Daniele Arobba

• Museo Archeologico del Finale

Arene Candide cave (Finale Ligure, Liguria) is one of the key Neolithic sites in the Central and Western Mediterranean. We discuss in this paper the archaeobotanical (charred wood, seeds and fruits) content of the Early Neolithic layers mostly obtained from the 2012 excavation, which provided important results thanks to a high-resolution stratigrap...

The present paper summarizes the new results of the “Bàsura revisited” interdisciplinary research project. Revision of paleontological data on Ursus spelaeus occupation of the cave and new data coming from a test excavation made in the “Sala dei Misteri” are here presented together with the preliminary results of radiometric dates performed on bear...

La dynamique actuelle de la recherche archéologique en Corse appelle à la multiplication des approches archéobotaniques. Celles-ci permettent de restituer les paléovégétations et de discuter des interactions sociétés-milieux par l’étude des macrorestes végétaux conservés dans les sédiments archéologiques et grâce à des protocoles méthodologiques sp...

The lakeshore site of La Marmotta is one of the most important Early Neolithic sites of Mediterranean Europe. The site is famous for the exceptional preservation of organic materials, including numerous wooden artefacts related to navigation, agriculture, textile production, and basketry. This article presents interdisciplinary research on three of...

Corsica was occasionally inhabited during the 9th-7th millennia BC, but the human presence only became permanent during the Early Neolithic, with the arrival of the first farming populations (5700 BCE). These communities were obliged to interact with an insular ecosystem differing from those of the mainland and characterized by a high rate of endem...

Bàsura Cave (Toirano, NW Italy) became famous worldwide in 1950 for the discovery of prehistoric human footprints and of an impressive Ursus spelaeus bone deposit baptized by the first explorers ‘Cimitero degli Orsi’ (Bear Cemetery). Bear remains belonging to the deeper layer of the deposit have been left in situ and are now one of the principal at...

Lycopus is a widespread herbaceous plant, currently part of European flora. Fossil remains of fruits (nutlets or mericarps) attributed to this genus are frequently found in European archaeological and palaeontological sites, being easily preserved in sedimentary deposits. In a worldwide context, the oldest fossils are from the early Oligocene (ca....

The Bàsura Cave (Toirano, Savona, NW Italy) hosts important cave bear bone assemblages and a numerous and varied, tracks and traces record left by humans and other producers. An outstanding element of the analysed material is represented by fossil bear fur fragments, which were found in the inner deposits of the cave, and that, to date, are virtual...

The chapter summarizes the new results of the Bàsura Revisited Interdisciplinary Research Project. The integrated interpretation of recent archaeological data and palaeosurface laser scans, along with geoarchaeological, sedimentological, geochemical and archaeobotanical analyses, geometric morphometrics and digital photogrammetry, enabled us to rec...

Des balanophages en Corse entre Bronze moyen et premier âge du Fer ? Résumé Nous proposons ici une réflexion sur les rares et partiels témoignages de balanophagie observés en Corse à partir de données issues de sites datés entre le milieu du II e et le milieu du I er millénaire avant notre ère. Cette étude se fonde sur trois types d'information. La...

The multidisciplinary research team of this new project aimed at the chronological, anthropological and funerary behavior characterization of the skeletal remains unearthed from various caves in western Liguria (northwestern Italy) between the mid-1800s and the 1990s. Most of the burials and scattered bone assemblages were excavated prior to the de...

Based on the integration of laser scans, sedimentology, geochemistry, archeobotany, geometric morphometrics and photogrammetry, here we present evidence testifying that a Palaeolithic group of people explored a deep cave in northern Italy about 14 ky cal. BP. Ichnological data enable us to shed light on individual and group level behavior, social r...

Beginning in the mid-1800s, about 200 burials and an undefined number of scattered human remains have been reported from several caves and rock shelters in western Liguria. The skeletal series, excavated following the methodology of the time, were considered likely/probably/possibly “Neolithic” or “Middle Neolithic”, and as such were studied by ant...

Based on the integration of laser scan, sedimentology, geochemistry, archeobotany, geometric morphometrics and photogrammetry, here we present evidence testifying a Palaeolithic group that explored a deep cave in northern Italy about 14 ky cal. BP. Ichnological data enable us to shed light on individual and group level behavior, social relationship...

RADIOLARITE EXPLOITATION AND MANUFACTURING IN THE EMILIAN APENNINE DURING THE COPPER AGE: THE SITE OF RONCO DEL GATTO (BARDI, PARMA). This paper focuses mainly on the results of the more recent excavations at Ronco del Gatto, a quarry site in the Parmesan Apennine. At this site have come to light both radiolarite quarrying areas and related worksho...

The BRAIN (Botanical Records of Archaeobotany Italian Network) database and network was developed by the cooperation of archaeobotanists working on Italian archaeological sites. Examples of recent research including pollen or other plant remains in analytical and synthetic papers are reported as an exemplar reference list. This paper retraces the m...

