Uluzzian

The Uluzzian Culture is a transitional archaeological culture between the Middle paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic, found in Italy and Greece.

Caves overlooking the Bay of Uluzzo.
Caves overlooking the Bay of Uluzzo.
Bay of Uluzzo in relation to the Gulf of Taranto.

A team led by archaeological scientist Katerina Douka has dated the Uluzzian as lasting from shortly before 45,000 to around 39,500 years before present (BP), at a similar date or slightly earlier than the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption.[1]

Geographical extent: In Italy: Apulia (the Grotta del Cavallo and the Uluzzo cave), Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Tuscany, and Fumane (the northernmost point).[2] Outside of Italy, only in Argolis, Greece (the cave of Klissoura).[3]

Discovery
Entrance to the Grotta del Cavallo (photo: Thilo Parg, 2019).

Excavations by 1963 Arturo Palma di Cesnola of the Grotta del Cavallo ("Cave of the Horse") in southern Italy uncovered the first remains later called "Uluzzian".[4] The cave is on the Salento peninsula in Apulia, overlooking the Gulf of Taranto. The only human remains were two deciduous teeth (Cavallo B and Cavallo C) from the Uluzzian deposit of Grotta del Cavallo identified as human by (Benazzi et al., 2011).[5] These teeth, dated to 43,000–45,000 BP, are the oldest currently-known remains of modern humans in Europe.[5]

Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition
Stratigraphy of deposits on the floor of the Fumane Cave (photo:Thilo Parg, 2014).

The Uluzzian is one of several techno-complexes considered to be "transitional assemblages": Uluzzian, Châtelperronian, Szeletian, and Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician.[6]

Culture

The Uluzzians made and used beads from shells of marine molluscs such as scaphopods, snails (Columbella rustica, Cyclope neritea), and other species.[1]

See also

References
  1. Douka, Katerina; Higham, Thomas FG; Wood, Rachel; Boscato, Paolo (2014). "On the chronology of the Uluzzian". Journal of Human Evolution. 68: 1–13. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.007. PMID 24513033.(registration required)
  2. Peresani, M., 2012. Fifty thousand years of flint knapping and tool shaping across the Mousterian and Uluzzian sequence of Fumane cave. Quaternary International 247, 125–150
  3. "Klissoura cave" often appears in the literature, but the archaeologists themselves use the spelling "Klisoura" or the phrase "Cave 1 in Klisoura Gorge (Western Peloponnese)". Koumouzelis, M., Ginter, B., Koz1owski, J.K., Pawlikowski, M., Bar-Yosef, O., Albert, R.M., Litynska-Zajac, M., Stworzewicz, E., Wojtal, P., Lipecki, G., Tomek, T., Bochenski, Z.M., Pazdur, A., 2001. The early Upper Palaeolithic in Greece: the excavations in Klisoura cave. J. Archaeol. Sci. 28, 515–539.
  4. Palma di Cesnola, Arturo (1964). "Seconda campagna di scavo nella grotta del Cavallo". Riv. Sci. Preist.: 23–39.
  5. Benazzi, Stefano; Katerina, Douka; Fornai, Cinzia; Bauer, Catherine C. (2011). "Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour". Nature. 479 (7374): 525–528. Bibcode:2011Natur.479..525B. doi:10.1038/nature10617. PMID 22048311. S2CID 205226924. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  6. Hublin, J-J. (2015). "The modern human colonization of western Eurasia: when and where?". Quaternary Sci. Rev. 118: 194–210. Bibcode:2015QSRv..118..194H. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.08.011.
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