The most ancient European Acheulean stone artefacts were discovered in Notarchirico, Basilicata, Southern Italy. The discovery moves the origin of the technique to 700 thousand years ago

An international team of researchers, including scholars from the departments of Earth Sciences and Ancient World Studies of Sapienza, has found chipped stone tools dating back to the Acheulean culture of the Lower Paleolithic, in the Notarchirico archaeological site in Basilicata, Southern Italy. These tools allow the researcher to move back in time the origin of the Acheulean in Europe. The results of the study have been published on Scientific Reports

The Notarchirico site, near Venosa, Basilicata, has been the subject of several archaeological and geo-paleontological studies for decades.

Since 2016, the excavation campaigns have been carried out by an international research team led by Marie-Hélène Moncel of the Département Homme et Environnement of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, also involving scholars from the Departments of Earth Sciences and Ancient World Studies of Sapienza.

Here the researchers have recently found artefacts referring to the Acheulean, a culture of the Lower Palaeolithic characterised both by almond-shaped lithic artefacts, the bifaces, shaped on two sides in a symmetrical way, used, in Notarchirico, for percussion activity on hard material, and by lithic flakes used for cutting and scraping various types of materials. The outcomes of the study, published on Scientific Reports journal, show that the instruments found in Notarchirico are the oldest Acheulean evidence in Western Europe and allow the researchers to move back in time the origin of this culture.

Dating of volcanic levels in the archaeological site has allowed the researchers to date the discoveries between 695 and 670 thousand years ago, a period chronologically close to the French sites of Moulin-Quignon and the Noira.

"The great variability of the activities carried out by hominins in Notarchirico thanks to the lithic industry − says Cristina Lemorini of the Department of Ancient World Studies − proves very adaptable humanity able to exploit in a very diversified way the environment in which it was located."

The time span identified by the scholars corresponds to a period characterised by precarious climatic conditions, including glacial and interglacial episodes. During the intense glacial phases, these populations likely built, in those places and along the roads they moved along, one of the so-called "refuge areas", an example of which is the route that through Sicily may have connected the ancient migrations from north Africa to Europe.

"The new data obtained − says Raffaele Sardella of the Department of Earth Sciences − proves that many animal species lived in that environment. Large mammals such as elephants, hippopotamuses, bison and deer were common, as well as various rodents, which provide important palaeoenvironmental and chronological indications. Moreover, at Notarchirico, we could identify for the first time the presence of the Barbary macaque, a primate widely spread in Europe during the Pleistocene."

References:

The origin of early Acheulean expansion in Europe 700 ka ago: new findings at Notarchirico (Italy) − Marie-Hélène Moncel, Carmen Santagata, Alison Pereira, Sébastien Nomade, Pierre Voinchet, Jean-Jacques Bahain, Camille Daujeard, Antonio Curci, Cristina Lemorini, Bruce Hardy, Giacomo Eramo, Claudio Berto, Jean-Paul Raynal, Marta Arzarello, Beniamino Mecozzi, Alessio Iannucci, Raffaele Sardella, Ignazio Allegretta, Emanuela Delluniversità, Roberto Terzano, Pauline Dugas, Gwenolé Jouanic, Alain Queffelec, Andrea d’Andrea, Rosario Valentini, Eleonora Minucci, Laura Carpentiero & Marcello Piperno − Scientific Reports, 2020. DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68617-8