Origins and spread of agriculture in Italy: a nonmetric dental analysis.

Dental morphological traits were employed in this study as direct indicators of biological affinities among the populations that inhabited the Italian peninsula from the Upper Paleolithic-Mesolithic to Medieval times. Our analysis aims at contributing to the ongoing debate regarding the origin and spread of agriculture in the peninsula by contrasting the dental evidence of archaeological and modern molecular samples. It is not possible to generalize given the complex and dynamic nature of these populations. However, the results from the principal component analysis, maximum likelihood, mean measure of divergence, and multidimensional scaling do indicate a net separation of the Paleo-Mesolithic sample from the other groups that is not related to dental reduction. This suggests that the shift in dental morphology was the product of Neolithic populations migrating into the peninsula from other areas. Nonetheless, the Paleo-Mesolithic populations share several discriminative traits with the Neolithic group. The biological relevance of such evidence suggests that, to some minor extent, the spread of agriculture did not occur by total population replacement. Because of regional small sample sizes, this hypothesis cannot be tested on a micro-regional scale. It is, however, feasible to depict a scenario where processes of genetic mixture or replacement probably took place at different rates on a macro-regional level.

Cranial trauma in iron age Samnite agriculturists, Alfedena, Italy: implications for biocultural and economic stress.

The Samnites are an Iron Age protohistoric people from the central region of Italy. The skeletal remains are from the Alfedena necropolis, 6th through 5th centuries B.C. Macchiarelli et al. (Antropologia Contemporanea 4 (1981) 239-243) were the first to report on cranial trauma for this population, presenting four cases with extreme injuries. We re-examined this well documented skeletal population for additional examples of trauma. Previously unexamined remains from Alfedena, excavated at the turn of the 20th century, are also included in our analysis (Mariani. 1901. "Aufidena", ricerche archeologiche e storiche del Sannio settentrionale. Roma: Acc Naz Dei Lincei). Of the 209 adult crania examined, 12.9% of them exhibited trauma. Analysis of location and frequency of cranial trauma revealed that cranial injuries to the head appear to originate from all directions. The high rate of cranial trauma underscores the violent circumstances experienced during the Iron Age protohistoric period of central Italy. Males are much more likely to exhibit cranial injury than females (P = 0.009). We conclude that the injuries received by Samnite male farmer-warriors occurred while defending pastoral-agricultural resources. Trauma rates are similar for some Iron Age populations and not for others. Behavior associated with violence during the Iron Age period can not be generalized for all populations found in Italy.

Dental anthropology of central-southern, Iron Age Italy: the evidence of metric versus nonmetric traits.

Discrete and metric dental traits are used to assess biological similarities and differences among 13 bioarchaeological populations located on each side of the Apennine mountains in central-southern Italy and dated to the first millennium BC. An initial hypothesis, that the mountain chain might provide a significant geographical barrier for population movement (resulting in greater biological affinities among those groups on the same side), is not supported. Instead, the samples appear to cluster more on the basis of time than geography. Archaeological evidence, however, supports an association between populations on opposite sides of the mountains and thus is in accord with the dental data. As anticipated, discrete dental traits appear to be more useful than metric dental traits in assessing such population affinities. This research represents a beginning to a better comprehension of the complexity of the biological and cultural dynamics of Italian populations during recent millennia.