Papers by Stefano Bertola
Dating back to the ancient phase of the Sauveterrian the site of Collecchio represents the oldest... more Dating back to the ancient phase of the Sauveterrian the site of Collecchio represents the oldest known evidence of human occupation in the southern Po plain area after the LGM as confirmed by a radiocarbon date. Techno-economical analysis carried out on the lithic assemblage has focused on the reconstruction of raw materials provisioning systems and reduction sequences. Results highlight that the site was characterised by a complex and intense occupation mostly addressed to domestic activities. One of the most peculiar aspects of the lithic assemblage is represented by the high number of burins, which could imply a certain degree of economical specialisation of the site as it will be further investigated by ongoing analyses.
Remontant à la phase ancienne du Sauveterrien, le site de Collecchio est le témoin le plus ancien... more Remontant à la phase ancienne du Sauveterrien, le site de Collecchio est le témoin le plus ancien de l’occupation humaine de la plaine méridionale du Pô après le dernier maximum glaciaire, ce que confirme une datation 14C. Une étude techno-économique conduite sur le matériel lithique du site s’est intéressée à la reconstitution des systèmes d’approvisionnement en matières premières et aux séquences de réduction. Les résultats dévoilent une occupation du site complexe et intense à caractère majoritairement domestique. L’assemblage lithique, remarquable par le nombre élevé de burins qu’il a livrés, pourrait refléter un certain degré de spécialisation économique, piste qui est en cours de suivi dans le cadre d’analyses supplémentaires.
The authors present a new prehistoric site recently discovered at Ortovero, near Albenga (Savona ... more The authors present a new prehistoric site recently discovered at Ortovero, near Albenga (Savona Province, Italy) in Western Liguria that can be attributed on typological grounds to the Final Epigravettian or to the Sauveterrian. The raw-material characteristics of the chipped stone artefacts resemble of from the red radiolarite outcrops of Eastern Liguria, although the large number of pieces manu- factured from this material and the distance from the supposed sources challenge this hypothesis. As a result of field surveys carried out over the last few years, the authors discuss the possibility of a formerly unknown source of vitreous red-coloured radiolarite outcropping in the surroundings of the site that may correspond to the ‘Radiolariti di Arnasco’ formation outcropping near Ortovero.
Abstract: Raw-material analysis combined with a techno-typological study was carried out on the l... more Abstract: Raw-material analysis combined with a techno-typological study was carried out on the lithic assemblages stemming from
the Sauveterrian site Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca. The aim was to gain a better insight into the management of raw material, reduction
sequences (chaînes opératoires) and human mobility in the context of the Early Mesolithic frequentation of the Adige Basin.
The Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca rock-shelter is located in Salurn (Adige Valley, Northern Italy), in the province of Bolzano/Bozen.
The site lies on a debris cone at the foot of a Triassic wall and overlooks the valley bottom. Radiocarbon dates attest to repeated human
frequentation between 9265 ± 70 BP (ETH-27173, 8425 – 8089 cal. BC) and 8560 ± 65 BP (ETH-22091, 7705 – 7478 cal. BC). The
economy of the site was related to the resources of the valley bottom wetland and the forested surroundings. The exploitation of aquatic
fauna, mainly represented by fish, freshwater molluscs and beavers, ungulates (mostly wild boar and red deer) and small carnivores
(dominated by wild cat) is documented.
The present study regards the lithic assemblages of phases 2, 3 and 4. Raw-material analyses, conducted on a sample of about 1,300 artefacts,
provide evidence for the exploitation of Upper Jurassic to Eocene cherty limestones that were deposited on the western margin of
the Trento Plateau, namely the Maiolica, Scaglia Variegata Alpina, Scaglia Rossa and Chiusole formations. On the basis of the depositional
patterns of the area that influenced the qualitative and quantitative distribution of the cherts, two procurement areas were identified:
the outcrops of the Non Valley, 10 km in a straight line to the west of the site, and those located in the area of Mount Finonchio and the
Folgaria Plateau, at a straight-line distance of approximately 35 – 40 km southwards. Non Valley cherts were collected predominantly
from detritic covers, whilst Finonchio/Folgaria raw material was collected mainly from the residual soils of the karstic plateau.
