0 avis
New data on the site of Notarchirico. Human strategies at the MIS 17 and 16 in South Europe
Archive ouverte
Edité par CCSD -
International audience. Notarchirico has yielded the earliest evidence of Acheulean settlement in Italy and four older occupation levels have recently been unearthed, including one with bifaces, extending the roots of the Acheulean in Italy even further back in time. We present here new archaeological, chronological and environmental results on the new excavations, which greatly enhance our understanding of the cognition of these hominins in Southern Italy earlier than 675 ka. New 40Ar/39Ar on tephras and ESR dates on bleached quartz securely and accurately place these occupations between 695 and 670 ka (interglacial event MIS 17 and transition to glacial event MIS 16). Hominins took advantage of these paleo-channels to select local small nodules of chert and limestone cobbles. No clear cut marks or anthropic bone breakages were for the moment identified. Usewear on small flakes and nodules indicate mixed actions (scraping wood and cutting soft material). The gathering of small chert nodules and the production of very small flakes indicate adaptation to local raw materials or cultural traditions aiming to voluntary produce small end-products. These new data demonstrate a very rapid expansion of the Acheulean from 700 ka over Western Europe during a period of highly variable climatic conditions
Consulter en ligne
Suggestions
Du même auteur