The article presents the results of a multi-proxy study investigating an alluvial deposit located in the coastal plain of Genoa (Liguria, Northwest Italy). A very deep core was sampled from 15 to 25 m below ground level to analyse sedimentological properties, pollen assemblages, non-pollen palynomorphs, plant macrofossils and micro-charcoal. The de...

We report here preliminary results from four seasons of excavation at the rockshelter of Riparo Bombrini (2002–2005). Three markedly separate horizons were uncovered: the deepest, comprising Levels M1-7, yielded abundant Mousterian lithics and faunal remains. A second macro-unit, corresponding to Levels MS1-2, is only a few decimeters thick and is...

List of new NPP types, their possible biological identification, equivalencies with previously published types and references.

The footprints of human and animal trackmakers, which around 12,000 years B.P. attended the Cave of Básura (Toirano, Lig-uria, Northern Italy), were studied through morpho-classificatory and morphometric approaches. First results indicate at least three different human producers, two youths and the third of tender age, bears and wolves (or dogs). A...

The authors attempt to specify the diffusion pattern of the Impressed-Ware Neolithic (Im­presso-cardial complex, ICC), from south-eastern Italy onto the French Mediterranean coasts. Using ChronoModel® software, a Bayesian model was built with sets of dates obtained on well-contextualised, short-lived samples. The results highlight a clear tightenin...

In the municipal area of Caravaggio (BG), in the proximity of Cascina Montizzolo, in 2013, during an archaeological assistance a site was discovered belonging to the Squared Mouth Pottery culture. During the excavation of a tank for a biogas power plant, a shallow and apparently isolated pit was found in a heavily pedogenised palaeosol. From the pi...

Excavations conducted in 2012 at the Arene Candide Cave (Liguria, northwestern Italy) revealed a detailed stratigraphic sequence in the Impresso-Cardial Complex layers. Techno-typological studies of pottery, including re tting of sherds and the analysis of their stratigraphic distribution, allowed for the recognition of at least three di erent chro...

Background. In 2015, a paper on the archaeobotany as a key tool ‘for the understanding of the bio-cultural diversity of the Italian landscape’ gave rise to a new initiative, the realization of the first cooperative network of archaeobotanists and palynologists working on archaeological sites located in Italy. The Botanical Record of Archaeobotany I...

The systematic examination of the VI and early V millennium BCE pottery from the Arene Candide Cave (Finale Ligure, Western Liguria) revealed several charred macroremains embedded in the paste, as well as imprints of a wide range of botanical remains. The analysis was conducted in stereomicroscopy (10–750 ×) on charred vegetal remains that were eit...

Plant impressions and cereal remains in Neolithic pottery from the Arene Candide Cave (Finale Ligure, Italy)

Over the last millennia, the land between the Alps and the Mediterranean sea, characterized by extraordinary habitat diversity, has seen an outstanding cross-cultural development. They cover a large time scale, from the prehistoric through the protohistoric Iron Age, right up to the historical and modern times, and a variety of contexts that make t...

Over the last millennia, the land between the Alps and the Mediterranean sea, characterized by extraordinary habitat diversity, has seen an outstanding cross-cultural development. They cover a large time scale, from the prehistoric through the protohistoric Iron Age, right up to the historical and modern times, and a variety of contexts that make t...

The shipwreck discovered in 1950 off coast of Albenga (Savona, Italy) is by that time well known as "Nave Romana di Albenga" ("Roman Ship of Albenga") in the archaeological literature. Notwithstanding it is widely known and studied since the campaign of 1950 which established the birth of Italian underwater archaeology, many aspects that it concern...

The results of an analysis on plant remains (fruit, seeds, pollen and wood) found in sediments in a Roman well in Vada Sabatia (Vado Ligure, Liguria, Italy), dated between the first and fourth centuries AD are presented. The remains are well preserved and constitute an exceptional record of the Ligurian area. Five layers have been recognised: three...

Dans la zone côtière liguro-provençale, englobant les Alpes-Maritimes, Monaco et la Ligurie italienne, plusieurs gisements acheuléens et mous-tériens sont présents, en grotte ou en plein-air, témoignant des présences humaines préhistoriques dans ces territoires au cours du Pléistocène moyen et supérieur, entre les stades isotopiques 11 et 3. Les ét...

New analysis has been carried out concerning the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of some Italian sites dating from the Middle Pleistocene to the Bronze Age. Different aspects have been investigated on each site considering the data collected. The following sites have been analyzed: Isernia La Pineta (Molise); Visogliano and Caverna degli Orsi (T...

The archaeological site we studied is part of an early Iron Age hill fort (8th/7th cent.b.c.), located 800m from the coast on the top of a hill named MonteTrabocchetto. This paper concerns an excavation, called saggio O, which disclosed a very varied stratigraphy characterised by highly anthropogenic layers and by a pit, presumably used as a silo f...

