The skeletal remains of an infant found at Grotta Le Mura in Puglia and dated to 17000 BP portray the interesting biological history of Paleolithic populations of southern Italy

The skeletal remains of an infant found at Grotta Le Mura in Puglia and dated to 17000 BP portray the interesting biological history of Paleolithic populations of southern Italy
Top left position of Grotta le Mura 1 within the Italian peninsula; top right complete stratigraphy of the site, the red arrow indicates the position of the infant within the stratigraphy; bottom photograph of the burial during the excavation (ph. M. Calattini et al., 2024)

di Elvira Visciola

An important study conducted by an international team led by the Universities of Florence, Bologna and Siena and published in “Nature Communications” with the title “Life history and ancestry of the late Upper Paleolithic infant from Grotta delle Mura, Italy” has reconstructed the biological history of an infant of about 17000 years ago, who died at the age of about 17 months and was discovered by the University of Siena in 1998 in the layers of the final Epigravettian of Cave the Walls, In the municipality of Monopoli (BA) in Puglia, director of the excavations at the time Prof. Mauro Calattini.

Current studies, carried out with modern technologies, have allowed us to “… reconstruct a detailed biological history of the infant, highlighting both development during early childhood and the possible causes of early death … leading to the reconstruction of the oldest genome in Italy, revealing significant changes in the population of southern Italy at the end of the last glacial maximum, with the arrival of groups from the Balkans, who colonised Italy from the North-East and then descended towards the southernmost regions of the peninsula …” illustrates David Caramelli, Professor of Anthropology of theUniversity of Florence.

Genetic analyses conducted by the University of Florence have allowed us to reconstruct the biological profile, describing the image of a boy with blue eyes, ebony skin and dark curly hair, frequent characteristics in the populations of central and south-western Europe of the period; furthermore, it was observed that his parents were closely related to each other, probably first cousins, a phenomenon more commonly found in the Neolithic and rarely in the Paleolithic. Geochemical analyses on the mother have shown that during pregnancy she had lived a sedentary lifestyle and that the child was born and lived in the same area.

Photographic recording and virtual reconstruction of sectioned teeth (ph. M. Calattini et al., 2024)

The histological analyses conducted by theUniversity of Bologna on the infant's teeth have allowed us to identify physiological stress events during life, starting from the fetal stage (demonstrating the mother's lifestyle) and then during childhood probably because the child was found to be affected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a congenital disease that causes sudden death in young people.

View of the entrance to the cave from the coast (ph. M. Calattini and others, 2024)

The Grotta delle Mura is a karst cavity located along the coast, at the bottom of a small bay in the southern outskirts of the city of Monopoli (BA, southern Italy). After an initial phase of investigation conducted by Franco Rings in 1953-57, from Octavio Cornaggia Castiglioni in the excavation campaigns of 1961-63 and 1966 and a long period of abandonment, research resumed in 1985 by the Department of Archaeology and History of Arts of the University of Siena, under the direction of Mauro Calattini. The excavations involved two adjacent areas (A and B), for a total surface area of ​​approximately 21 m1998. The child's tomb was discovered in XNUMX in the second of these areas, where the stratigraphic sequence was better preserved. For logistical and conservation reasons, the skull was excavated in the first year, while the rest of the skeleton was brought to light in the subsequent excavation campaign.

The integrated stratigraphic sequence between the two areas begins at the bottom with a Mousterian level (dated to 44530 ± 2040 BP; 54840-44392 cal BP), followed by a series of levels referable to the Epigravettian cycle, partly still unpublished, in particular levels from the Lower Epigravettian (15860 ± 80 BP; 19392-18933 cal BP) up to the Evolved Epigravettian and the Final Epigravettian, within which the burial in question was found. The sequence is completed by a Mesolithic layer (Sauveterrian) (8290 ± 50 BP; 9451-9038 cal BP; 8240 ± 120 BP; 9527-8811 cal BP) and finally a layer referable to the Early Neolithic of Puglia.

Position of the blocks in relation to the skeletal remains, the skull was added digitally to show its original position (ph. M. Calattini et al., 2024)

The well-preserved and mostly intact remains of the child were found leaning against a large collapsed rock, partially protruding over them; the skeleton was covered by two flat stones placed at right angles to each other, one at the height of the feet and the other covering the body, like a sheet, up to the jaw. Only the head was left uncovered, which in turn was slightly wedged between two smaller stones. Given the sandy soil, it is not certain whether the body was placed in an intentional grave; it lay supine with its arms at its sides and with a north-west/south-east orientation (head/feet). There were no red ochre or grave goods, characteristic of Final Epigravettian burials.

Source: Mauro Calattini, Davide Caramelli, Owen Alexander Higgins, Alessandra Modi, Costanza Cannariato, Maria Angela Diroma, Federico Lugli, Stefano Ricci, Valentina Zaro, Stefania Vai, Antonino Vazzana, Matteo Romandini, Lui Yu, Francesco Boschini, Luigi Magnone, Matteo Rossini, Giovanni Di Domenico, Fabio Baruffaldi, Gregorio Oxilia, Eugenio Bortolini, Elena Dellù, Adriana Moroni, Annamaria Ronchitelli, Sahra Talamo, Wolfgang Muller, Alessia Nava, Cosimo Post, Martina Lari, Luca Bondioli and Stefano Benazzi – “Life History and ancestry of the late Upper Paleolithic infant from Grotta delle Mura, Italy” – in Nature Communications – July 30, 2024

Elvira Visciola, September 28, 2024

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