The First Italian Farmers: The Role of Stone Ornaments in Tradition, Innovation, and Cultural Change

When the first farmers landed on the eastern coast of the Italian peninsula (end of seventh millennium cal BC), they brought with them a system of knowledge and technologies that quickly spread along both the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. The study of the material culture, therefore, assumes an important role in understanding the social and cultural identity of these incoming groups. Analyses of ornament production – involving manufacture technology, raw materials, and stylistic choices – may supply information about the cultural choices and the technical skills of human groups and shed light on the social and symbolic system of these ancient populations. Data obtained from this work show that the ornaments became symbols of a growing cultural identity, which began to be developed within Italian territory. In the ornamental assemblages of the newcomers, the relevance of shaped lithic items is clearly visible, and there was the development of types that will become more and more standardized during the Neolithic period. However, elements in the symbolic culture of these first settlers, such as the use of Columbella rustica and the exclusive production of hard animal matter ornaments in some sites, recall previous traditions. This study intends to extend our knowledge on the ornamental customs of the first Italian Neolithic communities. It will attempt to establish if the chronological and the geographical differences that emerge from our analyses reflect diversities in the cultural and symbolic systems of the incoming farmers and different possible interactions with the native population.