Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 4, Europe
.pdfPudelko, E. (1991). "Wyniki badan archeologicznych pradziejowego cmentarzyska w Brezeziu, woj. Kalisz, wlatach 1986-1988" ("Results of archaeological studies on a prehistoric cemetery at Brzezie, Kalisz Voivodship in 1986-1988"). Rocznik Kaliski 22 (I 990}: 125-162.
Smigielski, W. (l991). "Grody kultury luzyckiej w Wielkopolsce Wstl!P do problematyki" ("Lusatian Culture Fortified Settlements in Great Poland: An Introduction"). In Prahistoriyczny grad w Biskupinie: problematyka osiedli obronnzch na poczqtku epoki zelaya, ed. 1. laskanis. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (Panstowowe Muzeum Archeologiczne Biblioteka PMA), 23-35.
Szafranski, W. (l991). "Biskupinskie refleksje religioznawcze" ("Re· flections on Religion at Biskupin"). In Prahistoriyczny grad w Biskupinie: problematyka osiedli obronnzch na poczqtku epoki zelaya, ed. 1. laskanis. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (Pansto· wowe Muzeum Archeologiczne Biblioteka PMA), 171-184.
Wilke, G. (1991). "Sprawozdanie z badan wykopaliskowych na stanowisku I w Mohajnach woj. olsztynskie, w 1986 r. na osiedlu
Northeastern European Iron Age 221
nawodnym kultury kurhanow zachodniobahyckich" ("A Report on the 1986 Excavations on a Lake·Dwelling Site of the West·Baltic Barrow culture, site I in Mohajny, Olsztyn Voivodeship"). Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici. Archeologia 15 (Archeologia pod· wodna 3): 25-41.
Wisniewski, A. (1991). "Antropomorficzna figurka z lordanowa Slqskiego" ("Anthropomorphic Figure from lordanow Slqski").
Slqskie Sprawoydania Archeologiczne 32: 405-410.
TIMOTHY TAYLOR
Department of Archaeological Sciences
University of Bradford
Bradford
United Kingdom
Northeastern European
Bronze Age
Komarov, Trzciniec, Textile Pottery
c. 3800-2800 B.P.
Follows the Corded Ware tradition, precedes the Northeastern European Iron Age tradition.
DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Ceramics with incised
horizontal lines and zig-zag designs predominate. In some northern areas, net or textile impressed ceramics were common. Ceramics were hand-formed and pitfired, and some were slipped. Forms included bowls, tulip-shaped jars, and s-shaped beakers. Bronze was used for a variety of items, mainly weapons and personal ornaments. Burials were often in small mounds, and both inhumation and cremation were practiced.
IMPORTANT SITES: Komarov (Ukraine), Sosnicja (Ukraine), Trzciniec (Poland), Ust-Rybezhno (Russia).
CULTURAL SUMMARY
Environment
The climate of northeastern Europe was apparently 222 somewhat dryer and cooler than today. Pollen analysis
suggests that deforestation was widespread, most likely at the hands of humans clearing land for agriculture.
Settlements
Settlements tended to be located with easy access to fresh water-along streams, lakes, or near springs. Settlements were spread fairly evenly across the landscape, with both uplands and lowlands being occupied. Houses were small (on the order of 5 m by 10 m), post-frame constructions with wattle and daub walls and few, if any, internal subdivisions. In the extreme north, semisubterranean houses, usually round, were also found.
Economy
The peoples of the Northeastern European Bronze Age were agriculturalists who raised wheat, barley, and millet in addition to a variety of legumes, fruits, and nuts. Cattle, sheep, horses, and pigs were raised. These agricultural products were supplemented by deer, elk, boar, and fish. This is particularly true in the north, where hunting and fishing were the basis of the economy.
Food production and hunting required a wide range of simple tools, from antler hoes to flint knives to stone net sinkers to wooden bows and arrows. Most, if not all, of these tools were made within the household of their use. Ceramics were hand formed, but were made in a wide variety of shapes and with a wide variety of decorative treatments. Bronze was widely used, but was largely restricted to weapons and personal ornaments. Extensive trade networks were present, linking northeastern Europe with central and western Europe and the Mediterranean. Amber, metal ores, and salt were all widely traded.
Sociopolitical Organization
The social basis of the Bronze Age appears to have been the nuclear or extended family household. Households appear to have been largely independent, and,
Northeastern European 223
when located in smaller communities, may have been largely autonomous. There is no clear evidence of supra community political leaders or organizations.
