Autumn Update

We have been busy in the last few months and decided to give you an overview of all the things we did in one go, so that not a single output gets forgotten. This includes several trips of our team, but also guests coming to visit us at LEIZA.

Workshop on Marine Resources in Prehistory

We were lucky enough to receive DFG funding to host a workshop about Coastal Prehistory in Mainz this November with attendees from all across Europe as well the US and Japan.

The hot topic was Marine Territoriality and how it can be seen archaeologically, if at all. It transcends all human periods from the early shellfish gathering in the Pleistocene to current (and future) uses of fishing on industrial scales. Do marine resources require control and protection? Which resources are sought after and under what environmental or ecological conditions? Who controls their access and using which societal instruments to do it? What does it mean for the common use of a resource within a group? Much to discuss and digest over a few beers, Flammenkuchen, and late night chats. Hopefully it will be the first of many meetings!

OtoLIBS visit to Mainz

Following the initial meeting of the OtoLIBS Partnership in Crete in October, we had the pleasure of our colleagues visiting us in Mainz this November. Using the rapid-elemental-mapping system of our Emmy Noether Project, we made some big steps towards better understanding the spatial distribution of elements in otoliths.

This was also a great opportunity for testing a new grating in our spectrometer, which allows us to study more elements at the same time, thus running Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca all in one go. 😎

Sicily - Danai

Danai visited Palermo to examine limpet samples from Grotta dell’Uzzo at the Regional Archaeological Museum Antonino Salinas. During her stay, she reviewed the shell material and selected samples for analysis for the second phase of the project.
The limpet shells from Trench F of the Mesolithic and Neolithic layers of Grotta dell’Uzzo were selected to examine the potential impact of climate on early farming communities in Sicily. The cave’s chronostratigraphic sequence, rich in limpet shells and evidence of human occupation (Mannino, 1973; Segre & Piperno, 1975; Piperno & Tusa, 1976; Cassoli et al., 1987; Di Salvo et al., 2012), offers a unique opportunity—similar to Franchthi Cave—to investigate the climatic evolution of the Early to Mid Holocene and its influence on human lifestyles during the Neolithic dispersal across the Mediterranean.
Following the acquisition of the necessary permits, the samples will be analyzed using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and stable isotope techniques at the Leibniz Zentrum für Archäologie. Special thanks to Constanza Polizzi and the archaeologists at the Dipartimento dei beni culturali e dell’identità siciliana, as well as the staff of the Regional Archaeological Museum Antonino Salinas, for their support and warm hospitality.

For further reading on similar archaeological studies and methodologies, you can explore this article: Marine resources in the Mesolithic and Neolithic at the Grotta Dell’Uzzo (Sicily): Evidence from isotope analyses of marine shells.

For previous fieldwork in the area, read here.

Korčula - Rosa

The last week of November, Rosa was collecting shells from Žukovica Cave at the Cultural Centre Vela Luka, on the island of Korčula (South Dalmatia, Croatia). She was hosted by Prof. Dinko Radić, director of the Native Museum in Vis, who has conducted extensive research on prehistoric cave sites across Korčula and the surrounding islands. If you travel from Split to Korčula, you need to take a ferry that takes approximately three and a half hours, offering amazing views of the Adriatic Sea along the way.

The excavations of Žukovica Cave are part of a long-term collaboration between the Cultural Centre Vela Luka, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Pisa.

The archaeological context of Žukovica spans from the Mesolithic to the Copper Age, offering valuable insights into the transition from hunter-gatherer-fisher populations to farming in the Adriatic. The cave preserved a stratigraphic sequence that produced a variety of materials, including shells, mammal and fish bones, lithic artefacts, and human remains. In this context, limpet shells from Mesolithic and Neolithic levels were selected to analyse them as a short-term archive of climatic change and to assess climatic variability in the spread of the Neolithic. Korčula is also home to other key prehistoric sites, such as Vela Spila, which provides crucial evidence of Neolithisation in the Mediterranean.

If you want to learn more about Žukovica and Vela Spila sites, take a look at the following previous works:

• Branscombe, T. L., Bosch, M. D., & Miracle, P. T. (2021). Seasonal shellfishing across the east Adriatic Mesolithic-Neolithic transition: Oxygen isotope analysis of Phorcus turbinatus from Vela Spila (Croatia). Environmental Archaeology, 26(5), 497-510.

• Dean, S., Pappalardo, M., Boschian, G., Spada, G., Forenbaher, S., Juračić, M., … & Miracle, P. T. (2020). Human adaptation to changing coastal landscapes in the Eastern Adriatic: Evidence from Vela Spila cave, Croatia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 244, 106503.

• Radić, D. (2002). Špilja Žukovica-prapovijesno nalazište na obali Pelješkog kanala. Opvscvla Archaeologica, 26(1), 55-69.

• Radić, D. (2005). Vela spila: preliminarna analiza starijeneolitičkih i mezolitičkih naslaga iz sonde istražene 2004. godine. Opvscvla Archaeologica, 29(1), 323-348.

• Rainsford, C., O’Connor, T., & Miracle, P. (2014). Fishing in the Adriatic at the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition: Evidence from Vela Spila, Croatia. Environmental Archaeology, 19(3), 311-320.

We would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Radić and his collaborators for the opportunity to analyse the Žukovica shell assemblage.