LOCAL AND ALLOCHTHONOUS CHERT SUPPLIES IN EARLY AND MIDDLE NEOLITHIC TRASANELLO VILLAGE (BASILICATA, SOUTHERN ITALY)

The settlement of Trasanello (Matera, Basilicata) is one of the ditched villages typical of the Early and Middle Neolithic of the Southern Italy. These villages have one or more defensive ditches enclosing inhabited areas subdivided by wide empty spaces. The archaeological investigations, carried out from 2007 to 2017 by the Pisa University, allowed the definition of its frequentation. The Early Neolithic phase corresponding to the lower fill of the trench, dated to the first half of VI millennium cal BC, and ascribed to a final phase of the local development of the Impressed Pottery Culture. The Middle Neolithic phase is dated to the second half of VI millennium cal BC and correspond to the lost of function of the trench. A selection of 57 chert artefacts of Early and Middle Neolithic underwent nondestructive petrographic and chemical (pXRF) analyses to understand the provenance of raw materials. The availability of primary (Calcare di Altamura) and secondary (fluvial/marine terraces) chert in the area of Matera motivated the sampling and analysis of local geological chert as reference. The analysis of the knapped chert industry shows the presence of two distinct components. The main component is produced using local secondary chert sources (radiolarite, silicified calcarenites and nodular chert) originated from the outer geological units of the Southern Apennine. Knapping was done by direct and bipolar percussion to obtain non-standardized products. The second component, much rarer, is constituted by ramp to basin cherts from Gargano promontory, introduced in the site as blades and bladelets obtained by pressure flaking or indirect percussion and, minimally, also as prepared and partially exploited cores. Direct and bipolar percussion were employed to recycle and over-exploit a part of the products and by-products. The results of the integrated archaeometric and typo-technological analyses of the knapped chert industry will be then presented.