Hanging around or moving on up? Multi-proxy perspectives on Bronze Age sheep/goats herding practices in the north-eastern Po Plain (northern Italy) Maria Sofia Manfrin, Rosalind E. Gillis, Federico Polisca, Emily Holt, Francesco Breglia, Silvia D'Aquino, Angela L. Lamb, Richard Madgwick, Marc-Alban Millet, Alexandra J. Nederbragt, Cristiano Nicosia, Giorgio Piazzalunga, Keira Shaw-Eleazar, Marta Dal Corso Quaternary Science Reviews, 2026 During the Middle Bronze Age, farming settlements covered much of the Po Plain, but little is known about their herding strategies, e.g. in terms of mobility and foddering. According to faunal data and archaeological materials, herding practices focused on sheep husbandry for multiple products, including wool. Meanwhile, transhumance, involving the movement of flocks from the plain to the upland pastures, has been proposed to emerge during this period, but direct evidence for this practice is scant. To fill these gaps, we employed multiple isotope analyses of faunal remains embedded within palynological, archaeobotanical and micromorphological analyses to uncover sheep husbandry practices at two Middle Bronze Age sites (Oppeano 4D, La Muraiola di Povegliano Veronese) near Verona, northern Italy. These settlements have both stratigraphic evidence of animal penning investigated through high resolution multi-proxy geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical methods. Incremental carbon, oxygen and strontium analysis of sheep molars embedded within a bulk δ 13 C/δ 15 N framework from domesticated and wild species indicates that transhumance was not practised at either site. Instead, we demonstrate the seasonal exploitation of local environments for pasturing animals with strong indications for the collection of plant resources for livestock (leafy-hay, grass hay) including the use of C 4 plants as cattle feed. This practice of fodder collection may have been an important step in the evolution of herding practices, as it allowed herds to remain within the local area and, at the same time, showing incipient pressure that might have led to the development of more mobile strategies. • Multi-isotope analysis reveals sheep/goat husbandry practices at 2 northern ItalianMBA sites. • No isotopic evidence ( δ 13 C, δ 18 O, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) for transhumance at these sites. • Seasonal exploitation of local environments for pasturing animals. • Bulk δ 13 C/ δ 15 N framework from domesticated and wild species. • Strong evidence for fodder collection; C 4 plants possibly used for cattle.
Evaluating the potential of in-depth chrono-cultural and functional analysis of pottery in European cave archaeology: a case study from the prehistoric Grotte Di Sant’angelo Cave Complex (Cassano allo Ionio – Calabria, Italy) Delia Carloni, Felice Larocca, Peter A. J. Attema, Giuseppe De Luca, Francesco Breglia, Marco Pacciarelli, Giuseppe E. De Benedetto Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2026 This paper evaluates the potential of in-depth chronological and functional analysis of prehistoric pottery (4th millennium BCE) from the Grotte di Sant’Angelo Cave Complex, located in the municipality of Cassano allo Ionio (Calabria, Southern Italy). The underground system, formed by sulfuric acid speleogenesis, features a floor scattered with depressions, holes, and fractures of different depths hosting archaeological materials. A number of these contexts in the so-called ‘Trivio’ area, excavated in 2017 and reported on here, provide an excellent opportunity to pioneer a combined archaeological and scientific contextual approach to unravelling the use of pottery in the Grotte di Sant’Angelo Cave Complex through time. The approach chosen first establishes the chronology of pots through typological comparisons with sites offering key stratigraphic sequences for prehistoric material culture present in the Italian peninsula and islands. Next, a functional study is presented that focusses on the use-related morphological properties of the pots, their performance characteristics, and preserved organic residues. Based on presentation and evaluation of the resulting data, the authors then proceed to propose hypotheses on the use and meaning of the various pottery shapes present in individual contexts from the Trivio zone cave floor contexts. At a more general level, the aim of the authors is to show how a contextual approach, combining several research tools for pottery analysis can make an important contribution to the toolbox of scholars working in European cave archaeology, thereby increasing the discipline’s potential of resolving theoretically informed questions about human-cave entanglements in later prehistory.
Reassessing neolithic subsistence in Northern Italy through a critical review and new evidence from Molino Casarotto Francesco Breglia, Vito Giuseppe Prillo, Marta Dal Corso, Maria Sofia Manfrin, Silvia D’Aquino, Federico Polisca, Luigi Germinario, Giorgio Piazzalunga, Paola Salzani, Cristiano Nicosia Scientific Reports, 2025 This paper delves into the intricate nature of neolithic subsistence economies in northern Italy by providing a comprehensive overview of all previously edited data, quantitatively compared, including plant macroremains, faunal remains, and aquatic resources. Additionally, it introduces new findings from the site of Molino Casarotto, recently investigated as part of the ERC CoG GEODAP project, through an interdisciplinary approach that combines carpological analysis, phytolith analysis, and archaeozoological studies of both terrestrial and aquatic fauna. This wetland settlement, with material culture fully representative of the middle neolithic Square-Mouthed Pottery (SMP) culture, showcases an economy primarily based on hunting, fishing, gathering molluscs and wild fruits, with water chestnut serving as the staple food. The rare presence of bone remains from domestic animals and a few cereal grains indicates access to food from a agro-pastoral economy. However, the absence of chaff remains, confirmed by phytolith analysis, suggests that cereal cultivation and processing did not occur on site. These findings, within the broader context of the cultural and environmental diversity of the northern Italian Neolithic, challenge the rigidity of concepts often used to describe Neolithization processes. The emerging picture is non-linear and complex, both chronologically and geographically, with local peculiarities that push to abandon a dichotomous view of foraging versus agricultural economy.
