Atella (archaeological site)

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Atella , also Cimitero di Atella ( Atella Cemetery), is an archaeological site in Basilicata in southern Italy, which got its name from the community of Atella , which dates back to the Middle Ages . This site, which has been excavated since 1971, is assigned to the early Acheuléen and is probably one of the oldest sites of human artifacts, probably Homo erectus , in Italy. The 700,000 year old site contained camps and a slaughter site for elephant hunters, who used a hunting technique that had not been documented before, possibly developed a unique defensive weapon and must have built at least some kind of protective barrier. The finds from the Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic are less significant .

Excavations and results so far

The first investigations took place in 1971 at the Tuppo dei Sassi (today: Serra Pisconi), where rock carvings were found. The excavations, the results of which have not yet been published, produced artifacts that could be assigned to the Mesolithic. But now the excavations concentrated on the Bacino di Atella in the north of the Basilicata, where a Pleistocene lake was found that existed 650,000 to 500,000 years ago. Then began the search for human traces, which lasted until 1990. In fact, the oldest traces point to human presence as early as 700,000 years ago, as well as Upper Paleolithic artifacts from around 30,000 BC. To date. Then the traces tear up to around 5500 to 5000 BC. From. At this time some of the last Mesolithic hunters were in the area, followed by sedentary groups. These Neolithic men now lived there uninterruptedly, albeit with varying degrees of intensity.

In 1990 a probe was carried out in the Campi di Masseria Palladino, which already showed extensive surface finds from the Acheuléen, but a test excavation did not reveal any findings. In the same year, however, a layer of sediment with traces of elephant hunters was discovered near the Atella cemetery. The area has been cordoned off extensively to prevent looting and to leave the site untouched for further research.

The following excavations, which continue to this day (2016), were carried out by Italian, but also German, Portuguese, American and French specialists. The phases of changing water levels, the dynamics of the sedimentation, but also seismic events and volcanic eruptions caused considerable dating and allocation problems. The geological and climatic changes in these periods have now been reconstructed. It also turned out that the residents found unexpected ways to use the environment, but also new weapon and tool techniques.

With regard to the hunting success, the judgments initially fluctuated very strongly. They ranged from a veritable plundering of the fauna , i.e. excessive effectiveness, to mere nutrition with carrion , i.e. a restriction due to the lack of adequate weapons for hunting big game. The weapons seemed too simple to hunt down escape animals or very large mammals, and there was no evidence of traps.

Apparently, contrary to this hypothesis, the local Homo erectus , as it turned out, hunted almost exclusively Palaeoloxodon antiquus , an animal up to 4 m tall, which is also known as the European forest elephant . The hunters used the muddy bank edge, into which they each pushed a single animal. They confused it by throwing stones and possibly torches until the huge animal sank into the mud. With the help of a kind of wooden footbridge, they reached the animal, which had died a few days later, and were able to cut it up.

The throwing stones that were used were found in large quantities at the resting places of the elephants. They were round and flattened, which gave them greater range as rotating projectiles. This enabled the hunters to constantly stock up on new stones as they pursued their prey, which were otherwise far too fragile to serve as a basis for tools, and these passed on, which reduced the risk of hunting. These stones consisted of a porous, brittle radiolarite , the specific weight of which was only half that of the tool stones . People mined this stone in large quantities in an outcrop little more than a kilometer from the lake shore.

Another technical innovation that has not yet been proven was the dismantling of the prey. The trigger is considered to be the compulsion to run back and forth between the hunted prey and the safe bank in order to bring the pieces of meat ashore. The people prepared large plates of quartz and silicate-containing material on safe ground and placed them on the half-sunken body of the dead animal. Large quantities of splinters were cut from these stones until they were almost completely used up, with which the animal was cut up.