Despite the different distances from the site, the frequency of Non versus Finonchio/Folgaria cherts does not present a relevant difference.
The relatively high number of the latter cannot be explained by the better quality of raw material, as the varieties of chert from
both areas, being all very fine crystalline cherts, are similar. Indeed, no significant differences were observed as regards the size and
shape of the exploited blocks, reduction processes, blank selection and tool manufacturing.
Rough chert blocks from both areas, of 6 – 8 cm maximum side length, were transported to the site to be worked. Natural diaclases were
generally used as striking platforms and core flanks. The lithic production aimed to produce small series of thin and non standardised
bladelets. Three different reduction sequences have been identified: on prismatic volumes, on oval flat surfaces (namely thick flakes
with facial exploitation) and on narrow surfaces. Knapping was unipolar. Maintenance was carried out through lateral flakes or thick
detachments to eliminate hinged negatives.
Thin blanks, mostly bladelets, were transformed into armatures. These are mostly represented by triangles and backed points. Transformation
occurred by means of intentional shortening using the microburin technique and by unipolar abrupt retouch. Common tools
were obtained from all the different blank categories (mostly on generic flakes), including by-products stemming from initialisation
and maintenance. All stages of the production process are represented, attesting that flaking occurred on site. Only a modest number of
large specimens are incompatible with the described bladelet reduction sequences, suggesting the importation of finished items, which,
at least for phase 2, are more frequently made on Finonchio/Folgaria raw material.
A picture emerges of a rather indistinct raw-material procurement carried out in two different areas located at some distance from each
other. The same knapping goals were met, suggesting the collection of raw material during periodic migrations possibly on the occasion
of other economic activities, such as the exploitation of several ecological niches in a wider area. This supply strategy persisted over
a time span of several hundreds of years, revealing a continuity in the habits of hunter-gatherer groups belonging to the same cultural
tradition.
As regards the accessibility of the identified areas, the outcrops in the Non Valley and in the Finonchio/Folgaria area are located in a
mid-mountain territory and are easily accessible from the Adige Valley. Evidence of collection from torrent pebbles during phase 4
Ressources lithiques, productions et transferts entre Alpes et Méditerranée
Actes de la journée de la Société préhistorique française de Nice, 28-29 mars 2013
Textes publiés sous la direction de
Antonin Tomasso, Didier Binder, Gabriele Martino, Guillaume Porraz,
Patrick Simon et Nicolas Naudinot
Paris, Société préhistorique française, 2016
(Séances de la Société préhistorique française, 5)
p. 22-2
www.prehistoire.org
ISSN : 2263-3847 – ISBN : 2-913745-2-913745-64-4
Ursula Wierer and Stefano Bertola
230 Ursula Wierer and Stefano Bertola
could indicate chert collection along the Noce River. A direct conjunction between the Folgaria Plateau and the Galgenbühel runs along
the Adige Valley. Because of the complex hydrographic setting of the valley bottom supposed in the Early Holocene, with a meandering
river course and secondary standing waters, the routes along the valley would have possibly crossed the detritic talus and alluvial cones.
Furthermore, the use of water ways has to be taken into account as we are referring to human groups with a wetland-based economy.
Keywords: chert-bearing formations of the Trento Plateau, Non Valley, Finonchio/Folgaria area, bladelet production, armatures, common
tools, possible routes.
The Protoaurignacian is largely considered one of the first unambiguous cultural manifestations o... more The Protoaurignacian is largely considered one of the first unambiguous cultural manifestations of the presence of Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) in Europe. Its appearance in the region’s archaeological record appears to reflect a new perception of the natural world, one in which new technologies and symbolic behaviors play a key role. While it is distributed over a very large area that stretches over Spain, south-central France, Italy, and the Balkans, the greater number of known sites dating to 42-40ka cal BP in the Ligurian and Franco-Spanish areas suggests it originated in the western part of its range. That said, the site of Kozarnika (Bulgaria) has yielded assemblages with Protoaurignacian characters and dates to broadly the same period, which leaves open the question of the technocomplex’s origins and its potential links to the Levantine area, an idea which is still the topic of much discussion. An important consideration to keep in mind, however, is that such techno-typological affinities might be independent regional developments rather than evidence of these industries belonging to the same evolutionary phenomenon. This would call into question the logic of assigning all assemblages displaying <i>Protoaurignacian</i> affinities to a single ‘culture.’
