AFTER THE ICE - Forager Uses of "Persistent Places” in the Late Upper Palaeolithic of the Circum-Adriatic Region: Perspectives from the Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Italy) and Badanj (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

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Abstract:

The AFTER THE ICE project aims to understand the nature of human adaptations in the Mediterranean part of Europe during the period of dramatic climatic, environmental and landscape changes at the end of the Pleistocene. It focuses on the circum-Adriatic area where such changes were particularly pronounced due to significant landscape and territorial alterations – from the opening of a large land mass between Italy and the Balkans, known as the Great Adriatic Plain, and the formation of glaciers across the Alps and in the higher parts of the Dinaric Alps during the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 22 thousand years ago - kya) to the subsequent gradual inundation of the northern parts of the Adriatic Basin and the melting of the glaciers starting around 17.5 kya. This process of climatic amelioration was further accelerated from around 14.8 kya, marking the onset of the temperate, Bølling-Allerød interstadial. Finally, this interstadial was followed by the last Pleistocene deterioration of climatic conditions during the Younger Dryas c. 12.7 kya, which lasted for about a millennium before the onset of warmer conditions at the beginning of the Holocene. The timeframe of these changes coincides with the development of Late Epigravettian complexes across Mediterranean Europe. The Epigravettian groups, their territorial organisation and the scheduling of their subsistence and other forays must have been significantly affected by these changes. In the face of such uncertainties, these hunter-gatherers developed adaptable technologies in the form of stone and osseous industries and specific toolkits and seem to have been well connected among themselves through the existence of extensive social networks beyond maximal band territories, sharing a repertoire of similar culture traits. A high mobility characterising early Epigravettian phases seems to have been followed by the establishment of long lasting locales on the landscape that were important aggregation foci of these groups over considerable periods of time–persistent places. By focusing our research on two such sites on opposing ends of the circum-Adriatic region–Riparo Tagliente (Veneto, Italy) and Badanj (Bosnia and Herzegovina)–we aim to understand (a) detailed settlement histories of these two locales; (b) the nature of their uses and changes that affected scheduling of everyday activities in these places over time; and (c) identify common points of comparison between the two sites/subregions in order to identify wider evolutionary trends connected with these types of adaptations and settlement organisation in the functioning of prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups more generally. These objectives will be achieved through the study of technological and functional aspects of material culture (stone and osseous industries) and ecofacts (faunal and microbotanical remains) in conjunction with a dedicated approach to chronological modelling in order to obtain a fine chronological resolution for both sites.

Risultati attesi:

Project AFTER THE ICE investigates human adaptations in the circum-Adriatic region during the significant climatic and environmental transformations of the late Pleistocene, examining how these changes affected hunter-gatherer communities. It does so from the perspective of evidence from two key, persistent locales of Late Epigravettian groups: Riparo Tagliente in Italy and Badanj in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main expected results of AFTER THE ICE project are the following:

  • Refining the chronological resolution of the stratigraphic sequences of the two sites in order to achieve a higher temporal sensitivity for several millennia of their use and link these temporal frameworks to climatic/environmental oscillations and shifts in “cultural” practices;
  • Reconstructing activities carried out in the two sites and potentially identifying changes in their function from early to late phases of occupation;
  • Comparing the manufacturing processes in chipped stone assemblages, such as knapping objectives, reduction sequences, retouch methods, and techniques, in order to identify specific aspects of Late Epigravettian technological traditions;
  • Reconstructing the function of a select number of formal chipped stone tools (e.g. blades, bladelets, endscrapers, burins, projectile elements), osseous artifacts, and ground stone tools;
  • Identifying animal taxa and understanding the specifics of their exploitation with respect to long-term oscillations in climatic and environmental conditions at both sites. Further insights will be made into the seasonal scheduling of hunting/foraging activities by understanding the role of these sites in the functioning of wider regional settlement systems;
  • Assessing the use of plant materials through carpological analysis of plant macro-remains, such as charcoal and seeds, preserved in sediments. Residues on artifacts will also be examined to investigate the potential use of both animal and/or plant-based adhesives in their hafting;
  • Evaluating the nature and modes of deposition of human remains at the two sites by screening fragmented faunal assemblages for the possible presence of undetected human remains.

Dettagli progetto:

Referente scientifico: Fontana Federica

Fonte di finanziamento: Bando PRIN 2022 

Data di avvio: 28/09/2023

Data di fine: 28/09/2025

Contributo MUR: 146.031 €

Co-finanziamento UniFe: 22.922 €

Web site: www.aftertheice.com

Partner:

  • Università degli Studi di FERRARA (capofila)
  • Università degli Studi di ROMA "La Sapienza"