Marco Peresani

• University of Ferrara

Fumane Cave, located in Northern Italy, is a major prehistoric site for understanding late Neandertal and early modern human behaviours. The cave contains a 12‐m‐thick stratigraphic sequence of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic layers, which have yielded a number of flint artefacts and faunal remains. The upper part of the stratigraphic sequence is wel...

The European Final Palaeolithic witnessed marked changes in almost all societal domains. Despite a rich body of evidence, our knowledge of human palaeodemographic processes and regional population dynamics still needs to be improved. In this study, we present regionally differentiated population estimates for the Greenland Interstadial 1d-a (GI-1d-...

The Late Pleistocene of Eurasia is key for understanding interactions between early modern humans and different types of archaic human groups. During this period, lithic technology shows more diversity and complexity, likely indicating flexible adaptative strategies. However, cultural variability as expressed by technological types remains vague in...

Neanderthal groups developed diverse mobility patterns and resource exploitation strategies across their territories. These variations are linked to different knapping methods and are likely to reflect adaptive strategies and responses at multiple ecological and cultural levels. Neanderthals associated with Discoid knapping are known to depend on c...

Fumane Cave contains a sequence of natural and anthropogenic deposits documenting key transitions in the Paleolithic of Northern Italy. Open questions remain concerning the stratigraphic integrity, the formation processes, postdepositional alterations, and paleoclimatic implications of the sedimentary record. We examine these aspects through an ext...

The Balkan Peninsula is a key biogeographical region in Southern Europe, which acted as a refugium for late Pleistocene flora and fauna during cold spells and favoured the survival of Neanderthals and the migration of modern human populations. This study focuses on the site of Dalani i Vog¨el (DIV), selected from a cluster of open-air coastal sites...

Human-environment interactions and spatio-temporal organization of the activities are of prime importance to decipher Paleolithic way of life. To address this topic, ungulates teeth offer a valuable tool to understand seasonality and extent of site occupation. In this paper, we present the results of the integrated application of two methodologies,...

High-resolution stratigraphic frameworks are crucial for unraveling the biocultural processes behind the dispersals of Homo sapiens across Europe. Detailed technological studies of lithic assemblages retrieved from multi-stratified sequences allow archaeologists to precisely model the chrono-cultural dynamics of the early Upper Paleolithic. However...

Refitting studies provide valuable data to deepen topics such as assemblage formation processes, post-depositional dynamics, settlement and spatial patterns, operational chains, and the definition and integrity of stratigraphic units. The distribution of remains and documented connection lines provides a better understanding of past trajectories in...

The bipolar technique has been widely used across a wide range of prehistoric contexts, from the Lower Pleistocene to the Metal Ages, and is a defining feature of the Uluzzian technocomplex, evident in the Early Upper Palaeolithic of Italy and Greece. The objective of this paper is to examine whether the use of the bipolar technique within the Uluz...

Understanding Neanderthal foraging behaviour remains a complex challenge in western Eurasian Prehistory. The discipline of zooarchaeology, focusing on animal remains recovered from archaeological sites, can provide critical insights into past human-animal interactions, subsistence strategies, and environmental contexts. This study presents findings...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254848.].

Le armature litiche rappresentano una delle categorie di manufatti riferibili al Paleolitico superiore con la maggiore variabilità morfologica. Fin dai primi studi tassonomici, questa caratteristica è stata utilizzata per definire tendenze regionali e specifiche fasi cronologiche. Particolarmente significativo in questa prospettiva è il Tardoglacia...

The evolution of Paleolithic stone tool technologies is characterized by gradual increase in technical complexity along with changes in the composition of assemblages. In this respect, the emergence of retouched‐backed tools is an important step and, for some, a proxy for “modern” behavior. However, backed tools emerge relatively early and develop...

Background The field vole, an abundant and widespread microtine rodent, is a complex comprising three cryptic species. The short-tailed field vole ( Microtus agrestis ) is present over much of Eurasia, the Mediterranean field vole ( Microtus lavernedii ) in southern Europe, and the Portuguese field vole ( Microtus rozianus ) is limited to western S...

Refitting studies provide valuable data to achieve topics like assemblage formation processes, post-depositional dynamics, settlement patterns, and the definition and integrity of stratigraphic units. The distribution of remains and documented connection lines allow an understanding of space use and, consequently, human behaviour. Although these pr...

