This article explores the changes that occurred in harvesting technology during the dispersal of the Neolithic in the Mediterranean basin. It does so through technological and use-wear analysis of ...flaked stone tools from archaeological sites dated between ca. 7000 and 5000 cal BCE, from the Aegean Sea to the westernmost coasts of Portugal. The main goal is to analyse the transformations that occurred in the harvesting toolkit. Our study reveals dynamics of continuity and change in sickles at a Mediterranean scale, resulting from adaptations of the migrant groups to the newly occupied territories and from processes of technological innovation. Adaptations in the production system of the inserts and in their use-pattern occurred in relation to lithic raw material availability and knappers' skills, but also in relation to the scale of production and farming techniques. A major shift took place in the north-western Mediterranean arc with the diffusion of parallel-hafted inserts, probably as a result of heterogeneous phenomena including the diffusion of new groups, technical transfers, establishment of new interaction networks and new systems of lithic production.
The evaluation of biological degradation of waterlogged archeological wood is crucial to choose the conservative and protective treatments to be applied to the wooden material. The waterlogged ...environmental conditions are characterized by oxygen scarcity, only allowing the growth of adapted microbes capable to degrade the organic wooden material, mainly erosion bacteria and soft-rot fungi. In this work, we characterized and evaluated the biodegradation state and the microbial communities of wooden fragments preserved in storage tanks. These were preserved by waterlogging within the Neolithic village "La Marmotta," currently found under the Bracciano Lake (Lazio, Italy).
The waterlogged wood samples were first identified taxonomically with an optical microscope, also allowing an evaluation of their preservation state. The microbial community was then evaluated through the sequencing of Internal Transcribed Spacer sequences for fungi and 16S for bacteria with the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION platform.
The identified microbial community appears to be consistent with the waterlogged samples, as many bacteria attributable to the erosion of wood and ligninolytic fungi have been sequenced.
The reported results highlight the first use of targeted metabarcoding by ONT applied to study the biodeterioration of waterlogged archeological wood.
Navigation in the Mediterranean in the Neolithic is studied here through the boats that were used, the degree of technical specialisation in their construction and, above all, their chronology. After ...a brief explanation of the exceptional site of La Marmotta, the characteristics and chronology of the five canoes found at the settlement and one of the nautical objects linked to Canoe 1 are discussed. This will allow a reflection on the capability of Neolithic societies for navigation owing to their high technological level. This technology was an essential part in the success of their expansion, bearing in mind that in a few millennia they occupied the whole Mediterranean from Cyprus to the Atlantic seaboard of the Iberian Peninsula.
The lakeshore site of La Marmotta is one of the most important Early Neolithic sites of Mediterranean Europe. The site is famous for the exceptional preservation of organic materials, including ...numerous wooden artefacts related to navigation, agriculture, textile production, and basketry. This article presents interdisciplinary research on three of the most complete and well-preserved sickles recovered from the site, yet unpublished. All the components of the tools are analysed: the stone inserts, the wooden haft and the adhesive substances used to fix the stones inside the haft. Our innovative methodology combines use-wear and microtexture analysis of stone tools through confocal microscopy, taxonomical and technological analysis of wood, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of the adhesive substances, and pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, and phytolith analysis of the remains incorporated within the adhesive. This multiproxy approach provides a significant insight into the life of these tools, from their production to their use and abandonment, providing evidence of the species of harvested plants and the conditions of the field during the harvesting.
The Nuragic civilization (Sardinia, Italy, XVIII–VIII B.C) developed a flourishing bronze metallurgy with strong connections with other civilizations from the Mediterranean basin. Within the large ...bronze production, there are some peculiar representations of human figures, known in the archaeological environment of Sardinia as bronzetti, depicting warriors, priests, and offerers. In this paper, an interesting couple of Nuragic statuettes representing offerers, one from the Pigorini Museum in Rome and another from the Musei Reali in Turin, were analyzed. They have been investigated with X-ray fluorescence integrated with Monte Carlo simulations (XRF-MC). The combined methodology provides more accurate results, ranging from the structural characterization to the identification of the corrosion layers to the estimation of the composition of the alloy of the artifact. One of the most striking results regards the heads of the offerers: both heads are covered with a thick iron-based layer, even though the whole artifacts are made of a copper alloy. To understand the reason behind this peculiar corrosion patina, several hypotheses have been considered, including the possibility that these iron mineralizations are the consequence of an ancient superficial treatment, intending to confer a chromatic effect on the figurine’s head.
