ArticlePloS one2019
Hafting of Middle Paleolithic tools in Latium (central Italy): New data from Fossellone and Sant'Agostino caves.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 17 papers.
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17 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Ancient DNA and biomarkers from artefacts: insights into technology and cultural practices in Neolithic Europe.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Buca della Iena and Grotta del Capriolo: New chronological, lithic, and faunal analyses of two late Mousterian sites in Central Italy.PloS one · 2025Article
- Back(s) to basics: The concept of backing in stone tool technologies for tracing hominins' technical innovations.Evolutionary anthropology · 2024Review
- A pre-Campanian Ignimbrite techno-cultural shift in the Aurignacian sequence of Grotta di Castelcivita, southern Italy.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Ochre-based compound adhesives at the Mousterian type-site document complex cognition and high investment.Science advances · 2024Article
- Podocarpaceae and Cupressaceae: A tale of two conifers and ancient adhesives production in South Africa.PloS one · 2024Article
- Scaling Palaeolithic tar production processes exponentially increases behavioural complexity.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Functional characterization of Mousterian tools from the Caucasus using comprehensive use-wear and residue analysis.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Multiproxy study of 7500-year-old wooden sickles from the Lakeshore Village of La Marmotta, Italy.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Chemical Modification of Biomarkers through Accelerated Degradation: Implications for Ancient Plant Identification in Archaeo-Organic Residues.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Stone toolmaking difficulty and the evolution of hominin technological skills.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Bee products in the prehistoric southern levant: evidence from the lipid organic record.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Characterisation of charred organic matter in micromorphological thin sections by means of Raman spectroscopy.Archaeological and anthropological sciences · 2021Article
- Neandertals on the beach: Use of marine resources at Grotta dei Moscerini (Latium, Italy).PloS one · 2020Article
- Middle Paleolithic complex technology and a Neandertal tar-backed tool from the Dutch North Sea.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hafting of stone tools was an important advance in the technology of the Paleolithic. Evidence of hafting in the Middle Paleolithic is growing and is not limited to points hafted on spears for thrusting or throwing. This article describes the identification of adhesive used for hafting on a variety of stone tools from two Middle Paleolithic caves in Latium, Fossellone Cave and Sant'Agostino Cave. Analysis of the organic residue by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry shows that a conifer resin adhesive was used, in one case mixed with beeswax. Contrary to previous suggestions that the small Middle Paleolithic tools of Latium could be used by hand and that hafting was not needed since it did not improve their functionality, our evidence shows that hafting was used by Neandertals in central Italy. Ethnographic evidence indicates that resin, which dries when exposed to air, is generally warmed by exposure to a small fire thus softened to be molded and pushed in position in the haft. The use of resin at both sites suggests regular fire use, as confirmed by moderate frequencies of burnt lithics in both assemblages. Lithic analysis shows that hafting was applied to a variety of artifacts, irrespective of type, size and technology. Prior to our study evidence of hafting in the Middle Paleolithic of Italy was limited to one case only.
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