Middle Palaeolithic technical behaviour: Material import-export and Levallois production at the SU 13 of Oscurusciuto rock shelter, Southern Italy

Abstract

The Oscurusciuto rock shelter, located in southern Italy (Puglia), has yielded a long Middle Palaeolithic stratigraphy rich in lithic assemblages, fireplaces and faunal remains, attesting Neanderthal occupation during the MIS 3. This paper is focused on the stratigraphic unit 13, consisting of a sandy compact deposit mixed with pyroclastic sediment above a thick level of tephra-US 14, identified as Mt. Epomeo green tuff (dated Ar/Ar ~ 55 ka).\ud Level 13 represents the first stable human occupation after the deposition of tephra. Our goal was to examine the lithic assemblage of this stratigraphic unit by means of an interdisciplinary approach (technology, RMU, refitting program) in order to identify the economic behaviour and technical strategies of Neanderthals occupying the stratigraphic unit 13 of Oscurusciuto.\ud The technical strategies applied indicate fragmentation of the reduction processes, as well as probable events of importation and exportation of objects. The lithic material were introduced at different stages of manufacturing. Pieces were introduced in the form of rough objects (pebbles), as well as semi-finished items, and as finished tools. This fragmentation of the chaîne opératoire also demonstrate the palimpsest nature of the level which is made up of different events happening one after another.\ud The main concept of debitage was Levallois, generally realized on local jasper and siliceous limestone pebbles or cortical flakes. Jasper and siliceous limestone flakes, backed flakes and convergent flakes were the technological objectives of the debitage. A marginal volumetric debitage aimed at producing bladelets was also attested

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“…Flakes, also of Levallois origin, were used for the manufacture of splintered and backed pieces with a straight or convex back. Therefore, flakes from the industry represented in layer A3 are not comparable neither with the Levallois laminarity seen at Fumane and at MIS3 sites in Italy (Peresani 2011;Boscato et al 2011;Marciani et al 2016) nor with other Levallois volumetric blade based industries like the Bohunician in Central Europe (Svoboda and Škrdla 1995;Škrdla and Rychtaříková 2012). In A3, there are flakes with weakly trimmed platforms and flaking angle around 70°-80° issued from centripetal cores; thin and wide flakes were predetermined from large shattered slabs with roughly prepared distal convexity; flakes longer than wide with a cortical back opposite a rough cutting edge were extracted from shattered plates prepared with an inclined striking platform and a distal convexity; an ensemble of flakes longer than wide with thick edges, thin flakes with centripetal pattern and chunky and straight and sturdy flakes with thick edges, flat to convex butts, was issued from bifacial cores and rhomboidal structure (Peresani et al 2016).…”

Middle Palaeolithic lithic tools: Techno-functional and use-wear analysis of target objects from SU 13 at the Oscurusciuto rock shelter, Southern Italy

“…The first, obtained by the C14 method (on collagen), is referred to the bottom of (Ramsey & Lee, 2013;Reimer et al, 2013). The former derives from the identification of the tephra layer (SU 14) as Mount Epomeo green tuff (Marciani et al, 2016;Spagnolo et al, 2016) datable to about 55,000 BP (Allen et al, 2000). The faunal associations found at Oscurusciuto are characterized by the main presence of Bos primigenius, Equus ferus, Cervus elaphus and Dama dama in different variations and associations, which show both little paleo-climatic fluctuations and the coexistence of different biomes, possibly related to a micro-scale landscape variability linked to the ravine environment.…”

“…In SU 13, 7504 well preserved lithic artefacts were found. As in all the upper stratigraphic units, the dominant raw materials are jasper and cherty limestone in their fine granulometry, found in the form of pebbles, which can still be found on the sea-terraces and river deposits around the site (nowadays almost between few tens of meters and over than 20 km far from the site) (Marciani, 2013;Marciani et al, 2016).…”

“…The recurrent Levallois method is the most commonly noted concept of debitage especially in its unipolar modality aiming at producing elongated supports, both convergent or not. Furthermore, there is an additional volumetric exploitation aiming at producing bladelets (Boscato et al, 2011;Marciani, 2013;Marciani et al, 2016;Ranaldo, 2005;Ronchitelli et al, 2011;Spagnolo, 2013;Spagnolo et al, 2016;Villa et al, 2009).…”

“…The Levallois production at the Oscurusciuto stratigraphic unit 13 was aimed at producing a clear set of debitage goals: flakes, convergent flakes and backed flakes. In previous studies we have noted the peculiar and recurrent features of these objects and their particular role in the economy of the level (Marciani, 2013;Marciani et al, 2016). We assumed that these target objects had been imported as finished objects into the site, or had resulted from an in situ debitage process (Marciani, 2013;Marciani et al, 2016;.…”