Isernia la Pineta

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Isernia la Pineta (Italy)
Isernia la Pineta
Isernia la Pineta

Isernia la Pineta is one of the most productive archaeological sites in Europe, showing traces of human presence in the early Paleolithic ; At the same time, with one tooth, she hid what is currently (as of 2016) the oldest human remains in Italy. An area in the field site near Isernia in the Molise region is best studied, the age of which has been dated to 600,000 years. Isernia la Pineta was proposed as a World Heritage Site in 2006 and entered the UNESCO World Heritage List, along with Notarchirico .

Location and classification

Isernia la Pineta is 457 m above sea level on the left bank of the Cavaliere, a stream that flows into the middle upper reaches of the Volturno . The area is extremely seismically active. The volcanic areas of Roccamonfina and the 130 km northwest of Monte Vulture should be mentioned here.

The early settlement of the Italian peninsula near Isernia in the west of Molise was part of what was for the first time demonstrably permanent and therefore a relatively large-scale settlement. This started selectively and possibly only temporarily about a million years ago by Homo erectus and only became permanent about 700,000 years ago. Only a few sites are slightly older than Isernia la Pineta, such as La Noira in central France or Notarchirico in southern Italy, which have been dated to around this age. Between 700,000 and 500,000 there are a number of sites where hand axes were in use, but those where this tool of the Acheuléen was not (yet) in use. What they have in common is a similar procurement strategy for raw materials. The differences were attributed to different hominini species as well as to different cultural factors of the ecological environment, the functionality of the site, the availability of raw materials, etc.

The oldest European sites with human traces are Atapuerca in Spain, Vallonnet in France and Pirro Nord on Monte Gargano in Apulia , Italy , which is estimated to be 1.3 to 1.7 million years old. Ca 'Belvedere di Monte Poggiolo was long considered the oldest site in Forlì, Italy , but Ca' Poggio ( Bologna ), Serra ( Castelbolognese ) or Covignano ( Rimini ) are also among the oldest sites. From around 700,000 BP , uninterrupted settlement of the Italian mainland can be assumed. The site near Isernia was initially dated to around 736,000 ± 40,000 years, later to 605,000 ± 5,000.

Discovery, excavation

Section of the archaeological horizon 3a in sector I with numerous remains of fauna and artifacts

Excavations for the road connection from Naples to Vasto began in 1978. During this time, Alberto Solinas collected the first artefacts on the construction sites .

In 1979 the archaeological investigations began. The area near the coast 600,000 years ago had a structure typical of Italy: travertine was found above sea deposits , above it deposits from rivers and those of volcanic origin that contain human artifacts. They are spread over four layers in two sectors, namely strata 3c, 3a and 3s10 in sector I and 3a in sector II. 3c is the oldest layer. A small section of excavation that could be dated to an age of around 600,000 years made it possible to see the enormous value of the site at an early stage. The excavations continue to this day by the University of Ferrara (as of 2016).

ecology

Remains of a bison, Museo Scienze Naturali, Faenza
Hemitragus bonali , Musée de Préhistoire de Tautavel

Numerous statements could be made about the local flora and fauna : The wider area around Isernia la Pineta consisted of extensive grasslands, plus marshes and wooded areas in the surrounding hills, which offered hunting and collecting opportunities.

An animal remains were found rodents , such as the extinct Wühlmausarten Pliomys episcopalis Mèhely and Pliomys Lenki Heller , but also Rötelmäuse and field mice . Arvicola mosbachensis , Sorex aff. runtonensis , a type of red- toothed shrew , Pliomys episcopalis and Microtus (Terricola) , a subgenus of field mice that are increasingly used for dating purposes.

There were also wild rabbits and Eurasian moles . The mallard and the little grebe were also hunted and eaten, as was the European pond turtle . In addition, there were remains of Bison schoetensacki , a bison species from which the steppe bison presumably developed around 700,000 years ago , then the European forest elephant , the Hundsheim rhinoceros , a species of hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus cf. antiquus ), Premegaceros solilhacus , a species of red deer ( Cervus elaphus cf . acoronatus), Dama cf. roberti (possibly attributable to the fallow deer), deer , wild boar and Hemitragus Bonali , an extinct about 200,000 years ago in Europe type of Tahre that the caprine count. Ursus deningeri , a close relative of the cave bear, as well as leopards and lions were found in carnivorous mammals .

The local vegetation was characterized by sweet grasses , composites and buttercups , as well as alder , acacia , oak , pine , birch , beech , hornbeam , ash , walnut and chestnut . They all prefer more or less moist locations.

Oldest human remnant in Italy

In 2014, an isolated human milk tooth (IS42) was discovered in a position above layer 3a, which could be dated to an age of around 583,000 to 561,000 years. This is the oldest human remains on the Italian peninsula. The tooth will be kept in the Department of Humanities at the University of Ferrara on Corso Ercole I ° d'Este, 32 and will be examined further.

Tools, hunting

Limestone and pebbles were available for tool making stones . Coarse tools or choppers were made from the former, and cut- offs from the latter, which were used to dismantle the prey. These included elephants and bison , as well as hippopotamus and rhinoceros , bear , Megaloceros giganteus and deer . On many animal bones there were traces that indicate that they had been worked with sharp tools; Hand axes are missing. Since the skull of Ceprano , which was discovered not far from Iserna, is also considered to be comparatively ancient, there could be a connection to this simple tool technology.

