Gender & Italian Archaeology

Challenging the Stereotypes

Ruth D Whitehouse

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315428154
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

The original research papers in this volume represent the first attempt to address issues of gender in the archaeology of Italy. Ranging from prehistoric to early classic periods, the authors address theoretical and methodological issues, as well as present a series of cases using both traditional and feminist research methods.

45Reflections on San Teodoro 1-7 and recent sex changes in the Upper Palaeolithic

Robert Leighton

Italy is perhaps the country where more well-preserved skeletons have been unearthed in the name of archaeology than any other in Europe. What do we know, therefore, about the physical anthropology of its earliest inhabitants? Perhaps not as much as might be hoped given the long history of research. However, as in most areas of scientific enquiry, the available data is somewhat uneven in quality and coverage, while the conclusions of earlier research have often been abandoned or overturned. The latter is doubtless a healthy sign of progress. Of course, the importance of skeletal analysis in archaeology is plain to see. A recent conference (AA.VV. 1994) has helped to clarify the current state of research, while Italian ‘cemetery archaeology’ continues to make rapid advances, most obviously in later prehistory. Age and sex determinations in particular are generating a variety of statistical assessments, comparisons and generalisations about social relationships and identities.

While the excavation of cemeteries has long been routine in Bronze and Iron Age archaeology, the discovery of even one new burial of the Upper Palaeolithic still attracts wide attention. Perhaps this explains why Palaeolithic skeletons have often received preferential treatment — examination by specialists, painstaking conservation and display in museums — while those of later prehistory were once more likely to be forgotten in the storerooms, or worse. Partly because of its scarcity, such evidence is of particular interest, and not just to specialists. The long duration of the Palaeolithic, however distant in time, its artistic revelations and close-to-nature lifestyle (so easily romanticised in today’s crowded and polluted world) may suggest that the behaviour of our earlier ancestors is most fundamentally revealing about the nature of the species as a whole. Whether based on fact, myth or just wishful thinking, this has a peculiar resonance in contemporary society.

Evidence of burial exists for the Middle Palaeolithic, but it is only during the Upper Palaeolithic that the practice becomes at all widespread in Europe, albeit hardly common. Even in Italy as a whole, which has an unusually large sample, only about 60 cases have been recorded so far, and not all are complete skeletons. They cover a period of about 15,000 years: an earlier series is broadly attributed to the Gravettian or early Epigravettian (about 25,000 - 18,000 years BP), while the majority (about 40) belongs to the late Upper Palaeolithic, or Final Epigravettian (about 14,000 - 10,000 BP)(Borgognini Tarli 1993; 46Manolis & Mallegni 1996; Mallegni 1996). One should therefore be wary of generalisations, as is often pointed out. In situations where preservation is good, excavation conducted rigorously and analysis undertaken with scientifically credible methods, much new information can be obtained from Palaeolithic burials. Unfortunately, not all have met these criteria. One might willingly neglect the older discoveries in favour of more recent ones, were it not for the fact that the former represent a vital proportion of the evidence.

This is precisely the case in Sicily. The remains of the seven individuals (ST1-7) found in the San Teodoro cave nearly sixty years ago in circumstances that were hardly ideal are unique: they are the only late Palaeolithic burials in the island, and outnumbered as a group only by those from the Arene Candide cave in Liguria. In fact, the San Teodoro cave is an important site for several reasons. Together with the fossil bone deposits in the surrounding area, it provides information dating from the Middle Pleistocene to the Upper Palaeolithic. It also has an interesting place in the history of archaeology: first investigated in 1859 by Baron F. Anca, the faunal samples were studied by Lartet (Anca 1860), while later research was conducted by R. Vaufrey in 1925, and by C. Maviglia and R. Graziosi during the 1940s. In 1982, L. Bonfiglio began excavating the thick layers outside the cave, which contain abundant Quaternary faunal remains, primaiily of hippo (H. pentlandi). These fossilised bones, which do not appear to be associated with human activity, accumulated gradually in an ancient lake bed as animals died of natural causes and their carcasses sank to the bottom (Bonfiglio 1989). Geochemical dating (amino-acid racemisation) of a hippo tooth has provided a reading of 190,000 ± 50,000 years BP (Belluomini et al. 1989). New excavations inside the cave are expected to commence in the near future.

UPPER PALAEOLITHIC BURIALS IN ITALY

Before describing the San Teodoro burials, it is worth sketching some background information deriving from examinations of Palaeolithic burials and skeletal remains throughout Italy, as recently summarised by A. Guerreschi (1993) and S. Borgognini Tarli (1993). They advise caution in making generalisations or attempting to characterise Palaeolithic populations as a whole, since the picture varies throughout Italy and the sample size is minute: from 0.000085% (Gravettian) to 0.01% (Final Epigravettian) of the populations concerned, according to certain estimates. The best evidence is still that from Liguria (the so-called Grimaldi caves and Arene Candide). By far the most numerous remains from a single site are those of about twenty individuals from Arene Candide, perhaps the only Italian Palaeolithic site (although formerly regarded as Mesolithic) for which the term ‘necropolis’ is really justified (Guerreschi 1993: 223).

