0000000000430691
AUTHOR
Pietro Valenti
The last of the large-sized tortoises of the Mediterranean islands
Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya Altres ajuts: Operational Programme Research, Development and Education Project (CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008360) Archaeological investigations carried out in the cave Zubbio di Cozzo San Pietro, Bagheria, Sicily, revealed the presence of a few skeletal elements of a large-sized tortoise in a funerary area dating to the Copper/Bronze Age. The tortoise has been AMS-dated revealing an age of 12.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP and therefore it pre-dates the funerary activities. The morphology of the retrieved skeletal elements differs from that of the only native tortoise currently living in Sicily, Testudo hermanni. The tortoise's size significantly exc…
New perspectives on the human occupation of the Gulf of Palermo during the Metal Ages: the funerary cave of Zubbio di Cozzo San Pietro (Bagheria) and the necropolis of Viale Venere (Mondello, Palermo)
Abstract The Archaeological Superintendency of Palermo (Sicily), with the chair of Anthropology at the University of Palermo, carried out a preliminary investigation in the Zubbio of Cozzo San Pietro (Bagheria) – a cave known so far only from a speleological point of view - which proved to be a funerary cave dating to the Copper/Bronze Age. In the course of archaeological work during the installation of the electricity grid in the Mondello area (Palermo), part of a necropolis consisting of three oven-shaped tombs was exposed. The tombs multiple depositions, whose remains were found in a very bad state of preservation. Based on the type of funerary structures and the equipment found in them,…
Cat Taming In the Western Mediterranean. Issues, Problematics and Unpredictability In The Light Of Bio-Archaeological Approaches to a Museum Specimen.
The vast wealth of cultural artifacts and ancient biological samples can today be investigated using a great variety of methods and technologies. The result is a growing diffusion of studies on DNA, isotopes and morphometrics, and the exponential growth of publications and bio-archaeological discoveries of inestimable value for different areas of interpretation, such as phylogeny, history and archaeology. This paper describes the morphological and molecular study of a rare specimen of Felis from an Early Bronze Age horizon. The report offers the opportunity for a brief discussion on cat taming, on the origin of this practice and on the archaeological importance of this specimen for the reco…
Faces and Identities: is it possible measuring the reliability of the 3D craniofacial approximations
The craniofacial approximation (CFA) is largely used in forensic identification of unknown skeletonized bodies. Despite numerous forensic reports have proved successful in identifying a cadaver, it is very hard to assess the reliability of CFA methods. The present work aims to evaluate the accuracy of CFAs through the comparison of a blind facial approximation with a simultaneous faces array test. The blind CFA was made following the Manchester’s protocol. In our test the CFA was compared with a photographic array of ten faces, included the photo of the individual whom belonged the skull. The positive recognition was evaluated by a total of 320 unfamiliar assessors. During the test a survey…
Archivio per l’Antropologia e la Etnologia
This paper describes the study of human fibrocartilaginous entheses in a multiple indigenous sicanian Sicilian burial dated between VI and V century BC. The tomb, a cave burial, was altered by grave robbers. From the collected osteologic material it was possible to perform the sorting method and to extrapolate the NMI. The research was focused on the scoring and on the analysis of the Entheseal Changes (EC) of the long bones of upper limb and calcaneus; to extrapolate likely patterns of muscle activity according to the approach of the MSM applied in literature we have utilized the Coimbra Method. This method is a new record method who intends to replace Hawkey and Merbs already-established …