Climbing the time to see Neanderthal behaviour’s continuity and discontinuity: SU 11 of the Oscurusciuto Rockshelter (Ginosa, Southern Italy)

Abstract

The Oscurusciuto Rockshelter (Ginosa, Southern Italy) is a perfect sample-site for the reconstruction of multiple aspects of the last Neanderthals life. Different settlement strategies are attested in the excavated portion of the stratigraphic sequence, dated between ~ 55 and 43 ka BP. As a first goal, the reconstruction of the site spatial organization across the palimpsest SU 11 was achieved by a high-temporal-resolution approach (assisted by sedimentological analysis), integrating lithic technology, zooarchaeology and spatial analysis (by means of the GIS technology). As a second goal, a diachronic perspective was adopted by comparing results from SU 11 with the previously studied evidence from the underlying SU 13. Results were processed at a diachronic scale, highlighting similarities and differences related both to the type of activities carried out at the site and to their spatial management. This allowed us to recognize discontinuities and, especially, continuities of settlement dynamics, which can be related to phenomena of cultural transmission hinting to a "memory of places". Such results stimulate the debate not only on the necessity to study Middle Palaeolithic contexts at different temporal scales but also on the necessity to develop more refined multidisciplinary analytical protocols. The study of settlement dynamics at high-resolution scales allows to take advantage of the potentialities of contextual analysis i.e. the integration of results from different disciplines and data from the whole range of archaeological evidence in order to reconstruct solid behavioural models.

Depositional processes and environmental settings in rock shelters: the case of the prehistoric Oscurusciuto site (Southern Italy)

“…SU 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11). It is worth noting that no bioerosional traces due to carnivore activities (gnawing marks on bone surfaces and digested bone specimens) have been detected so far (Boscato & Crezzini, 2012;Spagnolo et al 2020a). Deposition due to infiltration processes, where fine-grained materials derived from surficial soils/sediments infiltrate through fractures and/or joints into the rock shelter (Bosch & White, 2004;Iacoviello & Martini, 2012.…”

“…1c) known in the literature as 'Calcarenite di Gravina' (cf. Spagnolo et al 2020a). This formation is also the bedrock of the rock shelter and consists of a bioclastic calcarenite at a place showing a powdery aspect due to the weathering that affected this porous limestone.…”

“…SU 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11). It is worth noting that no bioerosional traces due to carnivore activities (gnawing marks on bone surfaces and digested bone specimens) have been detected so far (Boscato & Crezzini, 2012;Spagnolo et al 2020a). Sandy silt deposits with scattered granules and small pebbles, reddish in colour, structureless or more rarely showing a wake plane-parallel lamination.…”

“…These issues play a decisive role in the wider branch of site taphonomy, the centrality of which is increasingly evident in the pre-/protohistoric archaeology debate (e.g. Lenoble et al 2008;Bertran et al 2012;Spagnolo et al 2016Spagnolo et al , 2020aMartínez-Moreno et al 2019).…”

“…Bailey, 2007). This approach yields significant clues to reconstruct the evolution of technical and economic behaviours, hunting strategies, diet, spatial organization of the campsites and mobility (Boscato et al 2011;Marciani et al 2016Marciani et al , 2018Marciani et al , 2020Spagnolo et al 2016Spagnolo et al , 2019Spagnolo et al , 2020aBoscato & Ronchitelli 2017). Moreover, the site can be considered one of the last refugia of Neanderthals in Southern Italy, as the bottom of layer 1 was dated after 45 ka BP (see Marciani et al 2019 and references therein for a synthesis on the last Mousterian in Italy).…”