TY - JOUR
T1 - The earliest evidence for mechanically delivered projectile weapons in Europe
AU - Sano, Katsuhiro
AU - Arrighi, Simona
AU - Stani, Chiaramaria
AU - Aureli, Daniele
AU - Boschin, Francesco
AU - Fiore, Ivana
AU - Spagnolo, Vincenzo
AU - Ricci, Stefano
AU - Crezzini, Jacopo
AU - Boscato, Paolo
AU - Gala, Monica
AU - Tagliacozzo, Antonio
AU - Birarda, Giovanni
AU - Vaccari, Lisa
AU - Ronchitelli, Annamaria
AU - Moroni, Adriana
AU - Benazzi, Stefano
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto and especially M. Piccarreta and S. Strafella for supporting our research at Grotta del Cavallo. Special thanks are due to A. P. di Cesnola and P. Gambassini for giving us the opportunity to revisit the Uluzzian materials from their excavations. We thank L. Sarti for providing the base planimetry of Grotta del Cavallo. We also acknowledge Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste for providing synchrotron radiation facilities (proposal no. 20180262) and the Weizmann Institute of Science for providing the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science Infrared Standards Library. Finally, we thank I. Corsi for providing contacts between the University of Siena and Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste. This research was supported by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC-724046, SUCCESS; http://www.erc-success.eu/). K.S. was supported by MEXT/ JSPS KAKENHI grant numbers JP17H06381, 4903 and 15H05384.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - Microscopic analysis of backed lithic pieces from the Uluzzian technocomplex (45–40 thousand yr ago) at Grotta del Cavallo (southern Italy) reveals their use as mechanically delivered projectile weapons, attributed to anatomically modern humans. Use-wear and residue analyses indicate that the lithics were hunting armatures hafted with complex adhesives, while experimental and ethnographic comparisons support their use as projectiles. The use of projectiles conferred a hunting strategy with a higher impact energy and a potential subsistence advantage over other populations and species.
AB - Microscopic analysis of backed lithic pieces from the Uluzzian technocomplex (45–40 thousand yr ago) at Grotta del Cavallo (southern Italy) reveals their use as mechanically delivered projectile weapons, attributed to anatomically modern humans. Use-wear and residue analyses indicate that the lithics were hunting armatures hafted with complex adhesives, while experimental and ethnographic comparisons support their use as projectiles. The use of projectiles conferred a hunting strategy with a higher impact energy and a potential subsistence advantage over other populations and species.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41559-019-0990-3
DO - 10.1038/s41559-019-0990-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 31558829
AN - SCOPUS:85072701520
SN - 2397-334X
VL - 3
SP - 1409
EP - 1414
JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution
IS - 10
ER -