As regards burial practice, it is noteworthy that the deceased are typically found in caves, often at one side or near the cave wall, usually placed singly but occasionally in pairs, in pits or trenches, sometimes covered with stones or red ochre, either with or without grave-goods. The latter may be items of daily use: stone tools, shells and bone, often in the form of pendants, necklaces or attachments to clothing, antler, as well as organic materials; or occasionally items of special significance, such as incised stone plaques.

As regards the physical characteristics of the Evolved or Final Epigravettian skeletons from Liguria, the majority appear to be adult males (eight), followed by six children, four adult females, one uncertain, one adolescent, and two infants. A considerable degree of sexual dimorphism has been noted. The adult males are described as medium-tall (166- 174cm, average 169cm), robust, with very well-developed musculature, especially on the right arms (associated with repeated circumduction, consistent with habitual throwing). In marked contrast, the females are described as medium-short (150-154cm, average 152 cm) with “scarsa robustezza ossea”, and slight or gracile build (Borgognini Tarli 1993: 245). Both have reasonably good dentition, despite wear, with few caries (which is also fairly typical of recent hunter-gatherers), and little evidence for diseases which leave traces in bones.

47The more complete human remains from the rest of peninsular Italy for this period are even more heavily biassed in favour of adult males, twelve of whom are recorded, followed by four children, two adolescents and two adult females. If we also take into account the more fragmented remains we can add a further 5 adult males, 5 adult females, 4 uncertain, 3 adolescents and 3 children. Here again the men are reckoned to be medium-tall (from 166-174cm, average 171cm), fairly robust and with marked musculature and evidence of right-handedness. Fewer details are available about the females, although their traits seem to be similar to those of the Ligurian group just described.

SAN TEODORO

Located near the little town of Acquedolci (Messina), at the base of a Mesozoic limestone cliff-face, facing the northern coast, at 140m above sea level and about a kilometre from the sea, the San Teodoro cave measures over 60m in length, about 20m in width, and 20m or more in height (figs 1-3). The Upper Palaeolithic deposit (layers A-D), about 2-2.3m thick, contained abundant stone tools, remains of hearths, and late Pleistocene fauna and flora typical of Sicily: primarily red deer, followed by boar, and wild cattle (Graziosi & Maviglia 1946; Lona 1949; Vigliardi 1968: 137). The lithic assemblage is attributed to the Final Epigravettian: that from layers A-B to a slightly later phase than that from layers C- D (Vigliardi 1968). Although ¹⁴C dates are lacking, the material is well-paralleled in other Sicilian complexes datable between roughly 14,000 and 10,000 BP (Aranguren & Revedin 1996). According to Vigliardi (1982), layers C-D probably date between about 12,000 and 10,000 BC. Directly below layer D was another layer (E), very different in character, with remains of hyena, deer and equids, preceded in turn by an earlier layer (F) with similar species as well as fossilised elephant (E. mnaidriensis), lacking any evidence of human activity (Graziosi 1943: 85-6). An elephant tooth from a similar context recently provided a date of 460,000 ± 115,000 years BP (Belluomini et al. 1989).

Fig. 1 Principal Upper Palaeolithic sites in Sicily. 1) Fontana Nuova, 2) Grotta Niscemi, 3) Canicattini Bagni, 4) Cala dei Genovesi, 5) S. Corrado, 6) Grotta di San Teodoro, 7) Grotta dell’Uzzo, 8) Grotta Mangiapane, 9) Grotta Addaura, 10) Grotta Mazzamuto, 11) Castello di Termini Imerese, 12) Cisternazza- Vallesecco, 13) Roccazzo, 14) Acqua Fitusa, 15) Grotta Giovanna, 16) Grotta Corruggi, 17) Pedagaggi

Fig. 2 48San Teodoro cave entrance (about 8m high) with approximate location (xx) of burials 1-4 (courtesy of L. Bonfiglio)

The human remains inside the cave were discovered between 1937 and 1942, partly during rapid visits or inspections in response to damage by treasure hunters and only partly by more careful excavation. They were found on the eastern side of the cave facing inward, between about 4 and 14 metres from the entrance: one almost complete skeleton (ST1) was summarily removed in 1937, although its stratigraphie position was noted; one skull was collected by C. Maviglia during a visit in 1938 (ST2) and one in 1940 (ST3), and their positions r...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Abstracts of papers
• The Italian Scene
• Italian Gender Theory and Archaeology
• Gender and Sex
• Reflections on San Teodoro 1-7 and recent sex changes in the Upper Palaeolithic
• Representations of gender in prehistoric southern Italy
• Space, gender, and architecture in the southern Italian Neolithic
• Anthropomorphic figurines and the construction of gender in Neolithic and Copper Age Italy
• Public and domestic
• Gender issues in north Italian prehistory
• The construction of gender in Early Iron Age Etruria
• Women’s roles in Iron Age Basilicata, south Italy
• The asp’s poison
• Holding a mirror to Etruscan gender
• Addresses of contributors