The Vajo Salsone site is located at an altitude of 376m a.s.l. on the right slope of the Valpantena valley, in the Veneto Pre-Alps, north of the town of Verona. The site was discovered in 2017 during the construction of a truckable road. It is a small and narrow karst cavity filled with Pleistocene sediments that yield abundant Middle Palaeolithic...

This excursion delves into the themes of human evolution, Palaeolithic caves, and karst landscapes, providing participants with a unique opportunity to explore the Monti Lessini, the Monti Berici, and two Palaeolithic sites in the Eastern Italian Pre-Alps and Alpine foreland. The Monti Lessini are characterised by a unique physical landscape shaped...

Bone retouchers, while often underrated, stand out as widespread tools throughout the Palaeolithic, typically linked to breaking bones for marrow extraction. Although bone retouchers are commonly considered a by-product of butchering activities, the possibility of intentional manufacturing has been rarely considered but should not be dismissed. In...

The Pleistocene-Holocene transition reveals a short and abrupt climatic sequence from the warming conditions of the Greenland Interstadial-1 (GI-1), followed by the Greenland stadial-1 (GS-1) cooling and the continuous warming during the Greenlandian Stage, which flourished new ecological habitats, and therefore, demography and cultural dynamics am...

This paper investigates core reduction intensity in the early Protoaurignacian lithic assemblage from Fumane Cave in northeastern Italy. Reduction intensity serves as a key tool to characterize blank selection strategies, raw material management, and the variability of knapping strategies throughout the reduction sequence by reconstructing the oper...

This paper investigates core reduction intensity in the early Protoaurignacian lithic assemblage from Fumane Cave in northeastern Italy. Here, reduction intensity was used as a means to characterize blank selection strategies and raw material management, explore the variability of knapping strategies throughout the reduction sequence by reconstruct...

Observation of high-resolution terrestrial palaeoecological series can decipher relationships between past climatic transitions, their effects on ecosystems and wildfire cyclicity. Here we present a new radiocarbon dated record from Lake Fimon (NE-Italy) covering the 60–27 ka interval. Palynological, charcoal fragments and sediment lithology analys...

Questions of behavioural complexity amongst Neanderthals and other Late Pleistocene hominins have been the subject of a decades-long debate, constantly informed and revised following new discoveries or the application of novel or cutting-edge methodological approaches. One of the most typical technological expressions of this period is the Discoid...

The recent developments in palaeoecological reconstruction methods, collagen extraction of small bone samples and ancient DNA analyses led us to test new approaches to enhance the chronological resolution of past climate reconstructions inferred from small mammal assemblages. Grotta della Ferrovia (Fabriano, Ancona, Italy, 40 25 0 36 00 N, 13 0 0 1...

https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/qu/issue/view/6315

Documenting the subsistence strategies developed by early modern humans is relevant for understanding the success of their dispersal throughout Eurasia. Today, we know that there was not a single colonization event and that the process was progressive while coping with the MIS3 abrupt climatic oscillations. Modern humans expanded into the continent...

In recent years, new perspectives in zooarchaeological studies have been possible thanks to the refinement of existing techniques, the development of new methods and the adoption of multidisciplinary approaches. This contribution forms part of a larger project entitled “Attesting Neanderthal Dwelling Space Use (ANDSU): effects of human occupations...

Scenari di ricostruzione delle interazioni uomo-ambiente-clima in Lombardia (N-Italia) dal Paleolitico medio all’età del Ferro Characterising key issues in human–environment interactions in Lombardy (N-Italy) from the Middle Paleolithic to the Iron Age. - This contribution aims to provide an updated and concise overview of the main events and devel...

Here we present the results of a microcontextual analysis of purported combustion features recovered from Middle and Upper Paleolithic occupations at the cave site of Fumane, Italy. Our analyses, which integrate micromorphology with organic petrology, show that only a few of the features represent primary, intact hearths; some of them show evidence...

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...

Systematic tool use is a central component of the human niche. However, the timing and mode of its evolution remain poorly understood. A newly developed method for the analysis of muscle recruitment patterns (Validated Entheses-based Reconstruction of Activity-V.E.R.A.) has recently been experimentally shown to provide clear and reliable evidence o...

Fumane Cave, northern Italy, with its early Upper Palaeolithic deposit, dating between 41.2–35 ky cal BP, is one of the most significant sites for the understanding of the first Anatomically Modern Human groups in Europe. The archaeological excavations led to discover a consistent archaeological record which includes numerous items connected to the...