Suggested Readings
Coles, J. M., and A. F. Harding (1979). The Bronze Age in Europe. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Gimbutas, Marjia (1965). Bronze Age Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe. Paris: Mouton.
Sulimirski, Tadeusz (1968). Corded Ware and Globular Amphorae North-East of the Carpathians. London: Athlone Press.
Sulimirski, Tadeusz (1970). Prehistoric Russia. New York: Humanities Press.
PETER PEREGRINE
Department of Anthropology
Lawrence University
Appleton, Wisconsin
United States
Northern Mediterranean
Mesolithic
Epipalaeolithic
ABSOLUTE TIME PERIOD: 11,000--c. 8000 B.P., but continues in some areas to c. 6500 B.P.
RELATIVE TIME PERIOD: Follows the Madalenian, precedes the Southeastern European Bronze Age.
LOCATION: Italy, Greece, Anatolia, islands of the Mediterranean.
DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Geometric microliths,
portable art.
REGIONAL SUBTRADITIONS: Castelnovian, Sauveterrian.
IMPORTANT SITES: Akrotiri-Aetokremnos, Franchthi
Cave, Grotta dell'Uzzo, Okiizini, Romagnano III.
CULTURAL SUMMARY
Environment
Climate. The northern Mediterranean Mesolithic tradition evolved during a period of climatic amelioration
following the Younger Dryas cold event, with the sea rising nearly to present-day levels and the consequent drowning of the Late Glacial coastal plain. In some parts of the Mediterranean such as the Adriatic sea, this land loss was considerable, because of the relatively shallow bathymetry and gentle gradients of the sea floor, whereas along the rocky Tyrrhenian coast of Italy, land loss was minimal. The island of Sicily was separated from the Italian mainland, and Corsica was separated from Sardinia. The climate was initially cold and arid during the Preboreal and later became warmer and more humid during the Boreal and Atlantic.
Topography. The topography of the northern Mediterranean Mesolithic sites varies considerably, from high altitude sites (c. 2000 m above sea level) on mountain passes and plateaus to mid-altitude sites in river valleys and lake basins in northern Italy, and lowland and coastal sites in Greece and Anatolia and on the islands of the Mediterranean.
Geology. The geology of the northern Mediterranean is predominantly limestone, which favoured the forma-
224
tion of natural caves and rock shelters. In some areas, the karstic nature of the limestone resulted in a shortage of surface water.
Biota. During the Preboreal, the northern Mediterranean was largely covered with conifers and some broadleaves at low altitudes, which developed into mixed oak and hazelnut woodlands during the Boreal and Atlantic. The higher altitudes in the Italian Alps were characterized by Alpine grassland associated with shrubs and rare conifers and broadleaves, and the Boreal and Atlantic witnessed a rise in the tree line. A wide variety of herbivores frequented the lowland areas, such as red deer, aurochs, roe deer, horse, elk, wild boar, and chamois, with ibex in the mountainous areas. The island of Cyprus had a very particular endemic fauna composed of pygmy hippopotamus and pygmy elephant.
Settlements
Settlement System. The distribution of sites in the region is very uneven and is probably more a reflection of a combination of the relative intensity of research in certain areas and local geomorphological conditions, rather than of the real settlement system. By far the largest number of sites is found on mainland Italy, in particular in the northeast where there are a number of well-dated stratigraphic series. Only in Italy have welldefined regional subtraditions been identified (Sauveterrian and Castelnovian Subtraditions). In northern Italy, the data suggest a pattern of residential mobility with seasonal transhumance from winter base camps in the lowlands up to specialized high-altitude camps in the mountains in the summer. Whereas in northwestern Italy raw material procurement was a local activity, the lithology of some assemblages in the northeast suggests long-distance movements, which may have been incorporated in the seasonal round. Although the occupation of the high-altitude sites decreases notably in the late Mesolithic (Castelnovian) in northeastern Italy, in the northwest the number of sites increases, possibly as a result of an increase in the population and/or changes in the distribution of resources such as an increase of forest cover in the mountains, the rise of the upper tree line, and changes in the composition of the woodland. In southern Italy, the vast majority of the early Mesolithic sites are located on the coast. In the southeast, the settlement pattern was a logistical one, with large, open residential sites located on the coast or around coastal lagoons, which may well have been occupied year round, and special-activity sites situated in nearby caves and
Northern Mediterranean Mesolithic 225
