Project Title: Attesting Neanderthal Dwelling Space Use: effects of human occupations in the Middle Palaeolithic record of Fumane cave (ANDSU).

Description:  This project will address important issues and challenges occurred during our evolution, giving attention to the variability of Neanderthal subsistence patterns, across the analysis of the late Mousterian sequence of Fumane cave (44-47.6 ka cal BP) (Verona, Italy). The research objectives are the assessment of duration, number of intra-site occupation phases and identification of different activity-areas. 

With a mixed methodology that involve manually bone refits harnessing spatial and exploratory statistical analysis, it is expected to open up new perspectives with 3D modelling. 

I will first concentrate my research on a 3D scan of a sample of refitted bones (150-200 sample). The data processing will be used to obtain a procedure for bone junction comparison, which is unique in a specimen.  As refitting is the primary method for increasing the number of identifiable specimens but it is time-consuming and vulnerable to the researcher’s experience, I wish to develop a computational tool for future bone refits analysis.

ANDSU is original in its integrated multidisciplinary approach and innovative methodologies. Faunal refits have hitherto been poorly applied in archaeological sites, whereas lithic refits have been used as a key tool to identify connections between areas and observe preferential directions of tool movements. ANDSU will for the first time, integrates faunal refits, geostatistical methods and 3D modelling, through a pioneering application of units A9, A6-A5 of Fumane cave. 3D models are rapidly developing due to the excellent way of recording and above all, to provide novel insights.