Human adaptations to climatic change in Liguria across the Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition

Abstract

There has been much focus on the disruptive effects of dramatic climatic shifts on Paleolithic population dynamics, but the topic of cultural continuity across such events has been less intensely investigated, despite its importance to the way archeologists think about the ways humans have interacted with their environment in the past. This paper presents data from western Liguria (Italy) and especially the site of Riparo Bombrini, to investigate the nature of the apparent resilience of the Proto-Aurignacian technocomplex in the face of the Phlegrean Fields super-eruption ca. 40 000 cal a BP and the general climatic instability during Marine Isotope Stage 3. While the Proto-Aurignacian shows some internal variability that could reflect an adaptation to changing environmental conditions, overall it remains very stable in terms of its techno-typology and social geography across these events. Additionally, the radiocarbon chronology for the site clearly shows that the Proto-Aurignacian outlasts both the super-eruption and Heinrich Event 4 as a whole, by as much as 2000 years. Comparisons with the regional Mousterian record indicate that the Proto-Aurignacian marks the advent of a new way for humans to respond to climatic change, which opens up new avenues to reflect on the disappearance of the Mousterian.

Discovery of cryptotephra at Middle–Upper Paleolithic sites Arma Veirana and Riparo Bombrini, Italy: a new link for broader geographic correlations

“…Samples were calibrated using OxCal 4.2 (Bronk Ramsey, ) and the IntCal13 calibration dataset (Reimer et al ., ). Riel‐Salvatore and Negrino () summarize all non‐problematic dates present at RB. However, Holt et al .…”

Macromammal and bird assemblages across the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Italy: an extended zooarchaeological review

“…1): Arma delle Manie, Caverna delle Fate, Grotta degli Zerbi, Santa Lucia Superiore, Via San Francesco, Riparo Bombrini, Riparo Mochi, Grotta del Principe in Italy, and Grotte de l'Observatoire in the Principality of Monaco. The arrival of modern humans in the region is associated to a marked change in the archaeological record (Negrino and Riel-Salvatore, 2018;Riel-Salvatore and Negrino 2018a). At present, Protoaurignacian evidence has been uncovered at Riparo Mochi (Alhaique, 2000;Kuhn and Stiner, 1998;Douka et al, 2012;Grimaldi et al, 2014), Riparo…”

“…Bombrini (Bertola et al, 2013;Holt et al, 2019;Negrino and Riel-Salvatore 2018;Riel-Salvatore et al 2013;Negrino 2018a, 2018b;Vicino 1984), Arma degli Zerbi and Grotte de l'Observatoire (Rossoni et al, 2016;Onoratini, 2004;Onoratini and Simon, 2006;Porraz et al, 2010;Romandini 2017).…”

The Uluzzian in the north of Italy: insights around the new evidence at Riparo Broion

“…This has also been observed in northern Italian cave sites, which expanded its cultural borders from what was thought to be exclusively southern after the discovery of assemblages at Grotta Fumane (Peresani 2008;Peresani et al 2016). There is a lack of comparable diagnostic evidence in many of the stratified sites along the Ligurian arch, where the final Mousterian persists until 40.5 ky (Higham et al 2014;Riel-Salvatore and Negrino 2018) and along the southern and eastern margins of the Po Plain (Peresani 2011;Karavanić et al 2018). This geographical space constrained from the Apennine, the Southern Alps, the Dinarids and the shallow Adriatic reach of MIS3 (van Andel et al 2003), features high ecological diversity, and is of pivotal importance in influencing the possible human migratory routes and interactions between these biocultural worlds.…”