rock shelters. Chert is absent in the area, and direct procurement of lithic raw material would have been necessary over a distance of more than 100 km. Evidence for late Mesolithic sites is much more sporadic and tenuous in the southeast and absent in the southwest. On mainland Greece, evidence for Mesolithic occupation is very scarce. Apart from the well-dated sequence from Franchthi cave in the southern Argolid, two undated sites were excavated in the 1920s: Zai"mis cave overlooking the Saronic gulf and Ulbrich cave in the northern Argolid. Other sites that may date to this period are Theopetra cave in western Thessaly, where a female skeleton was found, Koukou cave and Spitha in the southern Argolid, Katafiki cave north of Ermioni, and find spots in the Kleisoura gorge in the Berbati valley and in the Acheron valley in Epirus. Evidence suggests that Franchthi cave was occupied on a semisedentary basis, but the scarcity of data from other sites means that it is not possible to attempt reconstructions of the settlement patterns. In northwestern Anatolia, surface surveys have revealed the presence of a number of undated sites along the coastal dunes by the Black sea and the sea of Marmara (Aga<;:li group), and the relation between this group and that found in southern Anatolia (Okiizini group) has yet to be resolved. Knowledge of the central Anatolian plateau during the early Postglacial is almost absent, and consequently it is not clear whether the Pontic and northern Mediterranean Mesolithic assemblages constitute two distinct cultural entities or whether they merge to form a single group on the Anatolian plateau. Evidence for occupation of the islands during the northern Mediterranean Mesolithic includes the sites of Grotta dell'Uzzo and Grotta della Molara on Sicily, Grotta Corbeddu on Sardinia, Sidari on Corfu, and Akrotiri-Aetokremnos on Cyprus.
Population, Health, and Disease. Given the paucity of skeletal remains from this period, data concerning population, health, and disease are scarce. As far as the Italian skeletons are concerned (20 individuals), compared with their Palaeolithic predecessors, there was a reduction in the size and robustness of the Mesolithic population; the average male height was 166 em, and that of the average female was 154 cm. Skeletal pathologies show a prevalence of traumas correlated with activities involving muscular strain.
Economy
Subsistence. Subsistence was based on hunting large mammals, trapping small mammals and birds, and
226Northern Mediterranean Mesolithic
gathering wild plants and land snails. During the Mesolithic, marine resources played an increasingly important role in the lowland coastal sites, such as mollusks, fish, sea urchins, and cetaceans.
Utensils. The most diagnostic chipped-stone tools are geometric microliths, initially in the form of lunates and triangles and later in the form of trapezes and backed bladelets, all of which were hafted onto projectile weapons. It is likely that a bow technology had already been developed, although no bows have been found. Other chipped-stone tools include end scrapers, burins, and retouched blades, which were used for butchery and processing plant foods and animal hides. Many sites have also produced bone tools such as points and harpoons made on deer antlers, and grinding stones, anvils, and percussors have also been found.
Ornaments. Marine shell beads are a characteristic feature of the lowland coastal sites, whereas perforated deer teeth are more common at the upland sites. Pebble pendants were found at Franchthi cave in Greece. Ocher is found at some sites and may have been used for body painting or for decorating clothes.
Trade. Obsidian was transported over 150 km by sea from the island of Melos to Franchthi in Greece, and in Southeast Italy chert was transported over a distance of more than 100 km. It is not possible to ascertain whether these movements of raw material took place by means of direct procurement, trade, or exchange. A significant aspect of the transport of obsidian is that it would have involved long-distance seafaring, although no boats have been found.
Religion and Expressive Culture
Arts. Mobile art in the form of painted and engraved pebbles depicting either geometric designs or figurative scenes is found in many sites, in particular in southeastern Italy; engravings on cave walls are very rare.
Death and the Afterlife. The northern Mediterranean Mesolithic is characterized by both individual and multiple inhumations, some of which seem to be real cemeteries, and cremation was also a widespread practice in some areas. However, the number of sites with evidence of burials or cremation is low compared with the total number of sites known. Burials are known from Franchthi cave and Theopetra in Greece, Vatte di Zambana, Mondeval de Sora, and Grotta dell'Uzzo in Italy, and Okiizini in Anatolia. Some of the burials have
grave goods that suggest some kind of social hierarchy; others are simple inhumations in pits. The presence of both inhumations and cremations at Franchthi cave may also be indicative of differential status. It is interesting to note that there are fewer Mesolithic burials in Italy than in the preceding Palaeolithic period, and it is difficult to know whether this results from sample bias or whether it is a true reflection of change in the social structure of the hunter-gatherer groups.
