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Discovery of cryptotephra at Middle–Upper Paleolithic sites Arma Veirana and Riparo Bombrini,Italy: a new link for broader geographic correlations |
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| Authors: | Jayde N Hirniak Eugene I Smith Racheal Johnsen Minghua Ren Jamie Hodgkins Caley Orr Fabio Negrino Julien Riel-Salvatore Shelby Fitch Christopher E Miller Andrea Zerboni Guido S Mariani Jacob A Harris Claudine Gravel-Miguel David Strait Marco Peresani Stefano Benazzi Curtis W Marean |
| Institution: | 1. Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, PO Box 874101, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4101 USA;2. Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada 3. Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, 89154 USA;4. Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver, 1200 Larimer Street, Denver, CO, 80217-3364 USA;5. Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver, 1200 Larimer Street, Denver, CO, 80217-3364 USA
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Mail Stop F435, 13001 17th Place, Aurora, CO, 80045 USA;6. Dipartimento di Antichità, Filosofia e Storia (DAFIST), Università di Genova (Italy), Via Balbi 2, Genoa, 16126 Italy;7. Département d'Anthropologie Université de Montréal, Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, 3150 Rue Jean-Brillant, Montréal, QC, H3T 1N8 Canada;8. Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, Tübingen, 72070 Germany;9. Dipartimento di Scienze Della Terra ‘A. Desio’, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Via L, Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milano, Italy;10. Università Degli Studi di Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, Monserrato, 09042 (CA), Italy;11. Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St Louis, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1114, St Louis, MO, 63130 USA Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Gauteng, South Africa;12. Section of Prehistoric and Anthropological Science, Department of Humanities, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, I-44100 Italy;13. Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna, 48121 Italy;14. Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, PO Box 874101, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4101 USA African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, 6031 South Africa |
| Abstract: | Chemical characterization of cryptotephra is critical for temporally linking archaeological sites. Here, we describe cryptotephra investigations of two Middle–Upper Paleolithic sites from north-west Italy, Arma Veirana and Riparo Bombrini. Cryptotephra are present as small (<100 µm) rhyolitic glass shards at both sites, with geochemical signatures rare for volcanoes in the Mediterranean region. Two chemically distinct shard populations are present at Arma Veirana (P1 and P2). P1 is a high silica rhyolite (>75 wt.%) with low FeO (<1 wt.%) and a K2O/Na2O > 1 and P2 is also a high silica rhyolite (>75 wt.%) but with higher FeO (2.33–2.65 wt.%). Shards at Riparo Bombrini (P3) are of the same composition as P1 shards at Arma Veirana, providing a distinct link between deposits at both sites. Geochemical characteristics suggest three possible sources for P1 and P3: eruptions from Lipari Island (56–37.7 ka) in Italy, the Acigöl volcanic field (200–20 ka) in Turkey and the Miocene Kirka-Phrigian caldera (18 Ma) in Turkey. Eruptions from Lipari Island are the most likely source for P1,3 cryptotephra. This study highlights how cryptotephra can benefit archaeology, by providing a direct link between Arma Veirana and Riparo Bombrini as well as other deposits throughout the Mediterranean. |
| Keywords: | cryptotephra Middle Paleolithic radiocarbon dating tephrochronology Upper Paleolithic |