Paola Villa

Paola Villa
University of Colorado Boulder | CUB · Museum

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112
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Introduction

Publications

Publications (112)
Article
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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256090.].
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The use of bone as raw material for implements is documented since the Early Pleistocene. Throughout the Early and Middle Pleistocene bone tool shaping was done by percussion flaking, the same technique used for knapping stone artifacts, although bone shaping was rare compared to stone tool flaking. Until recently the generally accepted idea was th...
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Excavated in 1949, Grotta dei Moscerini, dated MIS 5 to early MIS 4, is one of two Italian Neandertal sites with a large assemblage of retouched shells (n = 171) from 21 layers. The other occurrence is from the broadly contemporaneous layer L of Grotta del Cavallo in southern Italy (n = 126). Eight other Mousterian sites in Italy and one in Greece...
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Hafting of stone tools was an important advance in the technology of the Paleolithic. Evidence of hafting in the Middle Paleolithic is growing and is not limited to points hafted on spears for thrusting or throwing. This article describes the identification of adhesive used for hafting on a variety of stone tools from two Middle Paleolithic caves i...
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Feeding behaviors may differ between past and current predators due to differences in the environments inhabited by these species at different times. We provide an example of this behavioral variability in spotted hyena ( Crocuta crocuta ), for which our analysis of a late Pleistocene micromammal assemblage indicates that hyenas preyed upon small r...
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Having thrived in Eurasia for 350,000 years Neandertals disappeared from the record around 40,000–37,000 years ago, after modern humans entered Europe. It was a complex process of population interactions that included cultural exchanges and admixture between Neandertals and dispersing groups of modern humans. In Europe Neandertals are always associ...
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OSL dating of Grotta La Fabbrica and Colle Rotondo. (DOCX)
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X-ray diffraction and chemical analysis. (DOCX)
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Permissions from copyright holders. (PDF)
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In the second half of the 19th century Pleistocene faunas were discovered in two sites, Sedia del Diavolo and Monte delle Gioie, contained in deposits of the Aniene River in the area of Rome (Latium, Italy). Fieldwork by A.C. Blanc in the late 1930’s proved the association of fauna and lithic industry within fluvial deposits interbedded with volcan...
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Human remains from Sedia del Diavolo and supplementary tables. (PDF)
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Permissions from copyright holders. (PDF)
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History of research at Sedia del Diavolo and Monte delle Gioie. (PDF)
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Fluvial aggradational cycles in the Aniene River Valley. Stratigraphy and chronology of Sedia del Diavolo and Monte delle Gioie. (PDF)
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We present here the results of a technological and typological analysis of the Acheulian and early Middle Paleolithic assemblages from Torre in Pietra (Latium, Italy) together with comparisons with the Acheulian small tools of Castel di Guido. The assemblages were never chronometrically dated before. We have now Ar/ Ar dates and ESR-U-series dates,...
Data
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Pargeter and colleagues do not escape the dangers inherent in the exercise they embark on. The first is that of creating a straw man argument in which one exaggerates and misinterprets what was said in the article being criticised. The second is that of using your time to look at the speck of dust in your brother's eye instead of paying attention t...
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The classification of archaeological assemblages in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa in terms of diversity and temporal continuity has significant implications with respect to recent cultural evolutionary models which propose either gradual accumulation or discontinuous, episodic processes for the emergence and diffusion of cultural traits. We...
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Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, proteomic and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analyses of residue on a stone flake from a 49,000 year-old layer of Sibudu (South Africa) indicate a mixture of ochre and casein from milk, likely obtained by killing a lactating wild bovid. Ochre powder production a...
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Neandertals are the best-studied of all extinct hominins, with a rich fossil record sampling hundreds of individuals, roughly dating from between 350,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their distinct fossil remains have been retrieved from Portugal in the west to the Altai area in central Asia in the east and from below the waters of the North Sea in the no...
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Recent archaeological discoveries have revealed that pigment use, beads, engravings, and sophisticated stone and bone tools were already present in southern Africa 75,000 y ago. Many of these artifacts disappeared by 60,000 y ago, suggesting that modern behavior appeared in the past and was subsequently lost before becoming firmly established. Most...
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The transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA) in South Africa was not associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans and the extinction of Neandertals, as in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Western Europe. It has therefore attracted less attention, yet it provides insights into patterns of t...
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Recent archaeological discoveries have revealed that pigment use, beads, engravings, and sophisticated stone and bone tools were already present in southern Africa 75,000 y ago. Many of these artifacts disappeared by 60,000 y ago, suggesting that modern behavior appeared in the past and was subsequently lost before becoming firmly established. Most...
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The transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA) in South Africa was not associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans and the extinction of Neandertals, as in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Western Europe. It has therefore attracted less attention, yet it provides insights into patterns of t...
