Dating the Uluzzian

Uluzzian artifacts from Grotta del Cavallo, Apulia, southern Italy. Credit: Annamaria Ronchitelli and Katerina Douka

... Now, an international scientific team led by Katerina Douka of the University of Oxford is reporting the results of a new study, concluding that the Uluzzian arose or arrived in what is present-day Italy and Greece shortly before 45,000 years ago, with its latest phases placed at around 39,500 years ago, and "its end synchronous (if not slightly earlier) with the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption".* The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption refers to the eruption of the Archiflegreo volcano around 37,000 years B.P., coincidental or correlated to Middle Paleolithic (beginning 300,000 years ago) to Upper Paleolithic (beginning between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago) cultural transitions and the theorized replacement of Neanderthal populations by anatomically modern humans in southeastern Europe. The replacement theory and the Archiflegreo volcanic eruption as a causal element within this model has been a subject of continuing debate.

To determine the new dates, the researchers integrated the results of new radiocarbon dating tests and a Bayesian statistical approach on samples from four caves where Uluzzian artifacts have been found in Italy and Greece (Cavallo, Fumane, Castelcivita and Klissoura 1). In addition to constructing a new chronology for the Uluzzian, they also examined the culture's appearance, its time and space spread and its correlation to earlier and later Palaeolithic stone tool assemblages (i.e., Mousterian, Protoaurignacian) within the relevant geographic regions. [...] popular-archaeology.com