Suggested Readings
Gastov, I., and Ozdogan, M. (1994). "Some Epi-Palaeolithic Sites from NW Turkey: Aga,.li, Domali and Giimiisdere." Anatolica 20:
97-120.
Guidi, A., and Piperno, M. (1992). [talia Preistorica. Bari: Editori Laterza.
Otte, M., Yal,.inkaya, I., Leotard, J. -M., Kartal, M., Bar-Yosef, 0., Kozlowski, J., Lopez Bayon, I., and Marshack, A. (1995). "The EpiPalaeolithic ofOkiizini Cave (SW Anatolia) and Its Mobiliary Art."
Antiquity 69: 931-944.
Runnels, C. (1995). "Review of Aegean Prehistory IV: The Stone Age of Greece from the Palaeolithic to the Advent of the Neolithic."
American Journal of Archaeology 99: 699-728.
SUBTRADITIONS
Castelnovian
TIME PERIon: 7800-6500 B.P.
LOCATION: Northern Italy, and perhaps southeastern Italy.
DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Microlithic backed
bladelets, pointed backed bladelets, truncated backed bladelets, geometric microliths (trapezes, obtained with the microburin technique), and denticulate blades (Montbani blades).
CULTURAL SUMMARY
Environment
In northeastern Italy, the Postglacial Adige valley, excavated by the Wiirm glaciers, hosted a large lake basin. To the north, the Alps rise to more than 3,700 m, while to the south lie the Prealps and the vast and flat Po plain. In northwestern Italy, Castelnovian sites have been found in the region of Liguria where the Maritime Alps, which rise to over 2000 m above sea level, meet the
Apennines, and the seaward slopes of these mountains drop steeply into the sea, leaving virtually no coastal plain. During the warm and humid Atlantic, thermophilous deciduous species represented by mixed oaks and hazelnut dominated the vegetation in the valley bottoms (c. 200 m above sea level), while in the high-altitude mountains herbaceous Alpine grassland was associated with shrubs such as alder and rhododendron and rare conifers and broadleaves (Cattani 1994). Ibex disappeared from the faunal spectrum in the valley bottoms but continued to live above the tree line in the high mountains. Other herbivore species included red deer, roe deer, accompanied by chamois and, in the valley bottoms, elk and wild boar (Boscato and Sala 1980).
Settlements
The vast majority of Castelnovian sites are found in northern Italy and, as with the preceding Sauveterrian tradition, they are primarily located in the northeast. The sites are found in rock shelters on the valley floor of the Adige river and around the city of Trento, whereas highaltitude mountain sites become rarer; an example is Mondeval de Sora, which lies at 2,150 m above sea level (Alciati et al. 1994). Other sites are found in the Prealpine foothills and on the plains (Alessio et al. 1983; Broglio 1994, 1994b). The site of Mondeval de Sora provides some indications about the settlement patterns of the group that occupied the site in the summer months. The artifacts made from elk bones and wild boar tusks must have been imported from swampy woodland zones in the lowlands, which is where these animal species lived. Poor-quality local raw material was rarely used, in preference for good-quality flint coming from river pebbles collected from the alluvium of the Piave river and nodular flint from sedimentary strata of the Treviso Prealps to the south. Some of the artifacts are made from hyaline quartz, of which the nearest source is the Aurine Alps, c. 60 km north as the crow flies (Broglio and Lunz 1983). The estimated provenance of this quartz is thus diametrically opposed to that of the flint. It seems unlikely that the group that lived at Mondeval de Sora during the summer months and appears to have come from the Piave valley-Treviso Prealps area, went as far as the Aurine Alps specifically to procure raw material of which it had no need and which was obviously of so little importance as not to find traces of it in the lowland and valley sites of winter occupation. One possible explanation may be that the quartz was imported to Mondeval de Sora by seasonal hunters who came to the site from areas where quartz was easily procured. The wide diffusion and homogeneity of the Castelnovian in
Northern Mediterranean Mesolithic 227
northern Italy suggest that during this period a dense network of contacts existed between the various groups whereby exchanges of various sorts were carried out. This leads us to think that Mondeval de Sora may have been one of the sites used for this type of encounter (Alciati et al. 1994). In northwestern Italy, the Castelnovian sites are markedly more numerous than in the Sauveterrian, clustering on the reliefs of the main Apennine watershed between 1100-1650 m above sea level, and between 16-33 km from the sea. This increased exploitation of the highest mountains of the watershed compared with the Sauveterrian, which also contrasts with the picture in northeastern Italy where the reduction in the number of sites suggests a reduction in the exploitation of high-altitude sites, may be related to an increase in population and/or changes in the distribution of resources such as the increase of forest cover in the mountains, the rise of the upper tree line, and changes in the composition of the woodland. As in the Sauveterrian, only local jasper and flint outcrops were exploited. The settlement pattern was similar to that of the Sauveterrian, based on one large site where the presence of precores, cores, and flakes suggests that stone tool manufacture took place. These primary sites were surrounded by several smaller sites where cores are scarce yet flakes are abundant, suggesting that tool rejuvenation activities took place (Maggi and Negrino 1994). Knowledge of the Castelnovian in southern Italy is very scarce and poorly dated. The only site with a radiometric date is the open-air site of Terragne on the Ionian gulf in southeastern Italy which has been dated to 7260 B.P. (Di Lernia and Fiorentino 1995). Other surface assemblages with Castelnovian trapezes have been found in the same region (Corrado 1997; Cremonesi 1978; Ingravallo 1980) although the possibility should not be excluded that all these southern Castelnovian occurrences are in fact early Neolithic sites.
