Papers by Fabio Santaniello
Quaternary International, 2015
The open-air Bilancino site (Mugello basin, Florence, Italy) may be ascribed to the Noaillian fac... more The open-air Bilancino site (Mugello basin, Florence, Italy) may be ascribed to the Noaillian facies of the Gravettian. The site is dated to 25,410 ± 150 BP. As no faunal remains have been preserved due to the local deposit conditions, attention has been paid to the procurement strategy of the inorganic raw material e i.e. lithics and minerals e as well as to the exceptional evidence of behavior strictly related to vegetal food processing. Bilancino was a summer seasonal camp for the harvesting and the processing of hygrophilous herbs, in particular Typha latifolia (cattail). The Noailles burins were the tools that Gravettian people used to produce fibers from cattail; vegetal residues (starch) found on pestle-grinders and grinding stones provide the earliest evidence of a technique used in the preparation of flour based on wild plants. Mineral residues (hematite) found on another grinding stone, as well as fragments of this mineral found on the living floor of the site, provide evidence for the coloring of vegetable fibers and possibly other materials. Analysis of the provenance of the lithic and mineral raw material allows us to define the territory within which the Bilancino inhabitants may have found the natural sources for collecting the raw materials useful for their daily activities.
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 2019
As known, artefacts made from wood are very rarely encountered in prehistoric deposits due to the... more As known, artefacts made from wood are very rarely encountered in prehistoric deposits due to the low durability of this material. Emergency excavations in the spring of 2012 at Poggetti Vecchi, Central Italy, brought to light an open-air, stratified Palaeolithic site of an overall area of around 160 m2. The finds are radiometrically dated to the late Middle Pleistocene. The site is therefore of particular interest, not only because it offers snapshots of the local environment at a time when early Neanderthals occupied the area but also in view of the recovery of wooden tools. The presence of a burnt film on some of the artefacts has led us to conjecture that, in addition to stone tools, fire was also used in the manufacture of the sticks, as documented in ethnography and hypothesised for prehistoric digging sticks. An experimental study was carried out to reconstruct the operational chain of this kind of tool. This study demonstrates that the use of fire was functional to the manufacture of the sticks featuring this morphology. The working of a very hard wood like Buxus is painstaking and requires a complex operational chain, from the selection of the particular wood to its working employing stone tools and fire, with a significant investment of time and effort.
PLoS ONE, 2019
The lithic assemblage from Shizitan 29, a late Upper Paleolithic open-air site in Shanxi, China, ... more The lithic assemblage from Shizitan 29, a late Upper Paleolithic open-air site in Shanxi, China, provides evidence for the earliest, well-dated microblade production in East Asia, ca. 26/24 Ka cal BP. To pursue a behavioral rather than traditional typological understanding of this key adaptive technology, we apply a techno-functional approach that enables us to reconstruct the entire operational sequence in behavioral terms through the derivation of technical objectives. This methodology can serve as a model to be applied to other assem- blages for greater understanding of the origins and spread of the broadly distributed eastern Asian Late Pleistocene microblade industries. Within the eight cultural layers at Shizitan 29, microblade production abruptly appears at the top of Layer 7 following earlier core-and-flake production, supporting hypotheses of microblade technology arising within adaptive strate- gies to worsening Late Glacial Maximum environments. Significantly, reconstruction of the operational sequence supports microblade technology being introduced into the North China Loess Plateau from regions further north. It also allows us to re-think microblades’ relationship in behavioral terms with earlier limited examples of East Asian blade production and the evolution and spread of microblade technology, providing new insights into the adaptive relationships between subsequent microblade productions.
Lithic assemblages coming from two northeastern Italian Neolithic sites have been techno-function... more Lithic assemblages coming from two northeastern Italian Neolithic sites have been techno-functionally analysed. Lugo di Grezzana (VR) is an open air early Neolithic (“Fiorano” facies 5300-4900/4700 BC cal) site, located close to the flint formations of the Monti Lessini. La Vela (TN) open air site, in the Adige valley, provides a stratigraphic sequence ranging from early Neolithic (“Gaban” facies 5000-4700 BC cal) to the middle Neolithic (Square Mouth pottery, VBQ I - ca. 4700 BC cal - and VBQ II - 4500/4440-4300 BC cal).