The region between the Rhône valley of France and the Marche region of Italy is bordered by the Maritime Alps and the northern Apennines. In this region, the Protoaurignacian is unevenly distributed, being concentrated mostly in Provence. As concerns Italy, the most important sites are located near the French border, in the Balzi Rossi di Grimaldi site complex. In spite of this location, these sites have yielded evidence of raw material transfers over the entire region, reaching almost 400km as-the-crow-flies. These are dramatically longer transfers than those documented in the preceding Mousterian and they attest to the emergence of fundamentally different social dynamics at the very beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. It further appears that this dynamism is not only the result of a greater mobility, but also of the development of a resilient social network. This is further suggested by extremely rugged nature of the regional landscape and the episodic presence of Alpine raw material from across the Po Valley (i.e., Late Jurassic flint from the Lessini Mountains, near Verona), both of which imply that direct procurement would have been extremely costly and challenging.
The basal Protoaurignacian from Riparo Mochi (Balzi Rossi, Imperia) has been dated to ca. 41.5ka cal BP and is coeval to that found at nearby Riparo Bombrini. The lithic assemblages from both sites comprise a significant proportion of elements made on Adriatic raw materials. This raises another salient issue, namely that of their potential contemporaneity (and potential interactions) with Uluzzian groups present at that time in Tuscany perhaps Veneto which display a decidedly more local and less far-ranging adaptive pose than the Protoaurignacian.
To this open question, we must add that of why, when it first appears in Liguria, the Protoaurignacian is essentially ‘mature’ in terms of its social and geographic dimensions. Recent ethnographic studies indicate that the colonization of a new landscape by human groups is associated with an initial “locational” (or exploratory) phase, a later “limitational (or cognitive) phase, and a final “social” phase, in which regional resources have already been culturally assimilated and fully incorporated in the group’s human landscape. The paradox here lies in the fact that we seem to only find for the Ligurian Protoaurignacian this third phase. This leaves open yet another question: what was the situation like immediately before this social phase of the Protoaurignacian?
RIASSUNTO -Ricerche sulle ocre e sui minerali potenzialmente coloranti nel settore orientale dell... more RIASSUNTO -Ricerche sulle ocre e sui minerali potenzialmente coloranti nel settore orientale dell'Altopiano di Asiago -Nei livelli epigravettiani di Riparo Dalmeri sono stati rinvenuti numerosi grumi di ocra rossa e gialla e alcuni noduli e frammenti di noduli metallici. Una sostanza colorante a base di polvere di ematite è stata inoltre utilizzata per dipingere numerose pietre con motivi sia naturalistici che geometrici. Uno degli interrogativi che tali scoperte hanno sollevato è la provenienza di questi minerali. In questo lavoro, frutto di una serie di prospezioni su un territorio di circa 450 km 2 , vengono descritti sia dal punto di vista qualitativo che quantitativo i depositi naturali di ocre e i minerali potenzialmente coloranti presenti nel territorio circostante il Riparo Dalmeri e più in generale nel settore orientale dell'Altopiano di Asiago. Il confronto con i campioni archeologici, effettuato anche grazie a uno stereomicroscopio (40x), si è rivelato positivo per i noduli metallici. Per quanto riguarda le ocre e il film pittorico delle pietre dipinte la questione rimane aperta, in quanto risulta necessario ricorrere ad analisi geochimiche / mineralogiche per poter stabilire la loro compatibilità composizionale con i campioni raccolti.
