On the chronology of the Uluzzian
Introduction
In 1964, Arturo Palma di Cesnola coined the term ‘Uluzzian’ to describe the technocomplex he identified a year earlier at Cavallo Cave (Grotta del Cavallo) in southern Italy (Palma di Cesnola and Borzatti von Löwenstern, 1964). The distinct, dark Uluzzian layers overlay a long series of Mousterian deposits and were superposed by a late Upper Palaeolithic (Late Epigravettian) phase from which they were separated by a thin stalagmitic crust and a tephra layer.
The Uluzzian layers were rich in lithic elements of Upper Palaeolithic character, terrestrial and marine faunal remains and several hearths. They contained bone points, perforated shell beads, mineral pigments, as well as two human deciduous teeth. The technocomplex was assigned to the Upper Palaeolithic (‘Leptolithic’) tradition, yet archaic at its lower layers, due to the presence of particular tool-types (lunates) that do not exist in the preceding Mousterian levels. Palma di Cesnola immediately recognized parallels with the Franco-Cantabrian Châtelperronian, and efforts to elucidate the geographical, techno-typological and chronological span of the Uluzzian, as well as its role in the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition, began.
In 2011, almost 50 years after the initial discovery of the technocomplex, the Uluzzian was brought to the forefront again. The two deciduous teeth from Cavallo Cave, the only human remains associated with the Uluzzian so far, were identified as belonging to anatomically modern humans and not Neanderthals, as was the consensus until then (Benazzi et al., 2011). The parallel radiocarbon dating of associated shell beads found across the Cavallo Uluzzian stratigraphy rendered the teeth the oldest currently-known remains of modern humans in Europe (Benazzi et al., 2011).
The geographic span of the Uluzzian has remained almost unchanged over the last decades and several authors have described the techno-typological features of the assemblages assigned to it. The chronology of the Uluzzian, however, remained poorly understood. Given the importance of the technocomplex in our understanding of the appearance and spread of modern humans in Europe, a chronological synthesis is long due and is the main focus of the present article.
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Geography
The presence of the Uluzzian has been reported in about 20 caves and open-air localities of peninsular Italy (Palma di Cesnola, 1989, Palma di Cesnola, 1993, Riel-Salvatore, 2007, Riel-Salvatore, 2009, Ronchitelli et al., 2009). These include sites mainly in Apulia (Cavallo, Uluzzo, Parabita, Mario Bernardini, Serra Cicora, Torre Testa, Falce del Viaggio, Foresta Umbra), Basilicata (Atella Basin), Campania (Cala, Castelcivita, Tornola), Calabria (San Pietro a Maida, Punta Safò), Tuscany (La
Studied sequences
Given the distinct techno-typological features and important stratigraphic position of the Uluzzian and, as of recent, its connection with the earliest modern humans in Europe, a reliable chronology is of uttermost importance in understanding aspects of the initial appearance, expansion and eventual demise of the technocomplex, which have remained unknown thus far. The reliable dating of the Uluzzian has been one of the major goals of a project initiated by the authors and performed at the
New chronological framework
In the current project, 18 radiocarbon measurements were obtained for the Uluzzian layers of Cavallo, Castelcivita, Fumane and Klissoura 1 (Table 2). Shell, charcoal and bone collagen were the three types of dated material. Bones were dated only in the case of Fumane. In all other sites tested bones preserved no collagen therefore alternative material was used. All determinations were produced using the latest preparative methods (ultrafiltration for bones, ABOx-SC for charcoal, CarDS for
Discussion
The new chronology has wider archaeological implications for our understanding of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in southern peninsular Europe (limited here to Italy and Greece). Below we discuss key points arising from this new chronological framework.
Conclusions
We present here the first integrated chronological synthesis for the Uluzzian, currently assumed to be the oldest modern human technocomplex in Europe. By using a series of new radiocarbon determinations on shell, bone and charcoal substrate, all produced with the latest preparative methods at the Oxford Radiocarbon laboratory, and a purpose-built Bayesian statistical framework, we constrained the age of the Uluzzian and compared it with that for previous and succeeding technocomplexes
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank R.E.M. Hedges for his support and guidance throughout the period that this work was undertaken. Several colleagues were instrumental to our study, and are specially thanked: A. Palma di Cesnola, H. Klempererova, M. Koumouzelis, A. Moroni, F. Ranaldo and J. Riel-Salvatore. We would also like to acknowledge the continuing support of the Puglia and Campania Archaeological Superintendence branches, for facilitating excavation and study of the material. The dating work has
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