This research focuses on the relation between lithic raw material provenance and production systems in order to defie the changes between early and middle Neolithic from a techno-functional perspective. Results show that the early Neolithic lithic production is characterized by high presence of unidirectional blades while, during the two VBQ phases, the production is characterized by the presence of flakes. Differences in raw material provenance as well as in functional purposes are noticed.
The open-air Bilancino site (Mugello basin, Florence, Italy) may be ascribed to the Noaillian fac... more The open-air Bilancino site (Mugello basin, Florence, Italy) may be ascribed to the Noaillian facies of the Gravettian. The site is dated to 25,410 ± 150 BP. As no faunal remains have been preserved due to the local deposit conditions, attention has been paid to the procurement strategy of the inorganic raw material e i.e. lithics and minerals e as well as to the exceptional evidence of behavior strictly related to vegetal food processing. Bilancino was a summer seasonal camp for the harvesting and the processing of hygrophilous herbs, in particular Typha latifolia (cattail). The Noailles burins were the tools that Gravettian people used to produce fibers from cattail; vegetal residues (starch) found on pestle-grinders and grinding stones provide the earliest evidence of a technique used in the preparation of flour based on wild plants. Mineral residues (hematite) found on another grinding stone, as well as fragments of this mineral found on the living floor of the site, provide evidence for the coloring of vegetable fibers and possibly other materials. Analysis of the provenance of the lithic and mineral raw material allows us to define the territory within which the Bilancino inhabitants may have found the natural sources for collecting the raw materials useful for their daily activities.
The site of La Vela sector VII (Trentino-Alto Adige – Italy), provides one of the few complete st... more The site of La Vela sector VII (Trentino-Alto Adige – Italy), provides one of the few complete stratigraphic sequences, ranging from the Mesolithic to the middle Neolithic, in northwestern Italy. The site is located in the Adige valley, a way of communication between the Po plan and the Alps. This research focuses on the early Neolithic lithics ascribable to the Gaban facies, dated to 5000–4700 cal BC. Different rocks, coming from local exposures, have been exploited. The goal of the reduction sequence was the production of blades by pressure knapping technique. The technological study of the assemblage raised a particular interest for the presence of flint artifacts suggesting the usage of controlled heat treatment. The presence of this technique has been tested by an experimental approach based on Fourier-Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Complementary microstructural and analytical characterizations with low-vacuum scanning electron microscopy (LVSEM) observations combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) have been performed. The analyses confirm the presence of artifacts intentionally heat treated. The thermal treatment, achieved in order to increase the quality of the blade production, is the first evidence of this technique in northeastern Italy during the early Neolithic.
Grimaldi Stefano, Porraz Guillaume, Santaniello Fabio, 2014
This study aims to provide a general model of one of the settlement/mobility dynamics adopted by ... more This study aims to provide a general model of one of the settlement/mobility dynamics adopted by human groups during the very early Upper Palaeolithic in Western Europe. Two lithic assemblages -coming from the base of the Proto-Aurignacian layer (Unit G) and from the top of the semi sterile Unit H -located in the east sector (1959 excavation) of the well-known Italian prehistoric key-site, Riparo Mochi (Grimaldi caves, Balzi Rossi) have been dated to about 41 500 calBP. Both assemblages are analyzed from a petrographical, technological, and functional perspective. The data suggest the existence of a large territory from the Rhone valley to central Tyrrhenian Italy where the earliest Proto-Aurignacian human groups developed their adaptations, moving raw material inside a system of long-distance mobility. Moreover, the archaeological evidence provides different chronological frames of human behavior; accordingly, the first Proto-Aurignacian human groups, while crossing the Liguro-Provençal Arc, gathered and used available resources in a similar way, but with different intensity and effectiveness in time. Two interpretations are possible: either this change in the raw material spectrum reflects a difference in the role played by the Riparo Mochi site within the territory or it documents populations who were better organised to supply rocks of greater suitability.
