New evidence about the Palaeolithic peopling of the southern margin of the western Alps. The Colline novaresi area

Highlights

• Few data about Palaeolithic peopling are known in north-western Italy.

• The Colline novaresi area (Hills) has lithic assemblages found during nor systematic collections.

• A new research project has been set to investigate the Hills area.

• In the Hills area a Middle Palaeolithic, a Epigravettian, a Mesolithic and a Neolithic phase have been distinguished.

• The technological study of the lithic artefacts form the Hills provide data that reliable on a regional and sub-regional scale for what concerns raw material management and land mobility.

Abstract

The Colline novaresi area is located in the north-eastern part of Piedmont. The hills are formed by moraine deposits and fluvio-glacial lithologies originating from Quaternary glacial events, which in turn were affected by a process of fluvial terraces. This area has been known for decades for the presence of archaeological sites, among which the most studied belong to a time span ranging from the Copper Age to the Iron Age. In the 1980′s, a Mesolithic lithic assemblage (Castelnovian) was found during investigation activities and was object of a techno-typological analysis.

The present work, within the limits imposed by the non-systematic recovery of surface collections, deals with the techno-typological study of lithic artefacts collected in the Colline Novaresi area. The main aim is to highlight aspects of the technological behaviour of the hunter-gatherer’s groups that inhabited the area, investigating the different exploitation strategies and the choices of the lithic resources.

The absence of a stratigraphic context forces to base the identification of the different chronological horizons only on techno-typological criteria. Therefore, most of the lithic tools analysed remain indeterminate as far as this aspect is concerned, and sometimes only a generic distinction between Palaeolithic/Mesolithic and Neolithic is proposed. A most reliable chronological attribution is instead possible for retouched tools, Levallois cores and products and for laminar implements with clear technological attributes.

The results obtained show that this area of Piedmont was inhabited during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, and an Epigravettian phase has also been recognized. A minority of the studied lithic tools refers to the Mesolithic. Considering that in the south-western margin of the alpine region the data on the Palaeolithic are very fragmentary, the technological study proposed here acquires importance in outlining a more precise scenario also for this part of the Italian peninsula.

Introduction

Information and scientific data about the first peopling of the south-western Italians Alps are scarce and scattered. Despite the awareness of the presence of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic presence in Piedmont, mainly documented by sporadic findings (i.e. D’Errico and Gambari, 1983, Guerreschi and Giacobini, 1998), systematic research and excavations focusing on these issues are just a few and all found in the northern part of the region (Fig. 1). Between the 1960s and the early 1980s, several archaeological investigations were completed proving for the first time that Piedmont was occupied more intensely than previously thought during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. Archaeological excavations were carried out at Monte Fenera’s caves (Ciota Ciara, Riparo Belvedere and Ciutarun) where Middle and Upper Palaeolithic frequentations were documented (Fedele, 1985, Fedele, 1976, Fedele, 1972, Fedele, 1966), while at Boira Fusca, a small cave located in north-western Piedmont (Fig. 1), human occupations refer to the end of the Upper Palaeolithic and the Copper age (Fedele, 1990). Geo-archaeological surveys took place in the Trino Vercellese area, highlighting for the first time the presence of significative Palaeolithic occupations of this sector of the Po plain (Fedele, 1974, Gsqp, 1976). In the same years, sporadic findings of lithic artefacts suggested that several sectors of Piedmont were occupied during Middle/Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic (i.e. D’Errico and Gambari, 1983, Giraudi and Venturino Gambari, 1983, Mottura, 1994, Mottura, 1993) but no specific research were organized at that time.

To date, the regional scenario is still very fragmented. The only site of the Middle Palaeolithic currently under excavation is the Ciota Ciara cave. (Monte Fenera, Borgosesia – VC) (Angelucci et al., 2019, Arzarello et al., 2012, Berto et al., 2016, Buccheri et al., 2016, Daffara et al., 2014, Daffara et al., 2021, Daffara et al., 2019) which is the only archaeological contexts providing data about the settlement dynamics and the mobility of the hunter-gatherers groups that inhabited the region. Systematic excavations at the Ciota Ciara cave were re-started in 2009 by the University of Ferrara. In the atrial part, a 2 m thick stratigraphic sequence was unearthed and four main stratigraphic units were identified (103, 13, 14, 15) each one corresponding to different periods and modalities of frequentation of the cave during Middle Palaeolithic (Angelucci et al., 2019, Daffara et al., 2021). Studies conducted on the macro and micro-mammals remains provide a reliable paleoenvironmental reconstruction which shows that a woodland environment was generally predominant during the frequentation of the site with a climatic change between level 13 and 14. The micromammals assemblage of level 14 has different markers of cold climate and indicators of an open woodland environments with exposed rocks (Berto et al., 2016). The lithic assemblage found in all of the archaeological layers shows the predominant use of local rocks (mainly vein quartz) and a marginal presence of sub-local and allochthonous raw materials (Daffara et al., 2019). Opportunistic reduction strategies are the most represented in all the levels but also Levallois and discoid reduction sequences are widely documented. The technological study carried out on the lithic assemblage of the Ciota Ciara cave attests that the characteristics of the raw materials strongly conditioned the different reduction strategies even if there is no correlation between predetermined reduction strategies and better-quality raw materials. The general technological behaviour of the hunter-gatherers of the Ciota Ciara cave is defined as expedient (i.e. Vaquero and Romagnoli, 2018) and characterized by a low technological investment, especially concerning local rocks (Daffara et al., 2021). As of 2018, a new excavation area is being investigated, and is located within the cave, but the archaeological materials and faunal remains are still being studied.

