In southern Italy, the number of Acheulean sites in a secure stratigraphic context is small and sites with control over the age of the deposit and of the artefacts are even less. The open-air sites... Show moreIn southern Italy, the number of Acheulean sites in a secure stratigraphic context is small and sites with control over the age of the deposit and of the artefacts are even less. The open-air sites of Cala d’Arconte, Capo Grosso and Cala Bianca, located along the Italian south-west coastline, represent, in this context, an important source of information for the Lower Paleolithic. These sites were discovered and preliminarily studied in 1967–70 by A. Palma di Cesnola and P. Gambassini of the University of Siena, who ascribed them to the Acheulean due to the recovery of several handaxes associated with flaking reduction systems part of which attributed to the Levallois technology. A small number of the handaxes was recovered in its stratigraphic position while Levallois artefacts were collected exclusively on surface, leaving the question about the relations between these two groups unsolved. Here, the sites of Cala d’Arconte, Capo Grosso and Cala Bianca and their lithic collections are reinvestigated by re-evaluating the stratigraphy at each locality and by analyzing the techno-typology of the available artefacts. During a test trench carried out at Cala Bianca, several Levallois artefacts were discovered in situ in the uppermost part of the sequence in a layer located above a tephra recently attributed to the X-6 marker of the Monticchio series dated to 108.33 ± 1.08 ka. We suggest that these in situ Levallois artefacts belong to a Mousterian layer that must be considered as the most plausible origin for the Levallois assemblage previously collected out of context at this site. In turn, we also suggest that the Levallois and biface components collected from the surface at Cala Bianca and Capo Grosso derive from distinct occupations in time. Show less
The existence of communities and peoples develops over time, in a diachronic line of heritage and cultural memory as well as in a synchronous coexistence with the cosmos, marked by a cyclically... Show moreThe existence of communities and peoples develops over time, in a diachronic line of heritage and cultural memory as well as in a synchronous coexistence with the cosmos, marked by a cyclically returning rituals. Under the pressure of “clock time” (“time is money”) these organic “other times” of identity are eroding rapidly. In these respects, modernity has come to be characterised by a deep, dramatic and often violent conflict between traditional values of societies that have their own cultures and the processes of colonisation, urbanisation and and industrialisation, which usually presented as “progress”. This volume brings together complementary reflections of archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, sociologists and social activists on this issue. Central to their work is the perception and representation of time, its different symbolic aspects and its social impact. Espousing a comparatist methodology, the case studies focus on Mexico and Guatemala and on southern Italy. Show less