The open-air Bilancino site (Mugello basin, Florence, Italy) may be ascribed to the Noaillian fac... more The open-air Bilancino site (Mugello basin, Florence, Italy) may be ascribed to the Noaillian facies of the Gravettian. The site is dated to 25,410 ± 150 BP. As no faunal remains have been preserved due to the local deposit conditions, attention has been paid to the procurement strategy of the inorganic raw material e i.e. lithics and minerals e as well as to the exceptional evidence of behavior strictly related to vegetal food processing. Bilancino was a summer seasonal camp for the harvesting and the processing of hygrophilous herbs, in particular Typha latifolia (cattail). The Noailles burins were the tools that Gravettian people used to produce fibers from cattail; vegetal residues (starch) found on pestle-grinders and grinding stones provide the earliest evidence of a technique used in the preparation of flour based on wild plants. Mineral residues (hematite) found on another grinding stone, as well as fragments of this mineral found on the living floor of the site, provide evidence for the coloring of vegetable fibers and possibly other materials. Analysis of the provenance of the lithic and mineral raw material allows us to define the territory within which the Bilancino inhabitants may have found the natural sources for collecting the raw materials useful for their daily activities.
Late Mousterian lithic technology remains poorly known in Italy. The traditional typological appr... more Late Mousterian lithic technology remains poorly known in Italy. The traditional typological approach still permeates the literature, and most technological analyses focus on the "transition" to the Upper Palaeolithic. In this paper, we provide new data about the behavior of the last Neandertals who inhabited Tyrrhenian western Italy. Lithic assemblages from two well-known sites e Riparo Mochi (Grimaldi caves, Balzi Rossi area, Liguria) and Grotta Breuil (Monte Circeo, Lazio) e have been technologically and functionally analyzed. The results are discussed and compared to other data such as fauna, chronology, and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. The data reveals a highly dynamic world where behavioral changes were rapid in time and characterized by strong differences in territorial exploitation.
Conference Presentations by Fabio Santaniello
XVIII° UISPP World Congress, session IV-4. Fire as an artifact: Advances in the study of Paleolithic combustion features, 2018
11th Experimental Archaeology Conference EAC11, Trento, Italy, 2019
In 2012, several wooden artefacts were found in the late Middle Pleistocene open-air site of Pogg... more In 2012, several wooden artefacts were found in the late Middle Pleistocene open-air site of Poggetti Vecchi (Tuscany, central Italy). These are wooden sticks made of a boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) clearly showing wear produced by human activities. Following ethnographic comparison, the tools may be interpreted as digging sticks, multipurpose gear commonly used among hunters-gatherers groups. Besides their simple morphology, the Poggetti Vecchi digging sticks show technical features that must be related to a manufacturing process which includes several working stages. An experimental program has been carried out in order to reconstruct the operational sequence performed for the production of these tools. The experiments show a complex of technical choices, different production activities, and a rigid manufacturing process that must be followed from the choice of the wood until the final shaping. Interestingly, the presence of a burnt film on the external surface of the Poggetti Vecchi wooden sticks demonstrates the use of fire during their production; the experiments have confirmed fire was a powerful tool for the production of the tools. This work shed new light on the capabilities of the early Neanderthals to adapt to the environment, widening our knowledge about their woodworking competencies.
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Papers by Fabio Santaniello
This research focuses on the relation between lithic raw material provenance and production systems in order to defie the changes between early and middle Neolithic from a techno-functional perspective. Results show that the early Neolithic lithic production is characterized by high presence of unidirectional blades while, during the two VBQ phases, the production is characterized by the presence of flakes. Differences in raw material provenance as well as in functional purposes are noticed.
Conference Presentations by Fabio Santaniello
This research focuses on the relation between lithic raw material provenance and production systems in order to defie the changes between early and middle Neolithic from a techno-functional perspective. Results show that the early Neolithic lithic production is characterized by high presence of unidirectional blades while, during the two VBQ phases, the production is characterized by the presence of flakes. Differences in raw material provenance as well as in functional purposes are noticed.