About 13,000 years ago, in one of the shelters of the Pradis Caves, in the Friulian Prealps, a child of 11 or maybe 12 years old lost a baby tooth. Thanks to that little tooth, we now know that the group of hunter-gatherers to which the child belonged moved seasonally in that area with a specific purpose: to hunt marmots. The discovery – published in “Scientific Reports”, a journal of the Nature group – comes from a research group led by scholars from the University of Bologna.
“This is the first direct evidence of the seasonal mobility strategies of human groups present in Northern Italy during the phase of Epigravettian culture, in the late Upper Paleolithic”, explains Matteo Romandini, researcher at the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Bologna and Director of the Pradis Cave Museum, one of the authors of the study. “In addition, the small milk tooth gave us the opportunity to get to know the early stages of the baby’s life and the condition of the mother during pregnancy, thus giving us important information on the social structure of a group of hunter-gatherers after the birth. last ice age “.
The Pradis plateau, over 500 meters above sea level, in the heart of the Carnic Prealps, in the province of Pordenone, was frequented on several occasions during the Upper Paleolithic and is part of a network of prehistoric sites that developed along the whole Alpine area, through which various groups of hunter-gatherers moved.
“We know that in the Pradis Caves, almost all of the animal remains that have come to light belong to a single species – the Alpine marmot – and it is among these remains that, during my PhD thesis at the University of Ferrara, I recognized the human tooth object of this study ”, says Nicola Nannini also co-author of the work.
But who were these hunter-gatherers? And how did they use the Pradis area for their survival strategies? Some important answers are kept in the little milk tooth found.
Thanks to the direct radiocarbon analysis of the human tooth carried out by Professor Sahra Talamo, director of the 14C BRAVHO laboratory of the University of Bologna, it was possible to attribute a very precise age to the find, which dates back to a period between 13,088 and 12,897 years. does.
The chemical and biomolecular analyzes then made it possible to establish that the tooth belonged to an 11-12 year old child, born far from the Pradis plateau area. The study of the isotope ratio of strontium, measured in high spatial resolution on a histological section obtained from the tooth, in fact made it possible to reconstruct the frequency of the movements of the child, and consequently of the group of hunter-gatherers with whom he lived.
“The data we obtained show a sinusoidal-like pattern, probably attributable to a programmed seasonal mobility”, explains Federico Lugli, Unibo researcher and first author of the work. “The find dates back to a post-glacial era, in which an extensive but gradual reforestation of the area took place and this led human groups to move from season to season in areas that could offer the most useful and abundant resources. “.
The large amount of marmot remains found in the shelters of the Pradis Caves, together with the data that emerged from the analysis of the tooth, therefore suggest that that place was a seasonal stop specifically dedicated to the hunting of these small rodents. A phase that probably took place between September and October, when marmots accumulate resources to prepare for the winter season.
“The great multidisciplinary work that has been carried out demonstrates the great variety of information that can be obtained even from a small find such as a single human tooth”, comments Professor Stefano Benazzi, director of the BONES Lab who coordinated the study. “Thanks to this joint effort, it was possible to add an important step to the study of recent human evolution and the habits of Epigravettian hunter-gatherers.”
At the end of the analysis phase, the small milk tooth was restored with a new method that involves the reconstruction and 3D printing of the portions taken for analytical sampling, thus restoring the original morphology to the find. The tooth has now returned to the place where it was found and will soon be exhibited at the Pradis Cave Museum, in the Municipality of Clauzetto, in the province of Pordenone.
The study was published in Scientific Reports with the title “Tracing the mobility of a Late Epigravettian (~ 13 ka) male infant from Grotte di Pradis (Northeastern Italian Prealps) at high ‑ temporal resolution”. Federico Lugli, Rita Sorrentino, Antonino Vazzana, Eugenio Bortolini, Gregorio Oxilia, Sara Silvestrini, Luca Bondioli, Matteo Romandini and Stefano Benazzi from the Department of Cultural Heritage participated, together with Sahra Talamo from the Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician “.
(The editors of “Le Scienze” are not responsible for the text of this press release, which has been published in its entirety and without changes)
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