RIASSUNTO -Le risorse litiche dellÕAltopiano di Folgaria e il loro utilizzo a Riparo Cogola -Il p... more RIASSUNTO -Le risorse litiche dellÕAltopiano di Folgaria e il loro utilizzo a Riparo Cogola -Il presente lavoro si suddivide in due parti: la descrizione dei diversi tipi di selce presenti sullÕAltopiano di Folgaria e lo studio delle selci archeologiche provenienti dal livello epigravettiano 19 di Riparo Cogola al fine di verificare se siano o meno compatibili con le risorse locali e suggerire probabili aree di approvvigionamento. I cacciatori-raccoglitori epigravettiani che frequentavano il riparo hanno scheggiato differenti varietˆ di selce per ottenere supporti prevalentemente di tipo lamellare. Essi hanno utilizzato quasi esclusivamente le risorse litiche locali, scegliendo soprattutto le selci del Biancone e subordinatamente le selci della Scaglia Variegata (SV1/SV3) e della Scaglia Rossa (SR). Le proporzioni con cui i diversi tipi di selce sono presenti nel sito di Riparo Cogola sono imputabili in primo luogo allÕabbondanza relativa di selce nelle diverse formazioni, in secondo luogo alle differenti distanze da percorrere per lÕapprovvigionamento delle materie prime. I litotipi della Scaglia Rossa e della Scaglia Variegata venivano raccolti principalmente ai limiti occidentali dellÕaltopiano, nellÕarea del Monte Finonchio, a una decina di chilometri dal sito. La localizzazione di que-stÕarea di approvvigionamento, prospiciente alla Val dÕAdige, suggerisce una probabile via dÕaccesso al sito dal fondovalle. Un numero limitato di manufatti della Scaglia Variegata (SV2) e Scaglia Rossa (SR gruppo B) sono stati realizzati su selci che hanno caratteristiche diverse rispetto ai litotipi affioranti nellÕaltopiano. Affioramenti di selci con caratteristiche compatibili con questi ultimi manufatti sono presenti pi• a settentrione, in Val di Non: • quindi ipotizzabile una direttrice di spostamento o di scambio verso nord lungo la Val dÕAdige.
Books by Stefano Bertola
by Tim Kerig, Inga Kretschmer, Andreas Maier, Isabell Schmidt, Stefano Bertola, Nadia Balkowski, Erich Claßen, Robin Peters, Guido Nockemann, Hans-Christoph Strien, Johanna Hilpert, Richard Bleckmann, Michel G L Errera, Marjorie de Grooth, Françoise Bostyn, Solène DENIS, Thomas Richter, Andrzej Pelisiak, Anna-Leena Fischer, and Jutta Lechterbeck Festschrift für Andreas Zimmermann
Erscheinungsdatum: 22. 07. 2016
ISBN: 978-3-7749-4022-2
Conference Presentations by Stefano Bertola
Uploads
Papers by Stefano Bertola
the Sauveterrian site Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca. The aim was to gain a better insight into the management of raw material, reduction
sequences (chaînes opératoires) and human mobility in the context of the Early Mesolithic frequentation of the Adige Basin.
The Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca rock-shelter is located in Salurn (Adige Valley, Northern Italy), in the province of Bolzano/Bozen.
The site lies on a debris cone at the foot of a Triassic wall and overlooks the valley bottom. Radiocarbon dates attest to repeated human
frequentation between 9265 ± 70 BP (ETH-27173, 8425 – 8089 cal. BC) and 8560 ± 65 BP (ETH-22091, 7705 – 7478 cal. BC). The
economy of the site was related to the resources of the valley bottom wetland and the forested surroundings. The exploitation of aquatic
fauna, mainly represented by fish, freshwater molluscs and beavers, ungulates (mostly wild boar and red deer) and small carnivores
(dominated by wild cat) is documented.
The present study regards the lithic assemblages of phases 2, 3 and 4. Raw-material analyses, conducted on a sample of about 1,300 artefacts,
provide evidence for the exploitation of Upper Jurassic to Eocene cherty limestones that were deposited on the western margin of
the Trento Plateau, namely the Maiolica, Scaglia Variegata Alpina, Scaglia Rossa and Chiusole formations. On the basis of the depositional
patterns of the area that influenced the qualitative and quantitative distribution of the cherts, two procurement areas were identified:
the outcrops of the Non Valley, 10 km in a straight line to the west of the site, and those located in the area of Mount Finonchio and the
Folgaria Plateau, at a straight-line distance of approximately 35 – 40 km southwards. Non Valley cherts were collected predominantly
from detritic covers, whilst Finonchio/Folgaria raw material was collected mainly from the residual soils of the karstic plateau.