Economy
In the sites in the Adige valley and on the Prealpine foothills and plains, the subsistence economy was based on hunting large mammals (red deer, chamois, roe deer, elk, and wild boar) and marsh turtles, collecting eggs and fresh water mollusks, and fishing (Boscato and Sala 1980). At the high-altitude mountain sites, ibex and red deer were the main species hunted. Castelnovian technology differs from the Sauveterrian in the flaking techniques, which were oriented toward the production of regular blades with subparallel sides, which were used as blanks for making tools (end scrapers, retouched blades) and for the manufacture of trapezoidal arma-
228Northern Mediterranean Mesolithic
tures using the microburin technique (Broglio and Kozlowski 1983; Bisi et al. 1987). The Castelnovian bone industry includes points and a harpoon made of red deer antler.
Religion and Expressive Culture
The only Castelnovian burial known so far is that from the high-altitude site of Mondeval de Sora, which dates to 7330 B.P. and which was occupied in the summer months. It is of a robust male, 167 cm tall and about 40 years of age. The skeleton lay in a supine position, and the lower part of the body from the pelvis downward was covered with stones, which seem to have been intentionally selected on the basis of their lithology: volcanic rocks and calcareous marls, rather than the locally available dolomitic limestone. The man was buried with three groups of grave goods arranged down his left side. One group consists of 33 chert artifacts and cores and 9 bone and antler artifacts. The other two groups consisted of a small number of chert tools and cores in an agglomerate of earth mixed with resin. Apart from these objects, a blade made of nonlocal chert was placed above each shoulder and another below the skull, and some pierced atrophic deer canines were placed under the left scapula and on the sternum. Finally, there are two bone points, one on the sternum and the other between the knees, made from elk and deer bone, respectively. The artifacts lying by the side of the body may have been the personal equipment of the man, whereas the deer canines probably formed part of his clothing. The bone objects on top of the body may have served to close a skin burial shroud, and the nonlocal chert blades may therefore have been the only prestige objects that were buried with the individual (Alciati et al. 1994). Castelnovian art is rare. At Riparo Gaban in the Adige valley, a female figurine carved on the end of a red deer antler was found alongside a spatula made of the same raw material, which had been decorated with incised geometric motifs. Use wear on the back of the spatula suggests that it might have been used for scraping fat from animal hides (Bagolini 1980).
References
Alciati, G., Cattani, L., Fontana, F., Gerhardinger, M. E., Guerreschi, A., Milliken, S., Mozzi, P., and Rowley-Conwy, P. (1994). "Mondeval de Sora: A High Altitude Mesolithic Campsite in the Italian Dolomites." Preistoria Alpina 28 (1992): 351-366.
Alessio, M., Allegri, L., Bella, F., Broglio, A., Calderoni, G., Cortesi, C., Improta, S., Preite Martinez, M., Petrone, V., and Turi, B. (1983). "14C Datings of three Mesolithic Series in the Trento Basin in the Adige Valley (Vatte di Zambana, Pradestel, Romagnano) and
Comparisons with Mesolithic Series of Other Regions." Preistoria Alpina 19: 245-254.