This study is aimed at the reconstruction of the physic and anthropic environment in the phoenician- punic site of Tharros, located on the Western coast of Sardinia. Since its origin this site is characterized by the role of leadership in economy, craftsmanship and administration politics, that it will have in the punie eparchy of Sardinia. The sa...

In order to investigate the relationship betweenallergenic load and allergic sensitisation prevalenceon a long period, we analysed the annual data ofherbaceous pollen airborne diffusion in Genoa(NW-Italy) for 17 years (1981–1997), with particularregard to the most important allergenic species:Poaceae, Parietaria, Artemisia, Ambrosia. Weevaluated th...

A comparison between two pollen-sampling stationsin the city area of Genoa is presented. The samplingsites are placed 3 km apart, respectively in theeastern urban area (St. Martino Hospital – S.M.) andin the historical centre (Botanical Garden – B.G.).Pollen sampling was carried out during the years1995–1997 at the two different sites by volumetric...

Trends of the atmospheric dispersion of the pollens of Urticaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae,Plantago, Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae, Polygonaceae, Oleaceae, Betulaceae-Corylaceae,Quercus, Castanea, and Cupressaceae-Taxaceae were studied from 1981 to 1989 in two localities (Genoa and Sanremo) about 120 km apart on the coast of Liguria in Italy. Statistica...

A comparison betweenParietaria pollen count and allergic symptoms of rhino-conjunctivitis in the early season was used in utilized to determine a threshold-value for this pollen. Clinical data were obtained from diary-cards of 34 allergic patients and pollen data from a volumetric sampling, carried out by means of a Hirst-Burkard pollen-trap. A sig...

Summary The authors examined 734 sensitised patients living in four localities in Liguria (Genoa, Savona, Pietra Ligure and Sanremo). The commonest source of sensitisation (62.7%) was Urticaceae (Parietaria), followed by Poaceae (52.5%) andOlea europaea L. (24.0%). A survey of airborne pollens revealed a greater presence of Urticaceae and Poaceae i...

The authors have mapped the occurrence of allergenic pollens throughout Italy and defined their most common clinical symptoms. To obtain an accurate aerobiological and clinical picture of such a geographically complex country as Italy, a detailed investigation was carried out involving 80 data-gathering stations and 40 clinical centers nationwide....

The authors propose a statistical model for evaluating the Beginning of the Main Pollen Season (BMPS) of Urticaceae (cf. Parietaria) in Genoa (Italy). For eight consecutive years (1981-1988) the mean daily concentrations of this pollen grain were studied in relation to the two meteorological factors which are most significant in triggering the begi...

Sono state rilevate durante un monitoraggio aerobiologico effettuato a Pietra Ligure (Savona) nel corso del 1987 le concentrazioni polliniche di 50 taxa ed è stata valutata l'influenza relativa dei fattori meteorologici. Le osservazioni palinologiche sono state rapportate alle concentrazioni sieriche delle IgE specifiche, alla reattività bronchiale...

Summary The results of airborne pollen concentration monitoring (year 1983) measured with volumetric spore-traps in Genoa and Sanremo (Liguria, Italy) have been compared. The two towns are situated on the mediterranean coast, 115 kms apart. The comparison has been limited to three kinds of pollen,Urticaceae, Poaceae andOleaceae, because these taxa...

The gathering of pollens in the atmosphere of the city of Genoa, for three consecutive years (1981–82–83) has made possible the establishment of a pollen schedule of the city. Among the herbaceous, Urticaceae (Parietaria) and Poaceae predominate ; among the trees, Cupressaceae, Corylaceae and Betulaceae (early blossoms) and also Pinaceae, Fagaceae...

From 1981 through 1983 an aeropalynological study of the Oleaceae has been carried out in the urban area of Genoa (Italy). Olea europaea is very common in this area and hay fever symptoms related to olive pollen are quite widespread. Pollen was sampled by means of a Hirst/Burkard spore trap, identified at a magnification of ×400, and expressed as n...

Le ricerche palinologiche sulle Madonie, le prime in Sicilia, si collocano a fianco degli studi fitosociologici che ne costituiscono lo stadio finale. Sono stati presi in considerazione ambienti umidi di altitudine alimentati da piccole sorgenti di strato. Si sono già avuti risultati apprezzabili ai siti T13 (Urgo di Pietra Giordano, msm 1440, prof...

La piccola torbiera di Lipoi, presso Feltre, posta a circa 300 m s.1.m. e collegata a1 bacino del fiume Piave, i: stata oggetto di varie indagini di tip0 naturalistico. Non si erano tuttavia ancora fatte ricerche palinologiche che permettessero di contribuire alla conoscenza dal punto di vista climatico-vegetazionale della storia contenuta nei sedi...