Despite the different distances from the site, the frequency of Non versus Finonchio/Folgaria cherts does not present a relevant difference.
The relatively high number of the latter cannot be explained by the better quality of raw material, as the varieties of chert from
both areas, being all very fine crystalline cherts, are similar. Indeed, no significant differences were observed as regards the size and
shape of the exploited blocks, reduction processes, blank selection and tool manufacturing.
Rough chert blocks from both areas, of 6 – 8 cm maximum side length, were transported to the site to be worked. Natural diaclases were
generally used as striking platforms and core flanks. The lithic production aimed to produce small series of thin and non standardised
bladelets. Three different reduction sequences have been identified: on prismatic volumes, on oval flat surfaces (namely thick flakes
with facial exploitation) and on narrow surfaces. Knapping was unipolar. Maintenance was carried out through lateral flakes or thick
detachments to eliminate hinged negatives.
Thin blanks, mostly bladelets, were transformed into armatures. These are mostly represented by triangles and backed points. Transformation
occurred by means of intentional shortening using the microburin technique and by unipolar abrupt retouch. Common tools
were obtained from all the different blank categories (mostly on generic flakes), including by-products stemming from initialisation
and maintenance. All stages of the production process are represented, attesting that flaking occurred on site. Only a modest number of
large specimens are incompatible with the described bladelet reduction sequences, suggesting the importation of finished items, which,
at least for phase 2, are more frequently made on Finonchio/Folgaria raw material.
A picture emerges of a rather indistinct raw-material procurement carried out in two different areas located at some distance from each
other. The same knapping goals were met, suggesting the collection of raw material during periodic migrations possibly on the occasion
of other economic activities, such as the exploitation of several ecological niches in a wider area. This supply strategy persisted over
a time span of several hundreds of years, revealing a continuity in the habits of hunter-gatherer groups belonging to the same cultural
tradition.
As regards the accessibility of the identified areas, the outcrops in the Non Valley and in the Finonchio/Folgaria area are located in a
mid-mountain territory and are easily accessible from the Adige Valley. Evidence of collection from torrent pebbles during phase 4
Ressources lithiques, productions et transferts entre Alpes et Méditerranée
Actes de la journée de la Société préhistorique française de Nice, 28-29 mars 2013
Textes publiés sous la direction de
Antonin Tomasso, Didier Binder, Gabriele Martino, Guillaume Porraz,
Patrick Simon et Nicolas Naudinot
Paris, Société préhistorique française, 2016
(Séances de la Société préhistorique française, 5)
p. 22-2
www.prehistoire.org
ISSN : 2263-3847 – ISBN : 2-913745-2-913745-64-4
Ursula Wierer and Stefano Bertola
230 Ursula Wierer and Stefano Bertola
could indicate chert collection along the Noce River. A direct conjunction between the Folgaria Plateau and the Galgenbühel runs along
the Adige Valley. Because of the complex hydrographic setting of the valley bottom supposed in the Early Holocene, with a meandering
river course and secondary standing waters, the routes along the valley would have possibly crossed the detritic talus and alluvial cones.
Furthermore, the use of water ways has to be taken into account as we are referring to human groups with a wetland-based economy.
Keywords: chert-bearing formations of the Trento Plateau, Non Valley, Finonchio/Folgaria area, bladelet production, armatures, common
tools, possible routes.
The region between the Rhône valley of France and the Marche region of Italy is bordered by the Maritime Alps and the northern Apennines. In this region, the Protoaurignacian is unevenly distributed, being concentrated mostly in Provence. As concerns Italy, the most important sites are located near the French border, in the Balzi Rossi di Grimaldi site complex. In spite of this location, these sites have yielded evidence of raw material transfers over the entire region, reaching almost 400km as-the-crow-flies. These are dramatically longer transfers than those documented in the preceding Mousterian and they attest to the emergence of fundamentally different social dynamics at the very beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. It further appears that this dynamism is not only the result of a greater mobility, but also of the development of a resilient social network. This is further suggested by extremely rugged nature of the regional landscape and the episodic presence of Alpine raw material from across the Po Valley (i.e., Late Jurassic flint from the Lessini Mountains, near Verona), both of which imply that direct procurement would have been extremely costly and challenging.
