The Castelnovian burial of Mondeval de Sora (San Vito di Cadore, Belluno, Italy): evidence for changes in the social organisation of Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in north-eastern Italy

The Late Mesolithic (Castelnovian) burial of Mondeval de Sora was discovered in 1987 within an archaeological sequence located under a large erratic boulder in the Belluno Dolomites (south-eastern Alps, Italy) at an altitude of 215o m a.s.l. It belongs to a 4o-year-old male individual who was buried in supine position with outstretched limbs and his lower part covered with stones. Sixty objects made out of different materials - chert, stone, deer bone and antler and two agglomerates composed of propolis and resins respectively – accompanied the well-preserved skeleton. New data from re-analysis of the rich repertoire of chert artefacts that compose an important part of the burial goods (36 objects) are here presented. The results obtained indicate a mosaic of aspects with elements of continuity and discontinuity with Late Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic traditions. In particular, discontinuity involves the technology entailed in the manufacture of artefacts, while functional studies indicate an intensification of some activities already documented in the Early Mesolithic phase and raw material provisioning systems reflect the establishment of renovated mobility paths. These changes in the techno-economical and territorial organization seem also to affect ritual practices, possibly reflecting relevant transformations in their social organization.