Andrea ZupancichSpanish National Research Council | CSIC · Institución Milà y Fontanals
Andrea Zupancich
PhD
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36
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Citations since 2017
Introduction
Additional affiliations
November 2017 - December 2021
Education
October 2013 - June 2019
September 2010 - September 2011
November 2005 - July 2010
Publications
Publications (36)
For a long while, the controversy surrounding several bone tools coming from pre-Upper Palaeolithic contexts favoured the view of Homo sapiens as the only species of the genus Homo capable of modifying animal bones into specialised tools. However, evidence such as South African Early Stone Age modified bones, European Lower Palaeolithic flaked bone...
Most of the studies related to the function of Paleolithic stone tools carried out so far focused mainly on the analysis of the worked materials and the activities performed. On the other hand, only few works included an analysis of the tool griping area/s, and the wear derived by object manipulation. Here we present the results of an experimental...
A sample of Quina and demi-Quina scrapers from the Yabrudian levels at Qesem Cave has been studied through an integrated approach, combining techno-morpho-functional and use-wear analyses. The po- tential of this approach is shown using the data obtained and discussed in this paper. Quina and demi- Quina scrapers at Qesem Cave were shaped from blan...
The archaeological record indicates that elephants must have played a significant role in early human diet and culture during Palaeolithic times in the Old World. However, the nature of interactions between early humans and elephants is still under discussion. Elephant remains are found in Palaeolithic sites, both open-air and cave sites, in Europe...
Percussive activities are highly relevant in the economy of modern hunter-gatherer societies and other primates, and are likely to have been equally important during the Palaeolithic. Despite the potential relevance of percussive activities in the Early Stone Age, attempts to study battered artefacts are still rare. In order to establish protocols...
The Quina Mousterian is one of the well-defined Middle Paleolithic techno-complexes. Despite the pivotal research carried out in south-western France, the presence of this techno-complex across the rest of Europe is still poorly documented. Here we apply a techno-functional approach, combining technological and use-wear analyses, for reconstructing...
Despite being one of the most important crops in the recent prehistory of Eurasia, the arrival and exploitation of millets in the westernmost part of Europe are still largely underexplored. Here and for the first time, we report multipronged biomolecular evidence of millet consumption along the Atlantic façade of northern Iberia through a combinati...
Abstract: The recent excavation of level ALB-42 of Valle Giumentina open air site (Italy) has yielded 407 lithic artefacts and some Red Deer bone fragments, showing anthropic marks. Lithic refits appear in this clayey-silty paleosol developed during an interstadial phase, assigned to MIS 12b (c. 450 ka) according to sedimentary studies and radiomet...
Personal ornaments are widely viewed as indicators of social identity and personhood. Ornaments are ubiquitous from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene, but they are most often found as isolated objects within archaeological assemblages without direct evidence on how they were displayed. This article presents a detailed record of the ornaments fou...
Several caves from Southern Italy and Sicily provided invaluable evidence, including several human burials, for reconstructing human adaptations and subsistence in the area during the Upper Palaeolithic. A wealth of information is available concerning the exploitation of animal resources as food. However, little is still known about the role of pla...
Forager focus on wild cereal plants has been documented in the core zone of domestication in southwestern Asia, while evidence for forager use of wild grass grains remains sporadic elsewhere. In this paper, we present starch grain and phytolith analyses of dental calculus from 60 Mesolithic and Early Neolithic individuals from five sites in the Dan...
Neanderthals collected unusual, sometimes colorful mineral materials from different sources. Several green serpentinite smooth pebbles with a flat shape and use modifications were unearthed at Fumane Cave in northern Italy. This study explores cognitive and functional criteria that influenced the selection and use of unique pebbles based on their r...
Forager focus on wild cereal plants has been documented in the core zone of domestication in southwestern Asia, while evidence for forager use of wild grass grains remains sporadic elsewhere. In this paper, we present starch grain and phytolith analyses of dental calculus from 61 Mesolithic and Early Neolithic individuals from five sites in the Dan...
Description Aims: To provide necessary theoretical and practical knowledge about qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches currently applied to the study of Middle Palaeolithic organic and inorganic material culture. Description and outputs: The course will be held online. Students will learn about the most recent analytical trends in the...
Ground stone tool (GST) technology includes artefacts utilized in pounding or grinding activities and characterized by long life cycles and multiple uses. The introduction of such technology dates back to early prehistory, and for this reason, it is used as prime evidence for tackling a wide range of archaeological questions such as the origins of...
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 poor...
Lower Paleolithic bifaces are one of the most ubiquitous and persistent stone tools in prehistory, proliferating from Africa through Eurasia from as early as 1.75 Mya and remaining in use for over 1.5 million years. Numerous studies have thus far focused on Acheulean handaxes’ technological characteristics, underlining their relevance in terms of e...
This 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 far...
Ground stone tool (GST) technology includes artefacts utilized in pounding or grinding activities and characterized by long life cycles and multiple uses. The introduction of such technology dates back to early prehistory, and for this reason, it is used as prime evidence for tackling a wide range of archaeological questions such as the origins of...
Abstract In 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 subjec...
