project SUBSILIENCE grant agreement no. 818299 (to AMB). CAIF thanks Tonko Rajkovača, McBurney Geoarchaelogy Laboratory, Department of Archaeology University of Cambridge, for making the thin section slides and Chris Rolfe and Dr Steve Boreham of the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge are thanked for conducting the pollen preservation assessment. Als Chemex of North Vancouver is thanked for producing the multi‐element figures. DB thanks Brandon Fowler for his help with the MALDI‐TOF at the Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, Maria Gurova for drawings 1 and 3 of flint artefacts on Fig. 7, Miljana Botunjac for drawings on Figs. 11 and 12, and Andrea Zupancich for the base map in Fig. 1. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved the presentation of our results. The radiocarbon dating was supported in the main by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC grant agreement 324139 “Palaeo-Chron,” awarded to Professor Tom Higham, University of Oxford. This funding also supported Rachel Hopkins’’ doctoral research. The article presents evidence about the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition interval in the karst area of the Danube Gorges in the Lower Danube Basin. We review the extant data and present new evidence from two recently investigated sites found on the Serbian side of the Danube River - Tabula Traiana and Dubocka-Kozja caves. The two sites have yielded layers dating to both the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic and have been investigated by the application of modern standards of excavation and recovery along with a suite of state of the art analytical procedures. The presentation focuses on micromorphological analyses of the caves' sediments, characterisation of cryptotephra, a suite of new radiometric dates (accelerator mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence) as well as proteomics (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) and stable isotope data in discerning patterns of human occupation of these locales over the long term

Abstract Recent advances in the functional study of stone technology have highlighted how, since the early Paleolithic, non-flaked stone tools were employed in a wide range of tasks, from food processing to craft activities. Non-flaked tools are documented within the stone assemblages of various Mesolithic sites of Italy. However, these tools are still poorly known and no analysis was ever conducted for investigating their use. In this study, we present the results of the functional study performed on Mesolithic non-flaked stone artefacts from Pradestel and Romagnano Loc III, two sites located in the Adige Valley of the Eastern Alpine region of Italy. This area yielded some of the best-known Mesolithic record in Europe, and significant evidence of forager lifeways between the second half of the 10th millennium cal BC and the beginning of the 6th millennium cal BC. Through the application of qualitative and quantitative functional analyses we were able to interpret residues and use wear from the processing of plant and animal materials, finally assessing the activities performed with non-flaked stones at both sites. Our data provide the first direct evidence of the role played by little modified pebbles in the daily life of the Mesolithic foragers of the Italian Eastern Alpine region, so far assumed only through indirect evidence.

AbstractThis paper provides results from a suite of analyses made on human dental material from the Late Palaeolithic to Neolithic strata of the cave site of Grotta Continenza situated in the Fucino Basin of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The available human remains from this site provide a unique possibility to study ways in which forager versus farmer lifeways affected human odonto-skeletal remains. The main aim of our study is to understand palaeodietary patterns and their changes over time as reflected in teeth. These analyses involve a review of metrics and oral pathologies, micro-fossils preserved in the mineralized dental plaque, macrowear, and buccal microwear. Our results suggest that these complementary approaches support the assumption about a critical change in dental conditions and status with the introduction of Neolithic foodstuff and habits. However, we warn that different methodologies applied here provide data at different scales of resolution for detecting such changes and a multipronged approach to the study of dental collections is needed for a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of diachronic changes.

AbstractIn the last few years, the application of quantitative methods in the field of use wear analysis has grown considerably, involving the use of different techniques. A development in surface measurements approaches has become necessary as standard assessments based upon qualitative functional analysis are often affected by a degree of subjectivity and a limited reproducibility. To advance the current methodological debate on functional analysis of ground stone technology, we present a combined methodological approach, including qualitative and quantitative analyses, applied to the study of experimental sandstone ground stone tools. We test surface quantification at a macro and micro-scale, paired with the observation and description of residue and use wear connected to the processing of plant, animal and mineral matters. Our results provide an exhaustive quantitative dataset concerning surface modifications associated with different uses and suggest an analytical workflow for the functional analysis of both experimental and archaeological ground stone assemblages. We also highlight the limitation and pitfalls of an exclusive adoption of quantitative methods in the study of ancient tool use demonstrating how a synergetic approach can enhance the quality, reproducibility and comparability of functional data.