Some of the islands on which the hunters apparently lived can be identified. Unfortunately, however, a sports field, the construction of which had begun before the excavations, destroyed the tracks. Nevertheless, a number of activities could be deduced from the distribution of stone artifacts and bones. The focus was on cutting the bones, the likely use of fire, then perforating, scraping, and scratching, but there were also toothed tools as well as those with larger cavities. Some of the latter were spheroids 6 to 10 cm in diameter, characterized by a polyhedral surface and careful faceting. It does not seem to be a kind of Bolas or sling projectile, but rather a weapon of defense against medium-sized animals. The apparently deliberately created roughness of the projectiles may have served to prevent the tape on which they were attached from coming off too easily. The weapon suitable for striking was carried on a stick, whereby several of the stones could be tied to one of these clubs.

There was probably a certain relationship between the amount of meat captured and the size of the human group that could provide for it. Depending on the temperature, the meat should have become inedible relatively quickly, faster or slower. In this way, it was possible to roughly calculate how many people could feed on the meat as soon as it is clear when the meat is no longer edible - or when it had to be defended against food competitors. However, we do not know whether simple preservation techniques existed, with the success of which the group would theoretically become smaller and smaller, as the consumption period would lengthen accordingly. The result was that the group of hunters must have consisted of at least 10 to 15 men. It was taken into account that perhaps half of the elephant carcass could not be lifted out of the mud at all.

So far it has not been possible to determine what type of accommodation the “man from Atella” built to protect himself from the harsh climate in such an exposed location, where there were no caves or rock overhangs. Also about the size of the family groups, their need for space, which they usually covered, the cyclical hikes they probably undertook - if only to ensure their survival - let alone their reactions to the frequent eruptions of today's 1326 m high Monte Vulture no statements can be made.

The only four hand axes, to which the classification in the early Acheuléen mainly goes back, were interpreted as possible geofacts in 2016 because they lack the typical traces of processing. In addition, doubts have been expressed about the practical value of the term Acheuléen, especially since it does not even reflect a techno complex, but attaches too great importance to a single element, the hand ax, while smaller tools have not been investigated enough.

literature

  • Claudia Abruzzese, Daniele Aureli, Roxane Rocca: Assessment of the Acheulean in Southern Italy: New study on the Atella site (Basilicata, Italy) , in: Quaternary International 393 (January 2016) 158–168.
  • Marzia Fabiano, Vittorio Marras: Cimitero di Atella (PZ): restauro e consolidamento dello strato I , in: Studi per l'ecologia del quaternario 31 (2009) 17-26.
  • Massimo Zucchelli: Nuovi reperti rinvenuti negli strati F del sito del Cimitero di Atella (Potenza) , in: Studi per l'ecologia del quaternario 29 (2007) 7-19.
  • Marzia Fabiano: Recupero della superficie con impronte di Elephas antiquus nel sito del Cimitero di Atella (PZ) , in: Studi per l'ecologia del quaternario 22 (2000) 157-165.
  • Edoardo Borzatti von Löwenstern: Il sito Acheuleano antico del Cimitero di Atella: una tecnica microclactoniana , in: Studi per l'Ecologia del Quaternario, 21 (1999).
  • Edoardo Borzatti von Löwenstern, Alessandro Palchetti, Massimo Sozzi: Témoignages de l'Acheuléen inferieur en Italie Méridionale: Le gisement du Cimitero di Atella (Basilicata) , in: Anthropologie 101 (1997) 617-638. ( online , PDF)
  • Edoardo Borzatti von Löwenstern, Massimo Sozzi, Sergio Vannucci, Fabio Vianello: L'Acheuleano del Cimitero di Atella (PZ). Prime indagini sulla stratigrafia del sedimento e sulle industrie litiche , Studi per l'Ecologia del Quaternario 12 (1990) 9-29.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roxane Rocca, Daniele Aureli: European Acheuleans: Critical perspectives from the East , in: Quaternary International 411 (2016) 402-411 ( DOI: 10.1016 / j.quaint.2016.01 ).

Coordinates: 40 ° 52 ′ 58.6 ″  N , 15 ° 39 ′ 19 ″  E