Employing an integrated approach to investigate the use of Late Lower Paleolithic flint tools found at the site of Qesem Cave (Israel), we revealed a particular trace pattern related to the employment of ashes at the site. Using a designated collection of replica items and combining use-wear and residue (morphological analysis, FTIR, SEM-EDX) analy...
Quina scrapers are well-known components of the European Middle Paleolithic Mousterian. A similar production process was detected within the lithic assemblages of the Levantine Acheulo-Yabrudian (∼400–200 ka). This study combines the results of use-wear and raw material analyses of 75 Quina scrapers and 133 demi-Quina scrapers from the Acheulo-Yabr...
Dental trauma resulting in permanent tooth avulsion commonly affects the young population. The prognosis of replantation after avulsion depends on the natural history of inflammatory and replacement resorption. Several risk factors for type and onset of external resorption have been defined. This case study describes different resorptive patterns o...
In recent years, several works have proved the reliability of the application of 3D modeling and spatial analysis in the study of stone tool use. Monitoring surface morphometry resulting from the use of lithic tools has the potential to objectively quantify and identify patterns of modifications associated to specific activities and worked material...
The article presents an original analysis which combines use-wear, 3D modelling and spatial analyses to experimental archaeology in order to investigate Early Upper Palaeolithic flint-knapping gestures and techniques involving the use of macro-lithic tools. In particular, the methodological framework proposed in this paper was applied to the study...
The Acheulean represents one of the most widespread cultural complexes spanning from Africa to Eurasia between 1.8 and 0.2 Mya. The site of Revadim, located on the southern coastal plain of Israel, represent one of the rare opportunities allowing to perform detailed functional analysis of stone tool assemblages from such old contexts. This paper pr...
In this contribution we dismantle the perceived role of marine resources and plant foods in the subsistence economy of Holocene foragers of the Central Mediterranean using a combination of dental calculus and stable isotope analyses. The discovery of fish scales and flesh fragments, starch granules and other plant and animal micro-debris in the den...
Scientific Reports 6 : Article number: 37686; 10.1038/srep37686 published online: 25 November 2016 ; updated: 03 May 2017 . In the Supplementary Information file originally published with this Article, Figure S3 was elongated and of poor quality.
Valle Giumentina is a Pleistocene open-air site in Central Italy (Abruzzo). Nine archaeological layers occur in the last 25 m of a 70 m thick sedimentary sequence. In the 1950s, the various archaeological layers were attributed to the Clactonian, Acheulian and Levalloisian traditions. Recent multidisciplinary fieldwork and studies (2012e2016) acqui...
Quina and demi-Quina scrapers are well represented at
Qesem Cave, mostly associated to the Yabrudian levels
of the site, dated between 4200.000 and 2300.000 years
ago.
These types of tools are characterised by a long retouched
edge, where invasive scars are generally visible over the
dorsal surface. The retouched edge is characterised by
scars exhi...
Projects
Projects (3)
PATH is project funded by the European Commission as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. The project aims at understanding human-plant interactions at the dawn of one of the most significant changes in human evolution, agriculture. Plant domestication led to considerable changes in behavioural, technological and social terms ending millions of years of hunting-gathering. Analysing indirect and direct evidence of plant food processing and consumption, namely ground stone tools (GSTs) and ancient dental calculus from key sites in Israel, the Jordan Highlands and South-East Turkey, PATH will unravel how the introduction of domestic crops affected established patterns of wild plant exploitation and the dietary habits of the first Levantine farmers. The function of GSTs will be investigated through use wear and residue analysis following a novel methodological approach combining qualitative and quantitative microscopy techniques. The study of plant micro remains, such as starch granules, entrapped in dental calculus will provide information on the consumed plant foods at a species level. PATH represents one of the first studies where the analysis of GST use and ancient tartar is combined, providing a novel multidisciplinary dataset and new interpretative means that will integrate current hypotheses on plant domestication. The project will be developed at the Milá y Fontanals Institute on Humanities Research (IMF-CSIC) in Barcelona (Spain) with a Secondment at the Diet and Ancient Technology – DANTE laboratory at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). The Fellowship will allow the Applicant to develop new theoretical knowledge and practical skills for what concerns the Neolithic of the Levant and the application of confocal microscopy in use-wear analysis. Overall, PATH will enhance our understanding of human-plant interactions by exploring how this relationship changed with the advent of domestic crops, providing new clues on the degree of interdependence between humans and wild plant foods at the brink of hunter-gathering to farming transition in the Near East.
The HIDDEN FOODS project investigates the role of plant foods among prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies of SE Europe and Italy through the analysis of ground stone tools, macro-botanical remains, and human skeletal remains.
The main methodological approaches involve (a) use-wear traces analysis; (b) starch identification; (c) parenchyma tissue analysis in macro-botanical remains recovered from archaeological sites; and, (d) study of dental pathologies related to plant foods on ancient human remains.
The project examines direct and indirect evidence of plant foods for Palaeolithic (~40,000–11,600 calibrated [henceforth cal] before present [henceforth BP]) and Mesolithic (~11,600–7900 cal BP) societies of southeast Europe and Italy.
