SESS 0_retro e indice edi.pub Il Quaternario Italian Journal of Quaternary Sciences 24, (Abstract AIQUA, Roma 02/2011), Congresso AIQUA Il Quaternario Italiano: conoscenze e prospettive Roma 24 e 25 febbraio 2011 THE OPEN AIR PONTINIAN: TECHNOLOGICAL VARIABILITY, GEOMORPHOLOGY AND SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS Daniele Aureli1, Biagio Giaccio2 & Mario Federico Rolfo3 1 Università degli Studi di Siena, Dip. di Scienze Ambientali "G. Sarfatti", U.R. Ecologia Preistorica, Siena 2 IGAG- CNR, Monterotondo, Roma 3 Dipartimento di Beni Culturali - Facoltà di Lettere Università degli Studi “Tor Vergata”, Roma Corresponding author: D. Aureli ABSTRACT: Aureli D., Giaccio B. & Rolfo M.F., The open air Pontinian: technological variability, geomorphology and settlement dynamics. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2011) This article presents the preliminary results of research carried out in recent years on the Neanderthal settlement in the Alban Hills Area. The investigations have been set on two distinct goals; i.e. (i) improving knowledge on Pontinian occupations in the Al- ban Hills area through the identification and study of new open air sites, and (ii) integrate archaeological data with geo- logical observations in particular for the volcanic complex of Alban Hills Volcanic District. RIASSUNTO: Aureli D., Giaccio B. & Rolfo M.F., Il Pontiniano di plein air: variabilità tecnica, geomorfologia e territorio. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2011) Cet article présente les résultats préliminaires des recherches menées ces dernières années sur le peuplement de Néandertal dans la région de Colli Albani. Les recherches se sont focalisées sur deux objectifs distincts. D'une part, améliorer les connaissances sur le peuple- ment pontinienne dans les marges septentrionales de l'aire pontinienne (région des Colli Albani) à travers l'identification et l'étude de nouveaux sites de plein air. Deuxièmement, intégrer les données archéologiques aux observations géologi- ques en particulier avec le complexe volcanique de Colli Albani. Key words: Pontinian, open air site, geomorphology and volcanology, technological variability Parole chiave: Pontiniano, siti all’aperto, geomorfologia e vulcanologia, variabilità tecnica The strategy and the population dynamics of Ne- anderthal populations still remains one of the most debated issue among the international scientific community. What were the ecological and social factors that led or conditioned these men to occupy and exploit specific territories? How can we interpret the be- haviour and logical cognitive structures of Nean- derthals from archaeological data? The archaeological-geological context of the south- ern coast of Latium, as well as its history of re- search and the peculiar characteristics of archaeo- logical data, make this region an ideal framework to address these questions. The main aim of this paper is to reopen the debate on the scientific definition of the Pontinian phe- nomenon by understanding the problem in its ar- chaeological and geographical complexity. The theoretical condition is fundamental to con- sider all sites that define the problem of archaeo- logical Pontinian as a set system where each site is strictly interdependent with others in an inte- grated network of relationships that bind them to the deep territory. From there, it is necessary to reassess industries from the full range of sites in the region of plain and hilly area which is considered an important source of information and too little has been previ- ously considered. The study of these series could then give a more accurate picture of the Neander- thal occupation in this region. Relatively recent research (BIETTI et al., 1991, GRI- MALDI, 1988-89, KUHN 1990, MUSSI et al., 1984-87) show some variability in the technical Pontinian phenomenon, observable both in time and space. The area defined as Pontinian, was described from a geographical point of view as a rectangle of about 100 km long by 30 wide, bounded on the north by the Tiber River, to the east by the Alban Hills and Lepine Mounts, to the south by the Circeo and Fondi Plain, and west by the Tyrrhenian Sea. From a temporal view point, this techno-complex has been dated between about 100 and 40 ka, from age determinations mainly obtained in strati- fied caves sites (KUHN, 1990) and in two open air sites (BLANC, 1937; ROLFO et al., 2005). The archaeological material that reflects the tech- nical variability of Pontinian comes from two cate- gories of sites. On a hand, there are cave sites (Circeo and the province of Fondi), and other open -air sites (plain and hill region), often found in near- surface context. They yielded a significant number of stone tools, many of which may be associated with a specific geological setting "Plus d’une cen- 175 - 176 176 Ms. received: Testo ricevuto il taine de sites de surfaces ont été signalés, au cours de prospections systématiques, dans les environs de Rome, au Nord du Tibre, et dans la Pianura Pontina (CALOI L. et al., 1989). On 1999 a research program at the University of "Tor Vergata" in Rome in collaboration with the National Research Centre was born. It attempts, through field work, to improve knowledge of the Palaeolithic settlement of northern margins of the Pontinian area (Colli Albani region) through the discovery of new sites, framed in morphological, tephrostratigraphic and tephrochronologic contexts (ROLFO et al., 2007). The results of this research provided a first attempt to contextualise the surface archaeological collections with local morphological and pedo-stratigraphic context, providing a broad geo-archaeological framework for further work on the cultural Pontinian phenomenon. The analysis of the areal dispersion of the ar- chaeological material combined with geological observations point out that the lithic industry derive from the uppermost part of a well defined pedo- stratigraphic horizon. This is a deep paleosol de- veloped on the pyroclastic deposits belonging to the so called Faete Phase of the Alban Hills Vol- canic District (308- 250 ka), which, in an wide north -eastern area of the Alban Hills, is overlaid by pre- viously unrecognised distal deposits of the most recent Alban Hills volcanic activity of the Albano Maar (c. 70-36 ka) (GIACCIO et al., 2007). These new tephrostratigraphic and tephrochro- nologic data, in addition to confirm the independ- ent, archaeological-based attribution of the lithic industries to the Middle Latium Palaeolothic, pro- vide a new, unheard useful dating and correlating tool worth careful consideration for the present and future research on the Palaeolithic of the Alban Hills area (GIACCIO et al. 2007). In this paper we present the preliminary study of a series of open air sites found in stores. We fo- cused our attention primarily on geomorphological aspects then on the lithic industries. The latter were analysed through a technological and techno- functional approach with the intend to understand the dynamics of land use, the functionality and functionally from the stone tools and the technical systems of flakes production of the Pontinian phe- nomenon. REFERENCES BIETTI A. & MANZI G. (1991) - The Fossil Man of Monte Circeo. Sabaudia (Latina, Italy). Quaternaria Nova, 1, 19-21 October 1989. BLANC A. C. 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