Search

Dental morphological traits were employed in this study as direct indicators of biological affinities among the populations that inhabited the Italian peninsula from the Upper Paleolithic-Mesolithic to Medieval times. Our analysis aims at contributing to the ongoing debate regarding the origin and spread of agriculture in the peninsula by contrasting the dental evidence of archaeological and modern molecular samples. It is not possible to generalize given the complex and dynamic nature of these populations. However, the results from the principal component analysis, maximum likelihood, mean measure of divergence, and multidimensional scaling do indicate a net separation of the Paleo-Mesolithic sample from the other groups that is not related to dental reduction. This suggests that the shift in dental morphology was the product of Neolithic populations migrating into the peninsula from other areas. Nonetheless, the Paleo-Mesolithic populations share several discriminative traits with the Neolithic group. The biological relevance of such evidence suggests that, to some minor extent, the spread of agriculture did not occur by total population replacement. Because of regional small sample sizes, this hypothesis cannot be tested on a micro-regional scale. It is, however, feasible to depict a scenario where processes of genetic mixture or replacement probably took place at different rates on a macro-regional level. KEY WORDS dental morphology; biological affinities; Paleo-Mesolithic; Neolithic; Italy

An ongoing research on dental morphological traits (ASU System) has identified a dental complex for the Upper Paleolithic European populations that clearly distinguishes them from the more ancient ones. Seventy-nine dental morphological traits (39 used here) allowed to characterize the earlier groups which consist of 94 pre-wurmian remains prior to the Neandertals from Kroatia (Krapina, Vindija), France (Biache, Lazaret, Malarnaud, Montmaurin), England (Pontnewydd), Italy (Saccopastore), Spain (Atapuerca, Banolas), 80 wurmian European Neandertals from Belgium (La Naulette, Sclayn, Spy), France (Arcy sur cure, Ban de 1'Aubesier, La Chapelle aux Saints, La Ferrassie, Hortus, La Masque, Montgaudier, Moulin du milieu, Marillac, Roc de Marsal, Monsempron, Macassargues, Le Moustier, Pech de 1'Aze, Le Petit Puymoyen, Les Peyrards, La Quina, Regourdou, Saint Cesaire), Italy (Grotta Breuil, Circeo, Le fate, Monte Fenera, Maglie, Poggio, Taddeo), Czech Republic (Kulna, Ochoz), Spain (Agut, Devil's Tower, Forbes Quarry, Zafarraya), Hungary (Subalyuk), and 18 Neandertals from the Middle East (Amud, Dederiyeh, Kebara, Shanidar, Tabun, Teshik Task). These samples have been analyzed in comparison with 26 AMH Levantines (Qafzeh and Skull), 145 European early Upper Paleolithics (Aurignazian, Gravettian end Perigordian), 198 European late Upper Paleolithics (Magdalenian, Solutrean, Epigravettian, Cheddarian), 228 late Upper Paleolithic Natufians from Palestine, 100 late Upper Paleolithics from North Africa (Iberomauresians), and 31 European mesolithics. Principal Component Analysis and Maximum Likelihood method (the latter tested by the bootstrap analysis) have been applied to the percent frequency of the traits. Both analyses reveal a clear separation between the Neandertals (both pre-wurmian and wurmian), and the anatomically modern humans (both Middle and Upper Paleolithics). The first axis of the PCA (47.3% of total variance) indicates that 20 traits out of 39 show statistically significant differences. A bootstrap value of 100 separates the two groups in the ML. The Neandertal group itself is split into the pre-wurmians and wurmians by a bootstrap value of 75. Although being clearly close to the Upper Paleolithics, the Middle Paleolithic Levantines, as well as the North African Iberomauresians, show indeed a tendency towards the Neandertals, This work was supported by the 'Progetto Finalizzato Beni Culturali' CNR CU99.03787 and MURST COFIN99.

Living conditions in Imperial Roman times greatly depended on the access to resources that were under control of the political power. In particular, because of the centralization of power, the town of Rome did drain large amounts of resources. The present study reports results on lifestyle and living conditions in some Imperial Roman age samples from rural and urban sites encountered long the peninsula's east coast, thus far from Rome, in comparison with samples from around Rome. The analysis is part of a large scale project on the Imperial Roman age. Demographic parameters have been estimated and oral pathologies scored on individuals from Urbino (AD I-III century), Fano (AD II-III century), Potentia (AD II century) and Civitanova Marche (AD IV century) and compared with published and unpublished data from the suburbium of Rome. All the samples are affected by an underestimation of infants and old adults, likely related to taphonomic factors. The comparison of mortality tables calculated on adult individuals indicates worst living conditions in the province far from Rome. Despite the taphonomic problems, the low values of life expectancy and prevalence of deaths in the 20-29 years class seem to witness poorer living conditions. Oral pathologies provide results that strengthen such pattern. In conclusion, the distance from Rome seems to have affected the overall living conditions in a province that was not economically self sufficient.