Este trabajo tiene como eje discursivo la información publicada sobre dos de las cinco piraguas neolíticas documentadas en el asentamiento neolítico de La Marmotta (Anguillara Sabazia, Lazio, ...Italia), y como este hallazgo puede darnos nuevos datos sobre la navegación y la expansión neolítica por el Mediterráneo. Se trata de un yacimiento excepcional, pues el hecho de hallarse en el fondo del Lago di Bracciano ha permitido que se conservaran extraordinarios restos bióticos. Las características de estas piraguas, así como del conjunto de elementos navales asociados, nos demuestran que estamos ante sociedades complejas en su organización social, con unos conocimientos tecnológicos difícilmente imaginables. Conocer La Marmotta es comprender mucho mejor las sociedades neolíticas y el éxito de su expansión. Sin duda conocían muy bien la navegación y el mar Mediterráneo. De lo contrario es difícil suponer cómo iniciaron su diáspora hace unos 10000 años BC desde Próximo Oriente y llegaron a las costas portuguesas hacia el 5400 BC. Domesticaron las plantas y los animales, y revolucionaron todo el espectro técnico que, gracias a yacimientos como La Marmotta, podemos evaluar. Sin duda, somos los herederos de aquellas sociedades.
This article presents a palynological study conducted on adhesive materials obtained from both experimental and archaeological wooden sickles. The archaeological sickles, dating back to the Early ...Neolithic period, were recovered from the waterlogged site of La Marmotta, located near Lake Bracciano in Rome, Italy. Experimental harvesting was carried out on cereal crops using sickles purposefully made with a modern resinous material that closely replicates the original composition. This approach allowed us to retrieve palynological information consistent with and comparable to that observed on ancient tools. The study's results highlighted the excellent adhesiveness of these materials, capable of trapping and preserving micro-remains collected during harvesting practices. The discovery of Hordeum-type and Avena-Triticum-type pollen grains confirmed the predominant use of these agricultural tools for cereal harvesting. Notably, one particular neolithic sickle, whose resin primarily retained Oenanthe-type pollen, stands out for its exclusive use in cutting herbaceous plants of potential medicinal interest. In parallel, the analysis of pollen content retained in modern cereal spikes confirmed their potential to provide information about the type of crop and, to some extent, the floristic component of the surrounding environment.
•This study applies an innovative palynological and experimental approach to adhesive materials sampled from neolithic wooden sickles from the waterlogged archaeological site of La Marmotta near Lake Bracciano (Central Italy).•The results showed that the tools were employed for harvesting cereals, highlighting the occurrence of Hordeum-type and Avena-Triticum-type pollen, in agreement with carpological evidence.•The resin used as adhesive material from one sickle was exceptionally rich in Oenanthe-type pollen, indicating deliberate cutting and collection of plants with toxic and psychotropic properties.•The creation of comparative modern sickles equipped with a modern adhesive material (created based on GC-MS analyses of the neolithic specimens), allowed us to better understand the taphonomic processes involved in trapping micro-remains within the glue during the use of the tools.
Archaeological investigation of Circum-Alpine lake, or pile, dwellings has afforded unprecedented insight into Neolithic and Bronze Age societies. The discovery in 1989 of a submerged settlement near ...Rome added an early (eighth millennium BP) geographical outlier to this distribution. Two decades of excavation at La Marmotta have identified more than a dozen dwellings and an enormous assemblage of organic remains. Here, the authors present an overview of the textiles, basketry and cordage recovered, and the tools used to manufacture them. The assemblage paints a more complete picture of the technological expertise of Neolithic societies and their ability to exploit and process plant materials to produce a wide range of crafts.
This paper aims to define the first chrono-cultural framework on the domestication and early diffusion of the opium poppy using small-sized botanical remains from archaeological sites, opening the ...way to directly date minute short-lived botanical samples. We produced the initial set of radiocarbon dates directly from the opium poppy remains of eleven Neolithic sites (5900-3500 cal BCE) in the central and western Mediterranean, northwestern temperate Europe, and the western Alps. When possible, we also dated the macrobotanical remains originating from the same sediment sample. In total, 22 samples were taken into account, including 12 dates directly obtained from opium poppy remains. The radiocarbon chronology ranges from 5622 to 4050 cal BCE. The results show that opium poppy is present from at least the middle of the sixth millennium in the Mediterranean, where it possibly grew naturally and was cultivated by pioneer Neolithic communities. Its dispersal outside of its native area was early, being found west of the Rhine in 5300-5200 cal BCE. It was introduced to the western Alps around 5000-4800 cal BCE, becoming widespread from the second half of the fifth millennium. This research evidences different rhythms in the introduction of opium poppy in western Europe.
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