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Uluzzian, Grotta del Cavallo, Bipolar technique, Backed pieces, Human remains
Abstract:
The Uluzzian techno-complex is commonly considered to be a “transitional industry” mostly
on the basis of some inferred characteristics such as a chiefly flake-based production, a small amount of
Upper Palaeolithic-like tools and a combination of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic elements both in the
toolkit and in the technical systems. Following its discovery, the Uluzzian was identified as the Italian
counterpart of the French Châtelperronian and attributed to Neandertals. However, a study issued in 2011
has established the modern character of the two deciduous teeth found in 1964 in the Uluzzian deposit
of Grotta del Cavallo, fostering renewed interests to the Uluzzian culture, which real nature is almost
unknown to the international scientific community. Here we provide preliminary results of the study on the
lithic assemblage from the earliest Uluzzian layer and on backed pieces from the whole Uluzzian sequence
of Grotta del Cavallo (Apulia, Italy), the type site of the Uluzzian. Moreover, besides a thorough review
on the stratigraphy of Grotta del Cavallo (Supplementary Materials), we provide updated information on
the human remains by presenting two unpublished teeth from the reworked deposit of the same cave. We
conclude that the early Uluzzians demonstrate original technological behavior and innovations devoid of
any features deriving or directly linked with the late Mousterian of Southern Italy. Therefore, the novelty
nature of the Uluzzian techno-complex (with respect to the preceding Mousterian) complies with the recent
reassessment of the two deciduous teeth from Grotta del Cavallo in suggesting an earliest migration of
modern humans in southern Europe around 45,000 years ago.
