This pa- per summarises research and studies carried out in Liguria and in the immediately neighbouring Provençal territories over the last fifty years, highlighting the rich- ness of the discoveries and new acquisitions made also through the study of old collections. Liguria was continuously inhabited by human groups throughout the Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic, given its particular geographical position, facing the upper Tyrrhenian Sea, which made it a refugium during the harshest glacial phases as well as an obligatory corridor between southern France and the Italian Peninsula. Evidence of human activity, dating back more than a million years, is known in the Grotte du Vallonet, at Menton, not far from the Italy-France border. Only few sites, characterised by the occasional presence of hand-axes and the appearance of the Levallois method, can be attributed to the Early Middle Pal- aeolithic. On the other hand, a quite large number of sites and surface finds are referable to the Late Middle Palaeolithic; some Neanderthal bone fragments are also ascribed to this phase. Evidence of one of the earliest European cultures at- tributed to the anatomically modern humans, the Protoaurignacian, has also come to light. During this phase, a circulation of siliceous raw materials covering a very wide area, from the Rhone Valley to the Adriatic Sea, is noticeable, a behaviour that remained almost unchanged until the end of the Upper Palaeolithic. The earli- est decorative elements, including several pierced seashells, abundant red ochre, formal bone tools, as well as a deciduous tooth of Homo sapiens from the Riparo Bombrini, date back to this period. To the Gravettian belongs the richest set of burials known to date in Europe, including the so-called burial of the “giovane principe” from the Caverna delle Arene Candide, as well as the presence of ob- jects of portable art, including the well-known venuses from Balzi Rossi. Also significant are the later Epigravettian remains, including the cemetery of the Cav- erna delle Arene Candide, for which a complex ritual has been highlighted, and various manifestations of rupestrian art. Related to this period is the exceptional evidence of occasional exploration, by a group of very young individuals, of the Grotta della Bàsura, in the Toiranese area. To the Mesolithic, although poorly documented, especially in its second phase, is attributed the oldest burial of a female newborn known till today in Europe, discovered in 2017 at Arma Veirana, in the inland area of Albenga, and dated to around 10,000 years ago. Liguria, like the nearby Provence, lastly saw an early arrival of Neolithic communities from Southern Italy, whose settlement determined dynamics of coexistence and inte- gration that marked the end of the hunter-gatherer’s system.
Il Paleolitico e il Mesolitico della Liguria
Fabio Negrino;
2023-01-01
Abstract
This pa- per summarises research and studies carried out in Liguria and in the immediately neighbouring Provençal territories over the last fifty years, highlighting the rich- ness of the discoveries and new acquisitions made also through the study of old collections. Liguria was continuously inhabited by human groups throughout the Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic, given its particular geographical position, facing the upper Tyrrhenian Sea, which made it a refugium during the harshest glacial phases as well as an obligatory corridor between southern France and the Italian Peninsula. Evidence of human activity, dating back more than a million years, is known in the Grotte du Vallonet, at Menton, not far from the Italy-France border. Only few sites, characterised by the occasional presence of hand-axes and the appearance of the Levallois method, can be attributed to the Early Middle Pal- aeolithic. On the other hand, a quite large number of sites and surface finds are referable to the Late Middle Palaeolithic; some Neanderthal bone fragments are also ascribed to this phase. Evidence of one of the earliest European cultures at- tributed to the anatomically modern humans, the Protoaurignacian, has also come to light. During this phase, a circulation of siliceous raw materials covering a very wide area, from the Rhone Valley to the Adriatic Sea, is noticeable, a behaviour that remained almost unchanged until the end of the Upper Palaeolithic. The earli- est decorative elements, including several pierced seashells, abundant red ochre, formal bone tools, as well as a deciduous tooth of Homo sapiens from the Riparo Bombrini, date back to this period. To the Gravettian belongs the richest set of burials known to date in Europe, including the so-called burial of the “giovane principe” from the Caverna delle Arene Candide, as well as the presence of ob- jects of portable art, including the well-known venuses from Balzi Rossi. Also significant are the later Epigravettian remains, including the cemetery of the Cav- erna delle Arene Candide, for which a complex ritual has been highlighted, and various manifestations of rupestrian art. Related to this period is the exceptional evidence of occasional exploration, by a group of very young individuals, of the Grotta della Bàsura, in the Toiranese area. To the Mesolithic, although poorly documented, especially in its second phase, is attributed the oldest burial of a female newborn known till today in Europe, discovered in 2017 at Arma Veirana, in the inland area of Albenga, and dated to around 10,000 years ago. Liguria, like the nearby Provence, lastly saw an early arrival of Neolithic communities from Southern Italy, whose settlement determined dynamics of coexistence and inte- gration that marked the end of the hunter-gatherer’s system.
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