Concerning Upper Palaeolithic, beside some sporadic findings, only the site of Castelletto Ticino – Via del Maneggio (NO), was systematically investigated (Fig. 1). The lithic assemblage attests a Late Epigravettian occupation, the only one currently well documented in the region (Berruti et al., 2017). Similarly, the occupation of mountain environments during Mesolithic is attested by only one site located at Alpe Veglia (VCO) (Fig. 1), systematically studied between the ‘1980s and the ‘1990s (Gambari et al., 1989, Vullo et al., 1999). In a such fragmented framework, it is clear how difficult it is to make reliable hypothesis on the dynamics of Paleolithic peopling in Piedmont. In the last ten years, the results of the investigations at the Ciota Ciara cave reawaken the interest towards the issues related to the settlement dynamics of Piedmont during Palaeolithic with the realization of multidisciplinary research projects (Berruti et al., 2016a, Berruti et al., 2016b, Caracausi et al., 2018, Rubat Borel et al., 2020) and the re-examination of some lithic assemblages and sporadic findings (Berruti and Daffara, 2015, Daffara and Giraudi, 2020, Rubat Borel et al., 2013). Within the framework of these new researches, the present work concerns the technological study of the lithic industries found during non-systematic survey activities carried out in the last decades in the area known as Colline Novaresi (hereafter Hills), a system of Pleistocene river terraces located in north-eastern Piedmont. (Fig. 1). Just one of the collection areas considered in the present study, was already known in literature as an evidence of a late Mesolithic (Castelnovian) occupation (Biagi, 1988), while all the other localities are here analysed for the first time. A small part of the studied archaeological materials comes from the surface collections completed by the authors in 2018, in the framework of a specific research project.

The final goal of the new research project about the Hills area is to collect data concerning the Paleo-Mesolithic peopling of this sector of the alpine region, as to contribute to the understanding of the regional first population dynamics and settlement modalities. The research, started in 2017 under the scientific direction of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le provincie di Biella, Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola e Vercelli, focuses on the north-eastern sector of the region and consists of different phases. At first, a new and up-to-date study of the lithic assemblage from Castelletto Ticino – Via del Maneggio was completed (Berruti et al., 2017), then we dealt both with the technological study of the lithic industries sporadically collected in the Hills area during the last decades and with a preliminary survey activity in the Hills. Since in recent years the area of the hills has undergone intense transformations due to agricultural developments, the main objective of this preliminary exploration was to identify sectors of the hills of archaeological interest that could be the starting point for future extensive, systematic and multidisciplinary archaeological investigations. The preliminary survey campaign took place in 2018 with a field work lasting a week and a research group composed by four people. Four localities were investigated with different objectives: Bindillina and Briona (Fig. 1), already known for the recovery of concentrations of lithic artefacts (Biagi, 1988), were surveyed in order to verify the presence or not of sectors preserved by the recent agricultural arrangements; Motto dei Cannoni and Mezzomerico – I Quirghi (Fig. 1) were chosen because of recent warnings received about the presence of lithic artefacts exposed after the creation of new vineyards. In the selected areas people walked in parallel transects and equipped with GPS Garmin ETREX 22x. In Briona and Bindillina, even if lithic artefacts were recovered (5 and 4 respectively) the intensity and extension of the agricultural establishment, make this areas not suitable for further research; Motto dei Cannoni has wide flat areas not disturbed by modern anthropic activities and lithic artefacts were found during the survey (5); Mezzomerico-I Quirghi is the spot where a concentration of chert lithic artifacts has been documented (19 lithic items, from an area of about 2 × 3 m² not yet affected by agricultural arrangements). Future and extensive analyses will be directed towards the extensive and systematic exploration of these two areas and at the identification of additional sectors of the Hills with archaeological potential.

Given the regional context, even in the absence of clear stratigraphic data, the study presented here can contribute to the updating of knowledge on the technological behaviour of hunter-gatherer human groups that inhabited the Piedmont during the Pleistocene and Holocene. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic technological study of the lithic assemblages considered, to provide an update of the knowledge on the first peopling of the Colline Novaresi area and to discuss the importance of this area in the regional and northern Italian context.