The Neanderthal in the karst: First dating, morphometric, and paleogenetic data on the fossil skeleton from Altamura (Italy).

In 1993, a fossil hominin skeleton was discovered in the karst caves of Lamalunga, near Altamura, in southern Italy. Despite the fact that this specimen represents one of the most extraordinary hominin specimens ever found in Europe, for the last two decades our knowledge of it has been based purely on the documented on-site observations. Recently, the retrieval from the cave of a fragment of bone (part of the right scapula) allowed the first dating of the individual, the quantitative analysis of a diagnostic morphological feature, and a preliminary paleogenetic characterization of this hominin skeleton from Altamura. Overall, the results concur in indicating that it belongs to the hypodigm of Homo neanderthalensis, with some phenetic peculiarities that appear consistent with a chronology ranging from 172 ± 15 ka to 130.1 ± 1.9 ka. Thus, the skeleton from Altamura represents the most ancient Neanderthal from which endogenous DNA has ever been extracted.

From number sense to number symbols. An archaeological perspective.

How and when did hominins move from the numerical cognition that we share with the rest of the animal world to number symbols? Objects with sequential markings have been used to store and retrieve numerical information since the beginning of the European Upper Palaeolithic (42 ka). An increase in the number of markings and complexity of coding is observed towards the end of this period. The application of new analytical techniques to a 44-42 ka old notched baboon fibula from Border Cave, South Africa, shows that notches were added to this bone at different times, suggesting that devices to store numerical information were in use before the Upper Palaeolithic. Analysis of a set of incisions on a 72-60 ka old hyena femur from the Les Pradelles Mousterian site, France, indicates, by comparison with markings produced by modern subjects under similar constraints, that the incisions on the Les Pradelles bone may have been produced to record, in a single session, homologous units of numerical information. This finding supports the view that numerical notations were in use among archaic hominins. Based on these findings, a testable five-stage scenario is proposed to establish how prehistoric cultures have moved from number sense to the use of number symbols.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The origins of numerical abilities'.

Typological and technological study of prehistoric implements in animal hard tissues.

Several series of prehistoric implements in animal hard tissues, either from ancient and recent excavations, were studied by the typological and technological points of views. Their morpho-typological description was in many cases associated to microscopic study of surface modifications, often allowing identification of traces related to manufacture. This technological information in some cases could be integrated by the observations of use-wear, thus providing functional indications. Implements came from sites of different antiquity and different geographic areas (from Liguria to Calabria). Implements considered by the research program included tools, pendants and other ornamental objects, as well as unfinished implements and manufacture left-overs often identified during revision of faunal remains. Middle Paleolithic bone fragments bearing traces of non-alimentary anthropic actions were limited to the so-called "retouchers". However, during Upper Paleolithic, implements in animal hard tissues were relatively frequent in most Italian sites, even if those industries were not so rich, elaborated and typologically differentiated as in other European areas.

Animal resources and subsistence strategies.

Several faunal assemblages excavated in deposits of different antiquity (from Lower Paleolithic to Bronze Age), located in Northern, Central and Southern Italy, were studied from the archeozoological and taphonomic point of view. Data obtained by different Authors allow reconstruction of subsistence strategies adopted by prehistoric humans in these areas and through time, in particular as far as the exploitation of animal resources is concerned. The following assemblages were considered: Isernia La Pineta (Molise; Lower Paleolithic), Grotta Breuil (Latium; Middle Paleolithic), Grotta della Ghiacciaia (Verona; Middle Paleolithic), Riparo di Fumane and Riparo Tagliente (Verona; Middle and Upper Paleolithic), Riparo Mochi (Liguria; Upper Paleolithic), Grotta della Continenza (L'Aquila; Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic), Grotta dell'Edera (Trieste; Mesolithic and Neolithic), Grotta della Cala at Marina di Camerota (Salerno; Eneolithic), Contraguda (Sassari; Neolithic), Castellaro Lagusello (Mantova; Bronze Age). Exploitation of the vegetal resources has been analyzed in the Neolithic sites of Colle Santo Stefano (Fucino), Settefonti (L'Aquila) and Catignano (Pescara).