Bagolini, B. (1980). Riparo Gaban: Preistoria ed Evoluzione delfAmbiente. Trento: Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali.
Bisi, F., Broglio, A., Dalmieri, G., Lanzinger, M., and Sartorelli, A. (1987). "Bases mesolithiques du Neolithique ancien au sud des Alpes." In Chipped Stone Industries of the Early Farming Cultures in Europe, ed. J. K. Kozlowski and S. K. Kozlowski. Warsaw: Archaeologia Interregionalis 215, 381-422.
Boscato, P., and Sala, B. (1980). "Dati paleontologici, paleoecologici e cronologici di tre depositi mesolitici in Valle dell'Adige (Trento)."
Preistoria Alpina 16: 45-6\.
Broglio, A. (I 994a). "Mountain Sites in the Context of the North-East Italian Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic." Preistoria Alpina 28 (1992): 293-310.
Broglio, A., and Kozlowski, S. K. (1983). "Tipologia ed evoluzione delle industriemesolitichedi Romagnano III." PreistoriaAlpina 19: 93-148.
Broglio, A., and Lunz, R. (1983). "Osservazioni preliminari sull'utilizzazione del cristallo di roccia nelle industrie mesolitiche del bacino dell'Adige." Preistoria Alpina 19: 201-208.
Cattani, L. (1994). "Prehistoric Environments and sites in the Eastern Alps during the Late Glacial and Postglacial." Preistoria Alpina 28 (1992): 61-70.
Corrado, A. (1997). "II territorio di Oria nel Paleolitico." In La Passione delfOrigine: Giuliano Cremonesi e la Ricerca Preistorica nel Salento, ed. E. Ingravallo. Lecce: Conte Editore, 53-58.
Cremonesi, G. (1978). "Nuove rinvenimenti del Paleolitico superiore e Mesolitico a Torre Testa (Brindisi)." Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche 33: 109-159.
Di Lernia, S., and Fiorentino, G. (1995). "Decoding an Open-Air Archaeological Deposit: The Prehistoric Settlement of Terragne (Manduria-Taranto, South Eastern Italy): Formation Processes and Spatial Analysis." Origini 19: 7-53.
Maggi, R., and Negrino, F. (1994). "Upland Settlement and Technological Aspects of the Eastern Ligurian Mesolithic." Preistoria Alpina 28 (1992): 373-396.
Sauveterrian
TIME PERIOD: 9900---7300 B.P.
LOCATION: Northern and southern Italy.
DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATIRIBUTES: Microlithic backed
bladelets, pointed backed bladelets, truncated backed bladelets, geometric microliths (scalene and isosceles triangles, often obtained with the microburin technique), and, more rarely, backed blades.
CULTURAL SUMMARY
Environment
In northeastern Italy, the Postglacial Adige valley, excavated by the Wurm glaciers, hosted a large lake
basin. To the north, the Alps rise to more than 3700 m, whereas to the south lie the Prealps and the vast and flat Po plain. In northwestern Italy, Sauveterrian sites have been found in the region of Liguria where the Maritime Alps, which rise to over 2000 m above sea level, meet the Apennines, and the seaward slopes of these mountains drop steeply into the sea, leaving virtually no coastal plain. The climate, at first arid and cold during the Preboreal, then became temperate and more humid during the Boreal. In northern Italy, the Preboreal environment at the low-altitude sites in the Adige valley (c. 200 m above sea level) was wooded with Scotch pine and some broadleaves, whereas during the Boreal, mixed oak woods and hazelnut developed. At the midaltitude sites (c. 1000 m above sea level), the vegetation was that of a grassland wooded with conifers and broadleaves, whereas at the high-altitude sites (c. 2000 m above sea level), the herbaceous Alpine grassland was associated with shrubs such as alder and rhododendron and rare conifers and broadleaves (Cattani 1994). The vegetation change that took place during the Boreal is mirrored in the faunal spectrum, which sees a decrease in the number of ibex, a species related to open environments, and an increase in red deer and roe deer (Boscato and Sala 1980). In southeastern Italy, the return to mild and humid conditions resulted in a rapid rise in sea level, and the Late Glacial coastal plain would have been more or less submerged throughout the region. The Postglacial climatic amelioration triggered an increase of thermophilous vegetation characterized by a mixed deciduous woodland of oak, beech, and hazel (Milliken 1998).