In contrast to earlier assumptions, however, tool manufacture was by no means merely opportunistic, but corresponded to recognizable processes and ideas of action chains and goals (chaîne opératoire). The tool manufacturers used the discoid method , without taking any account of the original size and shape. They paid attention to the highest possible productivity, and they made small tools from medium-sized cuts.

exhibition

With the help of impressions , the find situation was reconstructed and made into a museum. A permanent exhibition was set up in the Museo di S. Maria delle Monache in Isernia . There are around 2500 objects from the narrower excavation zone; 11,000 stone artifacts alone were found. In addition to the local universities of Ferrara and Molise and the Soprintendenza responsible for archeology as well as the city of Isernia and private donors, the project was funded by the European Commission as part of the Migration and diffusion of hominids and anatomically modern humans in the Mediterranean basin in early prehistory: paleoenvironments , routes, settlements, subsistance supported.

literature

  • Mauro Cremaschi, Carlo Peretto : Les sols d'habitat du site Paléolithique d'Isernia La Pineta (Molise, Italie Centrale) , in: L'Anthropologie 92 (1988) 1017-1040.
  • Carlo Peretto, Edoardo Borzatti von Löwenstern, F. Vianello: Isernia la Pineta. Nuovi contributi scientifici , Laboratorio di Ecologia del Quaternario, 1991.
  • Carlo Peretto: Reperti paleontologici del giacimento paleolitico di Isernia La Pineta, Iannone , Isernia 1996.
  • Maria Angela Rufo, Antonella Minelli, Carlo Peretto: L'industrie en calcaire du site Paléolithique d'Isernia la Pineta: un modèle interprétatif de stratégie comportementale / The limestone industry of the Paleolithic site of Isernia La Pineta: An interpretative model of the behavioral strategies , in: L'Anthropologie 113.1 (2009) 78-95.
  • Maria Angela Rufo: L'industria in calcare di Isernia La Pineta: approccio tecnologico all'interpretazione delle strategie produttive del primo popolamento europeo , PhD, Ferrara 2012. ( online )
  • Ursula Thun Hohenstein, Annarosa Di Nucci, Anne-Marie Moigne: Mode de vie à Isernia La Pineta (Molise, Italie). Stratégie d'exploitation du Bison schoetensacki par les groupes humains au Paléolithique inférieur / Subsistence strategies at Isernia La Pineta (Molise, Italie). Exploitation of Bison schoetensacki in the Lower Palaeolithic , in: L'Anthropologie 113.1 (2009) 96-110.
  • Rosalia Gallotti, Carlo Peretto: The Lower / early Middle Pleistocene small débitage productions in Western Europe: New data from Isernia La Pineta t.3c (Upper Volturno Basin, Italy) , in: Quaternary International 357 (2015) 264–281 (to chaîne opératoire - which was less unstructured and opportunistic than previously assumed - in t.3c, the lowest layer).
  • Carlo Peretto, Julie Arnaud, Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi, Giorgio Manzi, Sébastien Nomade, Alison Pereira, Christophe Falguères, Jean-Jacques Bahain, Dominique Grimaud-Hervé, Claudio Berto, Benedetto Sala, Giuseppe Lembo, Brunella Muttillo, Rosalia Gallotti, Ursula Thun Hohenstein, Carmela Vaccaro, Mauro Coltorti, Marta Arzarello: A Human Deciduous Tooth and New 40Ar / 39Ar Dating Results from the Middle Pleistocene Archaeological Site of Isernia La Pineta, Southern Italy , in: PLoS ONE October 12, 2015 ( online , 583-561 ka).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Cannone Andrea: La protezione internazionale ed europea dei beni culturali , Cacucci, 2014, p. 126.
  2. ↑ Marta Arzarelloa, Giulio Pavia, Carlo Peretto, Carmelo Petronio, Raffaele Sardella: Evidence of an Early Pleistocene hominin presence at Pirro Nord (Apricena, Foggia, southern Italy): P13 site , in: Quaternary International 267 (July 26, 2012) 56 -61.
  3. ^ Martin J. Head, Philip Leonard: Early-Middle Pleistocene Transitions. The Land-Ocean Evidence , London: Geological Society, 2005, p. 300.
  4. ↑ Ralf-Dietrich Kahlke: The origins, development and distribution history of the upper-pleistozönen Mammuthus-Coelodonta fauna complex in Eurasia (large mammals). Treatises of the Senckenberg Natural Research Society 546 Frankfurt am Main, 1994
  5. ^ M. Breda, Carlo Peretto, U. Thun Hohenstein: The deer from the early Middle Pleistocene site of Isernia la Pineta (Molise, Italy): revised identifications and new remains from the last 15 years of excavation , in: Geological Journal 50, 3 (2015) 290-305. Until then, the suggestion was that it was Dama clactoniana .
  6. ↑ Rosalia Gallotti, Carlo Peretto: The Lower / early Middle Pleistocene small débitage productions in Western Europe: New data from Isernia La Pineta t.3c (Upper Volturno Basin, Italy) , in: Quaternary International 357 (2015) 264–281.
  7. ^ Matt Cartmill, Fred H. Smith: The Human Lineage , John Wiley and Sons, 2009, p. 283.

Coordinates: 41 ° 35 ′ 27.8 "  N , 14 ° 14 ′ 29.3"  E