In this study we explore the potential of combining traditional zooarchaeological determination and proteomic identification of morphologically non-diagnostic bone fragments (ZooMS) collected from the Uluzzian levels of three Italian sites: Uluzzo C Rock Shelter, Roccia San Sebastiano cave, and Riparo del Broion. Moreover, we obtained glutamine dea...

Unlabelled: 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...

One of the primary tasks and interests of archaeological and palaeoanthropological research is to depict past human behaviour. From an archaeological point of view, the reject of remains allows to reconstruct human activities and type of occupations. In the case of faunal studies, once the nutritional, raw material and/or ornamental value is exploi...

One of the primary tasks and interests of archaeological and palaeoanthropological research is to depict past human behaviour. From an archaeological point of view, the reject of remains allows to reconstruct human activities and type of occupations. In the case of faunal studies, once the nutritional, raw material and/or ornamental value is exploi...

This chapter presents the first collective synthesis of Late Middle Palaeolithic lithic technology (MIS 4–3, ≈ 70-40 ka) from the Altai mountains to the Atlantic coast of Western Europe and the Mediterranean regions of Europe and the Levant. As early as the first half of the twentieth century, archaeological debates focused on characterising and in...

Laminar technologies were adopted by Paleolithic foragers to produce a variable range of stone implements. Archaeologists have reconstructed the different reduction procedures involved in the production of laminar stone tools, often underlying a separation between the bigger blanks (i.e., blades) and smaller bladelets. However, these two blank type...

Protoaurignacian foragers relied heavily on the production and use of bladelets. Techno-typological studies of these implements have provided insights into crucial aspects of cultural variability. However, new technologies have seldom been used to quantify patterns of stone tool design. Taking advantage of a new scanning protocol and open-source so...

Riparo Villabruna (Belluno – Italy) is a small shelter at 500 m a.s.l. with Recent Epigravettian lithic industry, located in the Dolomites of Veneto region and excavated in the 1988-89. The Palaeolithic sequence starts with the level 17 where a burial (radiocarbon dated 14,400 – 13,800 cal. BP) was found and exposed during roadworks that cut the lo...

This repository contains a large dataset of 3D meshes of lithic artifacts (n = 732) from the early and late Protoaurignacian units (A2, A1, D3d base, D3d, D3b alpha, and D3b) at Fumane Cave in northeastern Italy (Bartolomei et al., 1992). At Fumane, the Protoaurignacian stratigraphic sequence spans from about 41 to 37 ky cal BP (Higham et al., 2009...

Archaeological evidence of Middle Palaeolithic sites in Europe dating to MIS 4 remains very scarce compared to those belonging to previous (MIS 5) and later (MIS 3) periods. Of the few documented, a very low number have provided anthracological data reflecting the local landscape and fuel gathering strategies during MIS 4 Neanderthal occupations. T...

Herbivore teeth are a valuable source of information for inferring the hunting season of past hunter-gatherers, the spatial–temporal organization of their activities, their socio-economic organization, and their adaptation to the seasonal fluctuation of the resources. Numberless of studies have been conducted on Neanderthals across Eurasia, but onl...

This first report aims to illustrate the Middle Palaeolithic site of Vajo Salsone in the Monti Lessini plateau in the eastern Italian Alps, its geological and geomorphological context, the conditions leading to its discovery occurred after a road cutting, and the archaeological excavation of a karst structure where the sediments, faunal and cultura...

In the last few years several studies have reassessed the attraction and the role of small game in the subsistence economy of hunter-gatherers across Europe and the Mediterranean region since the Middle Paleolithic. The exploitation of small mammals intensified during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, when some unusual faunal assemblages were re...

La Grotta della Ghiacciaia (Comune di Fumane, VR), situata a 250 metri di quota in una valle orientata E-W, è uno dei siti musteriani dei Monti Lessini. Indagato in via preliminare negli anni 1979-1980, il giacimento conserva una stratigrafia potente oltre 3,5 m e costituita da quattro macro-unità stratigrafiche, di cui le più recenti hanno restitu...

This paper presents the first attempt to establish a Mid and Late Upper Palaeolithic absolute chronology of the Adriatic basin, including both eastern and western Adriatic coasts and their hinterlands. The proposed chronology for Gravettian, Early and Late Epigravettian techno-complexes is based on statistical analysis of 278 ¹⁴C dates from 66 arch...

