Pratiche venatorie e dinamiche comportamentali dei gruppi tardoglaciali dell’Italia nord-orientale: analisi tecnologica, economica e funzionale delle armature litiche di Riparo Dalmeri (Altopiano della Marcesina, Trento)

Abstract

The study of lithic armatures of Riparo Dalmeri was aimed at the reconstruction of hunting equipment and hunting strategies implemented by the epigravettian human groups who attended the northeastern Italy during the Lateglacial. The lithic armatures analyzed, come from the three main stratigraphical levels of the shelter, whose radiocarbon refer to the Lateglacial interstadial and more precisely to the passage between Bölling and Alleröd. And just in correspondence of climatic and environmental changes that define this chronological stage, that there is a gradual and profound alteration of lithic production systems and conceptual schemes to their base. Nevertheless, the techno-functional analysis conducted on lithic armatures revealed a substantial chronological continuity of the morpho-dimensional objectives sought: the simplification of the production system is expressed essentially in the transfer of a large part of technical investment from the production phase of the bladelets to that of transformation in armatures. The analysis of the residues of manufacture and the characteristics of backs allowed us to define the percussion with the stone on anvil as the main retouching technique used, associated with the pressure by antler especially during the first phase of attendance of the shelter. According to the morphological and dimensional variability, the backed points were divided into three main typological classes while for the backed bladelets with double truncations has been noticed a greater research of standardization. The evaluation of diagnostic traces of impact identified on the armatures of each class has allowed us to put forward a first hypothesis on how the armatures were fixed and employed in the various stratigraphical levels. The experimental activity, carried out subsequently to the study of the findings, has largely confirmed this reconstruction, suggesting also new diagnostic elements for the identification of the mode of association of the microliths on the shaft. Unlike the highlighted for the lithic production, the configuration of weapons is consistent in the first two levels of attendance while denotes an evident change in correspondence of the last stage of settlement dated at the end of the Alleröd. Initially, the engagement of the backed points occurred within a recess dug laterally to the shaft so as to expose the entire cutting edge opposite to the back; in direct contact with the piercing element were also inserted two backed bladelets with double truncations, positioned parallel to the shaft so as to form a single cutting edge with the margin of the tip. On the other hand, as regards the last level of attendance, the revision of the functional data after the experimentation, rather opt for a tip insertion within a fork axial, and its association with several baked bladelets with double truncations inserted in groups of two, obliquely to the dynamic axis of the arrow. The attestation of a predominant use of composite weapons, is connected to the search for greater efficiency in terms of ballistic penetration of animal tissues, and corresponding to the evidence found for the epipalaeolithic complexes of Europe. The change in the pattern of hunting projectiles, certificated for the occupation levels of the second part of the Lateglacial interstadial, it seems to be due to the advantage offered by the second type of arrangement in terms of maintainability and durability of the functional life of the weapon. The experimental confirmation of the use of these armatures associated with the bow-arrow system, is connected to the deep changes that are involved in hunting strategies and more generally in the mobility of lateglacial human groups: It seems likely that the search for weapons characterized by a rapid production and an equally quick retooling is linked to practices of hunting less structured in the territory and involving the frequent loss of projectiles. It therefore follows that attending repeated and prolonged of Riparo Dalmeri is closely related to specialized ibex hunting, which represents more than 90% of faunal determinable remains, practiced through the use of the bow and composite projectiles, according unstructured manners and related to the use of a few men or maybe individual hunters.