Data
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Villa et al. 2012 Border Cave SI
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Sandgathe et al. (1) agree that fire was not a requisite technology for hominin expansion into northern latitudes, but they suggest that habitual use of fire appeared later than stated in our paper (2), only near the end of the Late Pleistocene. They stress that, despite the growing number of Neandertal sites with solid evidence for fire use, there...
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The timing of the human control of fire is a hotly debated issue, with claims for regular fire use by early hominins in Africa at ∼ 1.6 million y ago. These claims are not uncontested, but most archaeologists would agree that the colonization of areas outside Africa, especially of regions such as Europe where temperatures at time dropped below free...
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Ancient Innovations Pressure flaking is a method of forming points, grooves, and notches on stone tools in which a tool is pressed up against another stone, instead of striking it. It has been thought to be a fairly recent innovation, arising in the Upper Paleolithic 20,000 or so years ago. Mourre et al. (p. 659 ), show that tools from Blombos Cave...
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Data of high resolution for reconstructions of archaeological site formation processes can be obtained only by the use of precise excavation methods and comprehensive recovery techniques using fine-mesh water screening, followed by meticulous sorting and quantitative studies of all the small organic components from the screens. These methods are ge...
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Recent research has shown that Neanderthals were not inferior hunters and that their hunting weapons were similar to those used by broadly contemporaneous early modern human populations of South Africa. The oldest known spears are from the site of Schöningen, Germany (about 350–300 kya). However, the hunting equipment of Neanderthals was not limite...
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We present the results of a technological analysis of the Howiesons Poort and MSA III lithic artifacts from Cave 1A at Klasies River. We studied most of the debitage and retouched pieces from Deacon's excavations (about 3000 pieces) and all the cores and retouched pieces from three layers of Singer and Wymer excavations (640 pieces). Our analysis s...
Chapter
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This paper presents a synthesis of the current state of knowledge about the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in Western Europe. The European Middle Paleolithic is defined by the appearance of Levallois technology by about 300,000 years ago and associated changes in the conception of tools. The Levallois technology is a major innovation of the...
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During a study of the Still Bay industry at Sibudu (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), we observed ochre deposits on the platforms of flakes associated with the production of bifacial points, which are highly characteristic of this industry. We discuss several hypotheses to explain this phenomenon, implicating either an intentional or unintentional anth...
Chapter
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This paper is a review of the state of our knowledge and ignorance on Early, Middle, and Late Pleistocene subsistence behavior in Western Europe. There are undoubtedly differences in subsistence behavior between early hominids and Upper Paleolithic humans in Europe. Yet recent research has shown that some of the most extreme statements about passiv...
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We present the find of impact scars on six Middle Paleolithic points from the rock shelter site of Oscurusciuto in southern Italy, dated to MIS 3. We review our knowledge of hunting weapons in the European Middle Paleolithic, the available evidence for the use of Mousterian points as spear tips and the interpretations of impact scars. Our identific...
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This paper presents the find of a Mammuthus primigenius carcass and associated Mousterian implements from the Last Glacial site of Asolo, in north-eastern Italy. We review the exploitation of proboscidean carcasses at Lower and Middle Paleolithic sites of Africa, Europe and the Levant, including evidence of elephant killing, and summarize recent re...
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We present the study of rodents and insectivores from the 1995 season of excavation at the early Late Pleistocene site of Bois Roche (Charente, France). The site is a small cave with a low ceiling, used as a den by hyenas. It contains a large herbivore assemblage (mainly bovids and equids) with a smaller representation of medium-size taxa (cervids)...
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We present the study of rodents and insectivores from the 1995 season of excavation at the early Late Pleistocene site of Bois Roche (Charente, France). The site is a small cave with a low ceiling, used as a den by hyenas. It contains a large herbivore assemblage (mainly bovids and equids) with a smaller representation of medium-size taxa (cervids)...
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It has been suggested that between 80 and 35 ka the Middle Stone Age record of South Africa reveals episodes of inventiveness and innovation, punctuated by apparent returns to more conventional technologies. One such episode is the Howiesons Poort (HP). The appearance of a range of small geometric forms, apparently used as insets in multi-component...
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A technological analysis of crystal quartz backed tools from the Howiesons Poort of Sibudu Cave shows that they are smaller than backed tools from other rock types. They are not highly standardized and their reduction sequence is straightforward. Raw materials could have been obtained near the shelter. The distribution of organic and inorganic resi...
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BLAIN H.-A., VILLA P. 2006. Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the early Upper Pleistocene of Bois Roche Cave (Charente, southwestern France). Acta zoologica craco-viensia, 49A(1-2): 1-32. Abstract. The layers, ascribed to the early Upper Pleistocene (Middle Palaeolithic) of Bois Roche Cave, contain an abundant bone assemblage, as well as a few...