The basal Protoaurignacian from Riparo Mochi (Balzi Rossi, Imperia) has been dated to ca. 41.5ka cal BP and is coeval to that found at nearby Riparo Bombrini. The lithic assemblages from both sites comprise a significant proportion of elements made on Adriatic raw materials. This raises another salient issue, namely that of their potential contemporaneity (and potential interactions) with Uluzzian groups present at that time in Tuscany perhaps Veneto which display a decidedly more local and less far-ranging adaptive pose than the Protoaurignacian.
To this open question, we must add that of why, when it first appears in Liguria, the Protoaurignacian is essentially ‘mature’ in terms of its social and geographic dimensions. Recent ethnographic studies indicate that the colonization of a new landscape by human groups is associated with an initial “locational” (or exploratory) phase, a later “limitational (or cognitive) phase, and a final “social” phase, in which regional resources have already been culturally assimilated and fully incorporated in the group’s human landscape. The paradox here lies in the fact that we seem to only find for the Ligurian Protoaurignacian this third phase. This leaves open yet another question: what was the situation like immediately before this social phase of the Protoaurignacian?
Books by Stefano Bertola
Conference Presentations by Stefano Bertola
the Sauveterrian site Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca. The aim was to gain a better insight into the management of raw material, reduction
sequences (chaînes opératoires) and human mobility in the context of the Early Mesolithic frequentation of the Adige Basin.
The Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca rock-shelter is located in Salurn (Adige Valley, Northern Italy), in the province of Bolzano/Bozen.
The site lies on a debris cone at the foot of a Triassic wall and overlooks the valley bottom. Radiocarbon dates attest to repeated human
frequentation between 9265 ± 70 BP (ETH-27173, 8425 – 8089 cal. BC) and 8560 ± 65 BP (ETH-22091, 7705 – 7478 cal. BC). The
economy of the site was related to the resources of the valley bottom wetland and the forested surroundings. The exploitation of aquatic
fauna, mainly represented by fish, freshwater molluscs and beavers, ungulates (mostly wild boar and red deer) and small carnivores
(dominated by wild cat) is documented.
The present study regards the lithic assemblages of phases 2, 3 and 4. Raw-material analyses, conducted on a sample of about 1,300 artefacts,
provide evidence for the exploitation of Upper Jurassic to Eocene cherty limestones that were deposited on the western margin of
the Trento Plateau, namely the Maiolica, Scaglia Variegata Alpina, Scaglia Rossa and Chiusole formations. On the basis of the depositional
patterns of the area that influenced the qualitative and quantitative distribution of the cherts, two procurement areas were identified:
the outcrops of the Non Valley, 10 km in a straight line to the west of the site, and those located in the area of Mount Finonchio and the
Folgaria Plateau, at a straight-line distance of approximately 35 – 40 km southwards. Non Valley cherts were collected predominantly
from detritic covers, whilst Finonchio/Folgaria raw material was collected mainly from the residual soils of the karstic plateau.
Despite the different distances from the site, the frequency of Non versus Finonchio/Folgaria cherts does not present a relevant difference.
The relatively high number of the latter cannot be explained by the better quality of raw material, as the varieties of chert from
both areas, being all very fine crystalline cherts, are similar. Indeed, no significant differences were observed as regards the size and
shape of the exploited blocks, reduction processes, blank selection and tool manufacturing.
Rough chert blocks from both areas, of 6 – 8 cm maximum side length, were transported to the site to be worked. Natural diaclases were
generally used as striking platforms and core flanks. The lithic production aimed to produce small series of thin and non standardised
bladelets. Three different reduction sequences have been identified: on prismatic volumes, on oval flat surfaces (namely thick flakes
with facial exploitation) and on narrow surfaces. Knapping was unipolar. Maintenance was carried out through lateral flakes or thick
detachments to eliminate hinged negatives.