Settlements
In northeastern Italy, Sauveterrian sites are distributed both in rock shelters on the Alpine valley bottoms and in rock-shelter and open sites in the mountains both at midaltitudes and at high altitudes between 19002300 m above sea level (Alessio et al. 1983; Broglio 1994a, 1994b). The mountain sites in northeastern Italy stretch from the northern margin of the Pre-Alps (Altopiano di Asiago, Monte Pasubio) to the Alpine watershed, with a maximum concentration in the Dolomites. The sites are found in recurrent morphological situations. There are open sites at the edge of small lakes, such as Colbricon I, 3, 5, and 7 (Bagolini and Dalmeri 1987) and Lago delle Buse (Lemorini 1994), open sites in dominating positions such as Colbricon 6 and 8, sites in small rock shelters formed by the jutting edges of large boulders such as Plan de Frea (Broglio et al. 1983) and Mondeval de Sora (Alciati et al. 1994),
Northern Mediterranean Mesolithic 229
and sites in caves and rock shelters such as Grotta di Ernesto (Awsiuk et al. 1991) and Riparo Dalmeri (Dalmeri and Lanzinger 1989). The Sauveterrian settlement patterns in northeastern Italy were organized with base camps in the lowlands (valley bottoms), secondary camps with differentiated activities, and specialized hunting camps at high altitude between 1,900-2,300 m above sea level. In the latter two types of sites, armatures account for more than 70 percent of the lithic assemblages, whereas at the base camps they account for only 30 percent, the majority of the tools being 'maintenance' tools such as end scrapers and burins. The relation between the mountain sites and the valley bottom sites is also revealed by the different lithic raw materials used. The assemblages in the valley bottoms tend to be made exclusively on flint from Jurassic and Cretaceous formations from the southern Alps, probably from southern Trentino. Dolomitic flint is present exclusively in the sites in the Dolomites, but in quite low frequencies because of its poor quality. Quartz from the Aurine Alps is present exceptionally in the valley bottom sites around Trento (Riparo Gaban) and with low frequencies in some of the sites in the Dolomites (Plan de Frea, Mondeval de Sora), whereas it is abundant (up to 50 percent) in the sites close to the provenance area, to the north of the Val Pusteria (Broglio and Lunz 1983). This suggests that the sites may have formed part of a single settlement system, which spread from the valley bottoms (100-200 m above sea level in the Adige valley) up to the mountain passes. Alternatively, the activities of the Mesolithic hunters may have taken place in distinct environments, the valley bottom and high-altitude zones, which were frequented seasonally, because there are no Mesolithic sites known from the intermediate area (Broglio I994a). In northwestern Italy, the Sauveterrian sites cluster at altitudes that do not exceed 1,000 m above sea level and are situated between 6-18 km from the coast. The settlement pattern was based on one large site where the presence of precores, cores, and flakes suggests that stone tool manufacture took place, and these primary sites were surrounded by several smaller sites where cores are scarce yet flakes are abundant, suggesting that tool rejuvenation activities took place. Exclusively local jasper and flint were used (Maggi and Negrino 1994). The number of sites known from southern Italy is much lower, and in most cases it is difficult to attempt reconstructions of settlement patterns. An exception is the Salento peninsula in southeastern Italy, where detailed surveys have been carried out (Milliken 1998; Milliken and Skeates 1990, 1998). The Sauveterrian sites are located on the coast or around coastal lagoons and
230Northern Mediterranean Mesolithic
are situated both in caves and in rock shelters. The drowning of the Late Glacial residential sites on the coastal plain would have necessitated a spatial shift in the settlement system, and the large surface assemblages at San Foca and Torre Testa, and the abundance of sites around the Alimini lakes, may represent the new residential sites in a logistically mobile settlement strategy. Given the absence of chert in this area, direct procurement of lithic raw material would have been necessary over a distance of more than 100 km, as well as the maintenance of long-distance social relationships with groups living in the source area (Milliken 1998). Radiocarbon dates are available for only two Sauveterrian sites in southern Italy, Grotta della Serratura on the Tyrrhenian coast, which dates between 8300-8000 B.P. (Martini 1993), and Grotta delle Mura on the Adriatic coast, which dates to about 8200 B.P. (Calattini 1996). The lithic assemblages suggest that both sites were special-purpose camps rather than residential sites.
