Further confirmation of this hypothesis is represented by the burial found at Mondeval de Sora, which represents the focus of this paper. Consequently, the decline in the occupation intensity of upland territories with a shift towards pre-Alpine and plain areas during the Castelnovian, originally proposed in the 1980s, has now been called into question by the evidence brought to light in several areas of the central and eastern-southern Alps. Overall, this Castelnovian record shows a similar distribution pattern to that of the Early Mesolithic Sauveterrian culture complex, which reflects an intense occupation of both mountainous (central and eastern Alps, Emilian Apennines) and plain areas (Po and interconnected alluvial plains). Evidence is mostly represented by find-spots, while only a few sites have been the object of extensive investigations, which have either yielded lithic assemblages only or, have been explored over small surfaces mainly. Although a quite large Castelnovian record is attested across Northern Italy, our understanding of this phase of prehistory in this region still remains poor. At a larger scale, such cultural facies may be considered as part of the Blade and Trapezes Complex as it presents several affinities with the Geometric Mesolithic industries from Iberia, the Late Mesolithic from the Eastern Adriatic region, and the Castelnovian from Sicily. This paper focuses on the sole Late Mesolithic burial documented in northern Italy, where this period is represented by the so-called Castelnovian complex, a culture-historical and typological label defined in the 1960s and geographically extending from the low Rhone valley in France to western Slovenia.
Such interactions may have varied considerably from region to region, and, in several cases, they remain poorly known also due to a lack of information about the Late Mesolithic occupations of several areas and the scarcity of radiometric dating. This was a complex phenomenon, which involved the interaction between people arriving from the Near East and the local European populations. Therefore, reconstructing the lifeways of these populations is also crucial in order to understand the impact of the Neolithization process in the different regions of the continent. The significance of Late Mesolithic also relates to the fact that it precedes the Early Neolithic. Yet, no definite evidence is so far available to confirm any of the two. Two main hypotheses have proposed either a Northern African or an Eastern Eurasian origin, both regions attesting an earlier appearance of such new technical know-how and material culture repertoire than Southern Europe. While we know that the new traditions–mostly represented by the introduction of more sophisticated flint-knapping techniques that allowed producing regular blades and bladelets from which new categories of armatures and tools were obtained-spread rapidly across most regions of the continent, their origin and modality of diffusion are still debated. With respect to the previous phase of the Mesolithic, this period is signed by profound changes, which had a particular impact on the tool-kit of the last hunter-fisher-gatherer societies. The Late Mesolithic in Southern Europe spans the epoch of the 7th and the first centuries of the 6th millennia BCE. Based on the association and location of some items, we propose a new interpretation of the social status of this individual and the possible impact of technological innovation on the social organization and symbolic sphere of Late Mesolithic groups. We highlight important contextual data regarding the techno-economic dimension and the notion of personal burial possessions.
In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of more than 50 lithic and osseous artifacts associated with this burial. A burial discovered at Mondeval de Sora (Northern Italy) in 1987, represents a unique window into this period. Nonetheless, the Late Mesolithic still remains a poorly known age in this area. The significance of this phase also relates to the fact that it precedes the Early Neolithic, another period of major transformations of human societies.
The Late Mesolithic in Southern Europe is dated to the 7th and the first part of the 6th millennia BCE and is marked by profound changes which are mostly evident in the technical know-how and tool-kit of the last hunter-fisher-gatherer societies.
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