Thin blanks, mostly bladelets, were transformed into armatures. These are mostly represented by triangles and backed points. Transformation
occurred by means of intentional shortening using the microburin technique and by unipolar abrupt retouch. Common tools
were obtained from all the different blank categories (mostly on generic flakes), including by-products stemming from initialisation
and maintenance. All stages of the production process are represented, attesting that flaking occurred on site. Only a modest number of
large specimens are incompatible with the described bladelet reduction sequences, suggesting the importation of finished items, which,
at least for phase 2, are more frequently made on Finonchio/Folgaria raw material.
A picture emerges of a rather indistinct raw-material procurement carried out in two different areas located at some distance from each
other. The same knapping goals were met, suggesting the collection of raw material during periodic migrations possibly on the occasion
of other economic activities, such as the exploitation of several ecological niches in a wider area. This supply strategy persisted over
a time span of several hundreds of years, revealing a continuity in the habits of hunter-gatherer groups belonging to the same cultural
tradition.
As regards the accessibility of the identified areas, the outcrops in the Non Valley and in the Finonchio/Folgaria area are located in a
mid-mountain territory and are easily accessible from the Adige Valley. Evidence of collection from torrent pebbles during phase 4
Ressources lithiques, productions et transferts entre Alpes et Méditerranée
Actes de la journée de la Société préhistorique française de Nice, 28-29 mars 2013
Textes publiés sous la direction de
Antonin Tomasso, Didier Binder, Gabriele Martino, Guillaume Porraz,
Patrick Simon et Nicolas Naudinot
Paris, Société préhistorique française, 2016
(Séances de la Société préhistorique française, 5)
p. 22-2
www.prehistoire.org
ISSN : 2263-3847 – ISBN : 2-913745-2-913745-64-4
Ursula Wierer and Stefano Bertola
230 Ursula Wierer and Stefano Bertola
could indicate chert collection along the Noce River. A direct conjunction between the Folgaria Plateau and the Galgenbühel runs along
the Adige Valley. Because of the complex hydrographic setting of the valley bottom supposed in the Early Holocene, with a meandering
river course and secondary standing waters, the routes along the valley would have possibly crossed the detritic talus and alluvial cones.
Furthermore, the use of water ways has to be taken into account as we are referring to human groups with a wetland-based economy.
Keywords: chert-bearing formations of the Trento Plateau, Non Valley, Finonchio/Folgaria area, bladelet production, armatures, common
tools, possible routes.
The region between the Rhône valley of France and the Marche region of Italy is bordered by the Maritime Alps and the northern Apennines. In this region, the Protoaurignacian is unevenly distributed, being concentrated mostly in Provence. As concerns Italy, the most important sites are located near the French border, in the Balzi Rossi di Grimaldi site complex. In spite of this location, these sites have yielded evidence of raw material transfers over the entire region, reaching almost 400km as-the-crow-flies. These are dramatically longer transfers than those documented in the preceding Mousterian and they attest to the emergence of fundamentally different social dynamics at the very beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. It further appears that this dynamism is not only the result of a greater mobility, but also of the development of a resilient social network. This is further suggested by extremely rugged nature of the regional landscape and the episodic presence of Alpine raw material from across the Po Valley (i.e., Late Jurassic flint from the Lessini Mountains, near Verona), both of which imply that direct procurement would have been extremely costly and challenging.
The basal Protoaurignacian from Riparo Mochi (Balzi Rossi, Imperia) has been dated to ca. 41.5ka cal BP and is coeval to that found at nearby Riparo Bombrini. The lithic assemblages from both sites comprise a significant proportion of elements made on Adriatic raw materials. This raises another salient issue, namely that of their potential contemporaneity (and potential interactions) with Uluzzian groups present at that time in Tuscany perhaps Veneto which display a decidedly more local and less far-ranging adaptive pose than the Protoaurignacian.
To this open question, we must add that of why, when it first appears in Liguria, the Protoaurignacian is essentially ‘mature’ in terms of its social and geographic dimensions. Recent ethnographic studies indicate that the colonization of a new landscape by human groups is associated with an initial “locational” (or exploratory) phase, a later “limitational (or cognitive) phase, and a final “social” phase, in which regional resources have already been culturally assimilated and fully incorporated in the group’s human landscape. The paradox here lies in the fact that we seem to only find for the Ligurian Protoaurignacian this third phase. This leaves open yet another question: what was the situation like immediately before this social phase of the Protoaurignacian?