A Radiocarbon chronology for grotte di pertosa in campania, southern italy Felice Larocca, Francesco Breglia, Lucio Calcagnile, Marisa D’Elia, Gianluca Quarta Radiocarbon, 2024 The Pertosa Caves, today also known as the Pertosa-Auletta Caves, constitute an important karst system in the Campania region (southern Italy). Crossed by the waters of a river that re-emerges on the surface, they have an overall development of about 3 km. Thanks to the width of the entrance, the excellent location along a natural communication route through the mountains and the natural availability of water directly on the site, the initial part of the cavity was frequented by humans, without interruption, from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages. During the protohistory, in particular, the moment of most marked human presence is recorded in the cave. In this phase an extensive pile dwelling system was built on the waters of the underground river. The system was probably created to make the location, subject to frequent flooding, suitable for human settlement. This structure today constitutes an archaeological unicum not only in Italy but throughout Europe. We briefly analyze its general characteristics providing the results of a radiocarbon dating campaign which allowed to assess the occupation phases of the different contexts and the life span of the wooden artifacts, which came to us in a very good state of preservation. Radiocarbon data allowed to assess the chronological range of the human frequentation of the caves and to date the exceptionally well preserved underground pile dwelling system.
GRAPES UNDER THE LENS: A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF A SEED ASSEMBLAGE FROM VILLAMAGNA (URBISAGLIA, ITALY) Methods in Ancient Wine Archaeology Scientific Approaches in Roman Contexts, 2024
Disentangling the origins of viticulture in the western Mediterranean Francesco Breglia, Laurent Bouby, Nathan Wales, Sarah Ivorra, Girolamo Fiorentino Scientific Reports, 2023 We present direct evidence of early grape domestication in southern Italy via a multidisciplinary study of pip assemblage from one site, shedding new light on the spread of viticulture in the western Mediterranean during the Bronze Age. This consist of 55 waterlogged pips from Grotta di Pertosa, a Middle Bronze Age settlement in the south of the Italian peninsula. Direct radiocarbon dating of pips was carried out, confirming the chronological consistency of the samples with their archaeological contexts (ca. 1450–1200 BCE). The extraordinary state of conservation of the sample allowed to perform geometric morphometric (GMM) and paleogenetic analyses (aDNA) at the same time. The combination of the two methods has irrefutably shown the presence of domestic grapevines, together with wild ones, in Southern Italy during the Middle/Late Bronze Age. The results converge towards an oriental origin of the domestic grapes, most likely arriving from the Aegean area through the Mycenaeans. A parent/offspring kinship was also recognised between a domestic/wild hybrid individual and a domestic clonal group. This data point out a little known aspect of the diffusion of the first viticulture in Italy, and therefore in the western Mediterranean, which involved the hybridization between imported domestic varieties with, likely local, wild vines.
Organic residue analysis reveals the function of bronze age metal daggers Isabella Caricola, Alasdair Charles, Jacopo Tirillò, Fraser Charlton, Huw Barton, Francesco Breglia, Alberto Rossi, Maria Chiara Deflorian, Anna Maria De Marinis, Susanna Harris, Alessio Pellegrini, Federico Scacchetti, Paolo Boccuccia, Monica Miari, Andrea Dolfini Scientific Reports, 2022 The article discusses results of organic residue analysis performed on ten copper-alloy daggers from Bronze Age Pragatto, Italy, c.1550–1250 BCE. Metal daggers are widespread in Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Europe, yet their social and practical roles are still hotly debated. Are they symbolic or functional? Are they tools or weapons? How were they used? For what tasks and on what materials? The research addresses these questions through a novel application of biochemical staining and SEM–EDX analysis. The method has proved successful in extracting and identifying animal residues located on cutting edges including bone, muscle, and tendons. These are interpreted as evidence of prehistoric carcass butchering and carving. Further residues were observed on blade faces and hafting plates or tangs; these are interpreted as remnants of bone handles and sheaths, the latter made of either wood fibers or processed hide and fur. The readings proposed in the article are validated by original experiments with replica daggers, as detailed in the Supplementary Materials. The analysis and experiments shed new light on Bronze Age metal daggers, showing that they were fully functional tools (and perhaps tool-weapons) primarily utilized for the processing of animal carcasses. This original research result contributes significant knowledge towards interpreting an under-studied, yet socially salient, prehistoric metal artifact.
Prehistoric exploitation of minerals resources. Experimentation and use-wear analysis of grooved stone tools from Grotta della Monaca (Calabria, Italy) Isabella Caricola, Francesco Breglia, Felice Larocca, Caroline Hamon, Cristina Lemorini, François Giligny Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2020 The Calabria region of Southern Italy is rich in mineralisation. Unfortunately, no consistent data are available about mineral exploitation in the later prehistoric periods. The Grotta della Monaca mine in Calabria is a prehistoric site that is characterised by the mineralisation of iron ores (such as goethite) and copper carbonates (malachite and azurite). For this reason, the site provides an exceptional opportunity to study a prehistoric mine in which several minerals were exploited during the late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic. In this study, we present the results of an experimental protocol and use-wear analysis conducted using macro-lithic tool replicas to extract mineral resources. The experimental test aimed at reconstructing the function of grooved stone tools found at Grotta della Monaca. Use-wear observation, through a combined low- and high-power approach on experimental and archaeological objects, allowed us to define different extraction techniques and methods of mineral treatments. These data enhance our understanding and reconstruction of the chaîne opératoires, economic choices, and cultural aspects that characterised prehistoric miners in Southern Italy.
