The Pirro Nord site (Apricena, FG) has been systematically excavated for 8 years by the University of Ferrara (Arzarello et al., 2007; 2014; 2016; López-García et al., 2015; Giusti and Arzarello, 2016) and the interdisciplinary approach has helped to define the technical behaviour of the first Europeans.
The site is located inside a karstic fissure within the Apricena Cretaceous limestone and is dated, on biochronological basis, to 1.3-1.6 Ma. The lithic industries have been found associated to the Villafranchian vertebrate fossils of the Pirro Nord Faunal Unit and show several common futures with the other European sites dated before 1 Ma. The environment was probably open and dry, with a seasonal wetland and a low vegetation.
The lithic production is finalized to the production of flakes probably mostly utilized for the exploitation of animal carcasses as attested by the usewear analysis and by the presence of cut-marks on some of the bones.
By a general point of view, the human behaviour is characterized by an expedient technology exploiting local row materials and probably local resources, but some technical behaviours (mainly related to lithic production methods) show a great awareness of production.
| Type : | : | Communication |
| Langue du texte intégral | : | anglais |
| Date de production, écriture | : | 03/04/2020 |
| Thématiques | : | XIV-1. The first European peopling: chronology, behaviour and environment |
| Mots-Clés | : | First European peopling ; Italy ; variability ; human behaviour |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
