Palaeolithic man in north-west Tuscany

The Palaeolithic (or Early Stone Age) is the historical period which began about 2,500,000 year ago when Homo habilis and all successive human species evolved in Africa (see evolution scheme) . The Palaeolithic is included in the Pleistocene, a period in which geologists and naturalists divide up the Quaternary, the present geological era, according to climatic changes.
Given the need to schematically classify the cultural periods and main phases regarding the evolution of man's technology, archaeologists have divided up the Palaeolithic into three different periods: the Lower Palaeolithic (from 2,500,000 to 250,000 years from the present day), the Middle Palaeolithic (from 250,000 to 35,000 years from the present day) and the Upper Palaeolithic (from 35,000 to 10,000 years ago).
This chronological sub-division regarding cultural changes does not entirely coincide with the proposals put forward by geologists and naturalists for sub-dividing the various climatic periods of the Quaternary, based on wider and much more gradual changes in the natural environment.
The most important cultural breakthrough during the Lower Palaeolithic was undoubtedly the direct production of fire which allowed for the cooking of meat. This therefore determined important changes in the masticatory apparatus and man's living conditions. This important acquisition was probably achieved in Africa for the first time approximately 1,000,000 years ago, while the use and production of fire in Asia and Europe is confirmed as having taken place approximately 500,000 years ago.
In general, the Middle Palaeolithic deals with the spreading of Homo neanderthalensis as well as the final period of the Upper Palaeolithic refers to the presence of Homo sapiens and the latest technological development of stone tools.
The appearance of the first artistic representations during the Upper Palaeolithic age is considered as another very important step in the cultural evolution of prehistoric man. They are known as "rock art" that depicts animals in a "naturalist style" painted using ochre and carbon, or engraved on the walls of the caves and "movable art" that includes various types of small artefacts such as engraved tools and ornamental objects obtained from bone, stones, engraved or painted in ochre depicting animal or geometric subjects. Palaeolithic rock art is mainly concentrated in southern Europe in countries such as Spain (Altamira caves) and France (caves in the Dordogne region). This type of art is present in Italy in the caves of Liguria (Balzi Rossi, near Imperia), Apulia (the Grotta Paglicci near Foggia and Grotta Romanelli near Otranto), Calabria (Grotta del Romito of Papasidero) and Sicily (Grotta dell'Addaura and Grotta Niscemi near Palermo and Grotta del Genovese at Levanzo). "Movable art" is much more widespread and present in different European and Italian archaeological sites. In Tuscany we have a very good example of a human face engraved on a limestone fragments togheter with many other engraved artefacts found at Riparo di Vado all'Arancio in Grosseto.

In the north-western area of Toscana, there is a lack of evidence regarding the presence of the most ancient species of man during the Lower Palaeolithic, although many of his stone tools have been found in the nearby Valle dell'Arno and the area surrounding the coast of Leghorn. The traces of Homo heidelbergensis who frequented the Versilia, Garfagnana and Lunigiana in that period are in fact laying under more recent accumulated sediments.
In our area in the Middle Palaeolithic the esclusive presence of Homo neanderthalensis is documented between 90,000 and 40,000 years ago and the occurrences of Homo sapiens in the Upper Palaeolithic ranges between approximately 35,000 and 10,000 years ago.
The remains of Homo neanderthalensis represent the first occurrence of human fossils to be recognised and studied by anthropologists in the Valley of Neander in Germany in 1856 and are today well-known following numerous finds in Europe and Asia. Neanderthals had sturdy bone structures and muscles and their skeletons had slightly different characteristics compared to present day man . This is noted in the shape of the skull which was lower and more developed in width and length and presented a receding forehead and an accentuated thickness in the arch of the eye sockets. For reasons unknown to anthropologists, Neanderthal man became extinct in all the geographic areas around 28,000 years ago.
The remains of Neanderthal skeletons in Italy, which are rare and fragmentary, cannot be considered as Having been buried intentionally, and have been found exclusively in caves in Liguria, Lazio, Campania, Abruzzo, Apulia, and Calabria, dating back to 90,0000 years ago while numerous finds of their tools have been made everywhere. In north-western area of Toscana the remains of Neanderthal skeletons have only been recorded at Buca del Tasso (Camaiore) where was discovered the femur of a nine years old child, while tools and bones of game hunted by the Neanderthal for eating purposes are numerous.
Many more remains of Homo sapiens skeletons have been found in Europe and in countries of east Mediterranean belonging to the Upper Palaeolithic period. Remains are linked to intentional burials, with a ritual that often included the presence of personal objects to accompany the dead (ornaments, tools etc.) as a funeral equipment, food supplies and the usage of sprinkling the dead person's body with ochre. The oldest burial in human history is that of a woman with a child at her feet, dating back to 100,000 years ago, found at Qafzeh near Nazareth in Palestine.
The presence of Homo sapiens in north-west Tuscany is only recorded thanks to the finds of stone tools and hunted animals and not by skeleton remains as yet. The only archaeological site where human remains have been found belonging to the Upper Palaeolithic is Riparo di Vado all'Arancio (Grosseto) in southern Toscana: an adult who was approximately 20 years old and a 2 years old boy were buried here.


(text by Alessandra Berton, Marzia Bonato, Stefania Campetti, Laura Perrini)