We present 3D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) imaging of the archaeological deposits at Arma Veirana cave (northern Italy), to date only partially explored. The archaeological importance of the cave is due to the presence of a rich Mousterian layer, traces of Late Upper Palaeolithic (Epigravettian) temporary occupations and an Early Mesolit...

Various Neanderthal cultural remains can be interpreted as related to symbolic activities: burials, ornaments, pigments, unusual objects that do not fall within the technical sphere (wings, feathers, raptor claws), and more recently, the frequentation of deep underground environments which implies freeing of oneself from trepidations about darkness...

Early Holocene hunter-gatherer settlements are spread throughout Italy and testify to the exploitation of very different landscapes. Nonetheless, their preservation state is not always exceptional. This is not the case for Contrada Pace, an archaeolo-gical site recently discovered on a terrace of the Chienti river in central-eastern Italy. This pap...

published in: Bonner Jahrbücher 2021, 221, 2022 ,3-64 will be free to open access in the course of 2024 here: https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/bjb/issue/archive

The study of the past is of fundamental importance in understanding the processes that control the functioning of the Earth System and the interaction between ecosystems, human society and natural variability. The Quaternary scientist produces a variety of proxies derived from the investigation of natural, archaeological and historical records cove...

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...

In recent years, new perspectives in archaeozoological studies have been possible thank to the refinement of existing techniques, the development of new methodologies and the adoption of scientific approaches from other disciplines. This contribution form part of a larger project entitled “Attesting Neanderthal Dwelling Space Use: effects of human...

Tecnologia litica • Officina litica • Mobilità • Aurignaziano • Monte Avena • Prealpi venete • Lithic technology • Lithic workshop • Mobility • Aurignacian • Monte Avena • Veneto Prealps Monte Avena (1450 m s.l.m., Belluno, Italia) è un'altura localizzata all'estremità occidentale delle Dolomiti Bellunesi. Nella sua zona sommitale, in località Camp...

Neanderthals’ spatial organization reflects different types of adaptive modes in response to internal and external constraints. A multidisciplinary study of the archaeological record, spatial analysis, and bone refits, compared with ethnographic data, is used to identify relevant aspects of space management, which constitutes a formal tool for inte...

To investigate the mobility patterns of Neanderthals and modern humans in Europe during the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition period, we applied strontium isotope analysis to Neanderthal (n = 3) and modern human (n = 2) teeth recovered from the site of Fumane Cave in the Monti Lessini region of Northern Italy. We also measured a large number...

Endscrapers are specialized tools that are usually recovered in great quantities in every Upper Paleolithic site in Europe. Although they make their first ephemeral appearance in the Middle–late Middle Paleolithic transitional technocomplexes, endscrapers commonly appear in toolkits from initial and early Upper Paleolithic traditions onwards. Never...

Northeastern Italy is a key region for the study of Neanderthal way of life over a wide timeframe, as attested by over 20 Middle Palaeolithic multi-layered sites in caves, rock shelters and at open-air sites. Here we contribute to increase our understanding of Neanderthal subsistence strategies through the study of the faunal assemblage of Unit II...

Significance The microbiome plays key roles in human health, but little is known about its evolution. We investigate the evolutionary history of the African hominid oral microbiome by analyzing dental biofilms of humans and Neanderthals spanning the past 100,000 years and comparing them with those of chimpanzees, gorillas, and howler monkeys. We id...

Before the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ∼16.5 ka ago)1 set in motion major shifts in human culture and population structure,2 a consistent change in lithic technology, material culture, settlement pattern, and adaptive strategies is recorded in Southern Europe at ∼18-17 ka ago. In this time frame, the landscape of Northeastern Italy change...

Bone retouchers are present in the human toolkit throughout the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic and appear in many contexts across Europe, sometimes in association with heavily retouched stone tools. Here we present the complete assemblage of bone retouchers recovered in the Mousterian Quina site of De Nadale Cave in the north of Italy dated to the o...

The technological dichotomy between Discoid and Levallois methods, which accompanies the Mousterian assemblages for most of the Middle Paleolithic, is a debated topic because of the implications for Neanderthals’ behavioral complexity. We here propose and discuss the possible reasons supporting the Levallois-Discoid shift, considering part of the l...

