Dating human occupation and adaptation in the southern European last glacial refuge: The chronostratigraphy of Grotta del Romito (Italy)

Abstract

Grotta del Romito has been the subject of numerous archaeological, chronological and palaeoenvironmental investigations for more than a decade. During the Upper Palaeolithic period the site contains evidence of human occupation through the Gravettian and Epigravettian periods, multiple human burials, changes in the pattern of human occupation, and faunal, isotopic and sedimentological evidence for local environmental change. In spite of this rich record, the chronological control is insufficient to resolve shifts in subsistence and mobility patterns at sufficiently high resolution to match the abrupt climate fluctuations at this time. To resolve this here we present new radiocarbon and tephrostratigraphic dates in combination with existing radiocarbon dates, and develop a Bayesian age model framework for the site. This improved chronology reveals that local environmental conditions reflect abrupt and longterm changes in climate, and that these also directly influence changing patterns of human occupation of the site. In particular, we show that the environmental record for the site, based on small mammal habitat preferences, is chronologically in phase with the main changes in climate and environment seen in key regional archives from Italy and Greenland. We also calculate the timing of the transitions between different cultural phases and their spans. We also show that the intensification in occupation of the site is chronologically coincident with a rapid rise in Mesic Woody taxa seen in key regional pollen records and is associated with the Late Epigravettian occupation of the site. This change in the record of Grotta del Romito is also closely associated stratigraphically with a new tephra (the ROM-D30 tephra), which may act as a critical marker in environmental records of the region.

Habitat suitability and the genetic structure of human populations during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in Western Europe

“…Our results also predict that, unless we accept high levels of mobility and annual territories with radii of 100 km or 200 km, and high selective pressure ( hs_benefit = 1), Italy forms a regionally distinct part of the Western European metapopulation, both in terms of its size and genetic composition. This observation is perfectly compatible with the material culture record, during the LGM the Epigravettian arose in Italy, distinguishing it from the other regions [69]. We will explore the dynamics of cultural interaction further in an upcoming paper.…”

“…This prediction is compatible with the archaeological record. The Gravettian technocomplex which pre-existed the LGM was displaced by the Solutrean culture, which overlaps with the Early Magdalenian and Badegoulian in the Central region [68] and the Epigravettian in Italy [69]. The occupation frequencies predicted by the model do not suggest a direct connection between the core areas in the Iberian Peninsula (Atlantic and Mediterranean) but rather, suggest that these regions were indirectly connected through the central “French” region which may explain the cultural differences between these regions [18,70].…”

The palaeoecological meaning of macromammal remains from archaeological sites exemplified by the case study of Grotta Paglicci (Upper Palaeolithic, southern Italy)

“…This change is probably related to a regional climatic shift also detectable in other sites: at Taurisano (southern Apulia) during the Final Epigravettian, the decrease in equids was balanced by an increase in aurochs; a similar situation was observed at Grotta di Uluzzo, which is close to Taurisano (Palma di Cesnola, 1993; Borzatti von Löwenstern, 1963); at Grotta del Romito (Calabria, Tyrrhenian side), ibex decreases during the Evolved–Final Epigravettian, whilst red deer and wild boar increase (Bertini Vacca, 2012). The palaeoecological meaning of this change was also confirmed by the study of micromammal remains and chronostratigraphy from the same site (López-García et al, 2014; Blockley et al, 2018). At Grotta di Santa Maria (Campania, Tyrrhenian side), ibex and aurochs decrease during the Epigravettian, whilst wild boar and red deer increase (Boscato, 2000).…”

More data on ancient human mitogenome variability in Italy: new mitochondrial genome sequences from three Upper Palaeolithic burials

“…Twenty-one complete mtDNA genomes from 9 Italian Upper Palaeolithic sites have been sequenced to date (Fu et al 2013;Benazzi et al 2015;Fu et al 2016;Posth et al 2016;Modi et al 2017;Antonio et al 2019;Modi et al 2020;van de Loosdrecht et al 2020;Bortolini et al 2020) (Figure 1). It is of particular interest to increase the number of specimens with genetic information for this country, considering its role as a glacial refugium (Blockley et al 2018) and harbour between the Mediterranean and continental Europe, as well as its internal geographical boundaries that could have shaped the genetic variability in a different way compared to the rest of Europe. It has been proposed that Italy could form a regionally distinct part of the Western European metapopulation, as the material culture record seems to suggest, with the transition to Epigravettian during the LGM distinguishing Italy from the other regions (Wren and Burke 2019).…”