Economy
In the northern Italian valley bottom sites, the subsistence economy was mixed, based on hunting large mammals (ibex, red deer, chamois, roe deer, wild boar) and marsh turtles, collecting eggs and fresh water mollusks, and fishing, whereas at midand high-altitude sites, hunting was focused on ibex and red deer (Boscato and Sala 1980). In the Early Sauveterrian (99009300 B.P.), the chipped-stone technology was oriented toward the production of blanks with predominantly irregular forms, without any clear distinction between flake, blade, and bladelet products. The tool types include burins, end scrapers, and backed knives cfr. Rouffignac. The armatures are hypermicrolithic, and their form is usually independent of the morphology of the blank and standardized. Triangles dominate, followed by lunates, truncated backed bladelets, and double backed points. Middle Sauveterrian technology (9300-8500 B.P.) is characterized by the association of lunates, triangles, and double-backed points. The Recent Sauveterrian (8600-8200 B.P.) witnesses the appearance of Montclus triangles and short double-backed points, whereas the Final Sauveterrian (8000-7800 B.P.) sees the appearance of symmetrical trapezoidal forms (Bisi et al. 1987; Broglio 1994a; Broglio and Kozlowski 1983). North Italian Sauveterrian bone industries include bone axes and spatulas. In southern Italy, red deer and aurochs predominate in the subsistence economies, accompanied by scarce horse, steppe ass, wild boar, ibex, and hare. Marine mollusks also played an important role in the diet of these groups. The lithic
assemblages are similar to their northern Italian counterparts, and bone industries are present but rare.
Religion and Expressive Culture
A burial was found at Riparo Vatte di Zambana in the Adige valley, which dates to about 8050 B.P. The woman was 150 cm tall and about 50 years old. The body was placed supine in a shallow pit and partially covered with stones, but no traces of grave goods were found (Alessio et al. 1983). In northeastern Italy, a series of engraved pebbles was found at the site of Terlago. One of the pebbles is a flat river pebble made of andesite, which is covered with linear incisions and ocher (Dalmeri 1992). Engraved pebbles are much more common at Sauveterrian sites in southern Italy, in particular in southeastern Italy. The most abundant collection comes from Grotta delle Veneri in the Salento peninsula, where more than 400 stones and bones were found engraved with geometric motifs (Cremonesi 1992).
References
Alciati, G., Cattani, L., Fontana, F., Gerhardinger, M. E., Guerreschi, A., Milliken, S., Mozzi, P., and Rowley-Conwy, P. (1994). "Mondeval de Sora: A High Altitude Mesolithic Campsite in the Italian Dolomites." Preistoria Alpina 28 (1992): 351-366.
Alessio, M., Allegri, L., Bella, F., Broglio, A., Calderoni, G., Cortesi, c., Improta, S., Preite Martinez, M., Petrone, V., and Turi, B. (1983). "14C datings of three Mesolithic Series in the Trento Basin in the Adige Valley (Vatte di Zambana, Pradestel, Romagnano) and Comparisons with Mesolithic Series of Other Regions." Preistoria Alpina 19: 245-254.
Awsiuk, R., Bartolomei, G., Cattani, L., Cavallo, C., Dalmeri, G., D'Errico, F., Giacobini, G., Girod, A., Hercman, H., lardon-Giner, P., Nisbet, R., Pazdur, F. M., Peresani, M., and Riedel, A. (1991). "La Grotta d'Ernesto (Trento): Frequentazione umana e paleoambiente." Preistoria Alpina 27: 7-160.
Bagolini, B., and Dalmeri, G. (1987). "I siti mesolitici di Colbricon (Trentino): Analisi spaziale e fruizione del territorio." Preistoria Alpina 23: 7-188.
Bisi, F., Broglio, A., Dalmieri, G., Lanzinger, M., and Sartorelli, A. (1987). "Bases mesolithiques du Neolithique ancien au sud des Alpes." In Chipped Stone Industries of the Early Farming Cultures in Europe, ed. 1. K. Kozlowski and S. K. Kozlowski. Warsaw: Archaeologia Interregionalis 215,381-422.
Boscato, P., and Sala, B. (1980). "Dati paleontologici, paleoecologici e cronologici di tre depositi mesolitici in Valle dell'Adige (Trento)."
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Broglio, A. (I 994a). "Mountain Sites in the Context of the North-East Italian Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic." Preistoria Alpina 28 (1992): 293-310.
Broglio, A. (I 994b). "Le Mesolithique des Dolomites." Preistoria Alpina 28 (1992): 311-316.
Broglio, A., and Kozlowski, S. K. (1983). "Tipologia ed evoluzione delle industrie mesolitiche di Romagnano III." Preistoria Alpina 19: 93-148.