Nuove datazioni radiometriche dirette su ossa umane e una sintesi dei dati cronologici relativi alle serie scheletriche della Liguria a partire dal primo Neolitico

The research carried out since the second half of the 19th century in the Finalese caves led to the discovery of hundreds burials and a great number of isolated human remains, whose chronological distribution covers a long period from the Upper Paleolithic to the metal ages. In particular, the Neolithic remains represent undoubtedly one of the most important anthropological assemblages of the western Mediterranean because of the great number of finds and their excellent state of preservation. Most of these finds, however, come from nineteenth-century research, which was often conducted with little attention to the stratigraphic context. Furthermore, the particular historical events connected with the formation and study of many of these collections have led to a fragmentation of the series between different museums and private collections leading to serious losses of information, especially as a result of numerous transfers. These unfortunate events have greatly limited the potential for detailed archaeological and anthropological analyses, including funerary behavior, of the Neolithic of Liguria. Recently, an interdisciplinary research project has been launched focusing on funerary behaviors which aims at systematically reviewing all the Neolithic skeletal series found in Liguria. 130 AMS dates have recently been published on human bone samples (documented burials or individuals consisting of scattered remains) from various Ligurian caves, including most of the skeletal series found in renowned sites such as the Arene Candide Cave and the Pollera Cave. This work proposes a first review of the results, based on the ongoing anthropological investigations that have made it possible to merge some catalog numbers, recognizing their belonging to a single individual. We also present 19 new dates, both on already dated materials, and on remains and sites previously not investigated (for a total of 171 radiometric determinations, including those already published in several papers), which help in further clarifying the chronology of the funerary use of the caves in Liguria. The results confirm the use of Ligurian caves for burial purposes from the first half of the sixth millennium BCE up to the Byzantine period, with most of the radiometric determinations grouped in the first half of the fifth millennium BCE.