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In the current state of knowledge, the European distribution of Acheulian industries that include handaxes and cleavers appears to be centered in southwestern Europe; their maximum northward expansion reaches England and Germany. North of latitude 52° and east of Germany and Italy, handaxe industries are conspicuously absent, occurring only sporadi...
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This paper presents an overview of the use of Proboscidean remains in every day Palaeolithic life, in an attempt to illuminate some aspects of the relationship between Proboscideans and humans during the Palaeolithic from an archaeological perspective. A short survey of the evidence is given, focussing on the associations of lithic tools and Probos...
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This paper presents a taphonomic analysis of the faunal assemblages from the 1993–1999 excavations at Ambrona (Spain), directed by Santonja and Pérez-González. The purpose of the new excavations was to achieve a better understanding of the stratigraphic sequence, general geology, sedimentary context and processes of accumulation of materials. Our o...
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The key argument for the identification of prehistoric cannibalism is provided by analysis of close similarities in the treatment of human and animal remains. Such analysis requires precise data on depositional context, meticulous excavation records, detailed bone modification studies, a relatively large sample of human and animal postcranial bones...
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Resumen: Este artículo presenta un análisis tafonómico de los conjuntos faunísticos recuperados en las excavacio¬nes llevadas a cabo en Ambrona (España) entre los años 1993 y 1999, dirigidas por M. Santonja y A. Pérez-González. Nuestra intención aquí es valorar las diversas interpretaciones propuestas por Freeman y Binford sobre las actividades de...
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It has been suggested that many behavioral innovations, said to appear during the late Middle Stone Age in sub-Saharan Africa, facilitated the expansion of anatomically modern humans from Africa and the Near East into Europe at about 50 kyr; the process eventually led to the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans and the emergence of the Uppe...
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This paper reports on past and recent studies of archaeological stratigraphy and human occupation features at several Paleolithic cave and open air occurrences seen in the light of refitting, taphonomy and sedimentary context. The Lazaret, Lunel Viel, Fontbregoua, Caminade, Ambrona and Grotta dei Moscerini occurrences are examined in detail. The ad...
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Overlap in the use of enclosed sites and apparent similarities in subsistence strategies employed by hominids and carnivores have often been observed in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene of Europe. Various kinds of indicators, based on experimental, ethnoarchaeological and wildlife studies and on faunal analyses of prehistoric carnivore assemblages,...
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We present the taphonomic analysis of two faunal assemblages accumulated by the same predator in different paleoecological contexts, from the S. Teodoro Cave in northeastern Sicily and the cave of Bois Roche in the Charente region of southwestern France. Both caves have been used as dens by hyena populations. At Bois Roche the prey assemblage is do...
Conference Paper
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Abstract : This paper deals with the fauna of macromammals from the lower levels (called «Lower Complex») of the Ambrona Middle Pleistocene site. We do a special mention of the elephants (Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus) whose remains are the most abundant of all the macro mammals in almost all the levels, varying between the 28% and the 38% of th...
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The existence of shaped bone and ivory points, to be used as awls or with wooden hafts, has been suggested for the Lower Paleolithic sites of Torralba and Ambrona and for several Middle Paleolithic sites, such as Vaufrey, Combe Grenal, Pech de l'Azé I and Camiac. The use of hafted bone and ivory points would imply a spear armature technology simila...
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The early phases of human occupation in Italy are considered in the context of discussions on the chronology and patterns of hominid dispersal out of Africa and into Western Europe. This paper is therefore a synthesis and an evaluation of new data on three, interrelated topics: (a) the question of direct contacts between Italy and North Africa in t...
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Aridos 1 and Aridos 2 are archaeological sites of similar age in the Arganda I Formation, in the Jarama river valley (Madrid). Aridos 1- in primary context within low energy floodplain deposits - presents the disarticulated remains of an adult, female specimen of Elephas antiquus, in association with Acheulean lithic artefacts. Aridos 2 yielded par...
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The repetitive co-occurrence of small numbers of lithic artifacts and large quantities of animal bones bearing traces of carnivore action at several caves in Europe has been recently interpreted to mean that Neandertals and earlier hominids scavenged carcasses that had fallen into karstic cavities or been brought into a den by carnivores. Hypothese...
Conference Paper
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Resumen: Cuesta de la Bajada, en las inmediaciones de Teruel, se sitúa en la terraza de +50-60 m del río Alfambra. La estratigrafía del yacimiento, del que se conserva una extensión de al menos 1000 m2, integra una serie de niveles de origen fluvial y lacustre/palustre, datada en la segunda parte del Pleistoceno Medio por una fecha mínima de 137.9±...
Conference Paper
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The majority of Middle Pleistocene open sites with lithic assemblages known from rhe central area of the Iberian Peninsula are located in fluvial deposits. Sites with both faunal and lithic remains in low energy or undisturbed sedimentary contexts are rare, comprising the Torralba and Ambrona localities (Soria), subject to re-excavation since 1933,...