The cultural dynamics that led to the appearance of the Aurignacian have intrigued archaeologists since the start of Paleolithic research. However, cultural reconstructions have often focused on a restricted region of Europe, namely the northern Aquitaine Basin. The Mediterranean Basin, though, is also a region worthy of consideration when testing...

The early Upper Palaeolithic marks a technological turning point in Western Eurasia, evidenced by the increased spread of bladelet production. The two main technocomplexes, the Aurignacian and the Ahmarian, have long histories of research and have always formed part of the debate on the Homo sapiens dispersal into Europe, with changing interpretati...

The cultural dynamics that led to the appearance of the Aurignacian have intrigued archaeologists since the start of Paleolithic research. However, cultural reconstructions have often focused on a restricted region of Europe, namely the northern Aquitaine Basin. The Mediterranean Basin, though, is also a region worthy of consideration when testing...

The paper is an overview on the Late-Final Epigravettian in the Italian peninsula. The lithic assemblages and symbolic behaviour are the main reference records while other aspects (settlement dynamics, dwelling organisation, economic strategies, etc.) are less diagnostic for an evaluation on a broad geographical scale, since they are strictly conne...

In Europe, the cultural trajectories of large-scale Upper Paleolithic cultural complexes, such as the Aurignacian and the Gravettian, represent highly debated topics. In this paper, we examine the evidence from the youngest anthropic layer D1d at Fumane Cave (Venetian Prealps, northeastern Italy) to investigate the nature of human settlement dynami...

Significance The extent to which Neanderthals differ from us is the focus of many studies in human evolution. There is debate about their pace of growth and early-life metabolic constraints, both of which are still poorly understood. Here we use chemical and isotopic patterns in tandem with enamel growth rates of three Neanderthal milk teeth from n...

The site of Riparo Broion (Vicenza, northeastern Italy) preserves a stratigraphic sequence documenting the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition, in particular the final Mousterian and the Uluzzian cultures. In 2018, a human tooth was retrieved from a late Mousterian level, representing the first human remain ever found from this rock shelter (Rip...

During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 30 to 16.5 ka ago), the Great Adriatic-Po Region (GAPR) was deeply affected by the spread of glaciers from the Alps to the southern foreland and by the dropping of the sea level to ~ -120 m amsl. The combination of these two events triggered the aggradation of the Great Po Plain (GPP), a vast flat area between...

Objectives: The analysis of prehistoric human dietary habits is key for understanding the effects of paleoenvironmental changes on the evolution of cultural and social human behaviors. In this study, we compare results from zooarchaeological, stable isotope and dental calculus analyses as well as lower second molar macrowear patterns to gain a bro...

Bone retouchers are an important behavioural marker in the definition of several Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic cultural complexes. However, their relationship with the assemblages of knapped stone artefacts is still to be investigated particularly in specific but not uncommon lithic contexts of the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe. This paper o...

The debate over Neanderthal subsistence patterns and behavioural aspects is a source of many discussions and scientific contributions. Research over the last ten years has produced new data on mobility, economic strategies and life-aspects of these ancestors, changing and enriching the comprehension of their material record. This project will addre...

The end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in Europe (~16.5 ka ago) set in motion major changes in human culture and population structure. In Southern Europe, Early Epigravettian material culture was replaced by Late Epigravettian art and technology about 18-17 ka ago at the beginning of southern Alpine deglaciation, although available genetic evide...

The role of small game in prehistoric hunter-gatherer economy is a highly debated topic. Despite the general assumption that this practice was uneconomic, several studies have underlined the relevance of the circumstance of capture – in terms of hunting strategies and technology – in the evaluation of the actual role of small mammals in human forag...

This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge about the millennial scale climate variability characterizing Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) in S-Europe and the Mediterranean area and its effects on terrestrial ecosystems. The sequence of Dansgaard-Oeschger events, as recorded by Greenland ice cores and recognizable in isotope profiles from sp...

Personal ornaments are commonly linked to the emergence of symbolic behavior. Although their presence in Africa dates back to the Middle Stone Age, evidence of ornament manufacturing in Eurasia are sporadically observed in Middle Palaeolithic contexts, and until now, large-scale diffusion has been well documented only since the Upper Palaeolithic....

The arrival of Modern Humans (MHs) in Europe between 50 ka and 36 ka coincides with significant changes in human behaviour, regarding the production of tools, the exploitation of resources and the systematic use of ornaments and colouring substances. The emergence of the so-called modern behaviours is usually associated with MHs, although in these...