A rich source of data for the study of ancient populations: Liguria, where the exceptional concentration of human remains from archaeological contexts — particularly caves — now largely preserved in museums, makes it possible to analyse samples in sufficient numbers without the need for new excavations.
An international study focusing on Liguria, published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, analysed the remains of individuals from several sites in the Finalese area, in the province of Savona, both along the coast and inland. The period under investigation is that of the spread of agriculture in the Italian peninsula, beginning around 6000 BC, when groups of farmers from the Near East, particularly Anatolia, reached Europe and interacted with local hunter-gatherer populations.
As the study shows, the Ligurian case suggests that interactions between these populations did not follow a single pattern, but rather a combination of different dynamics — assimilation and, to some extent, replacement — that varied over time and space.
The research adopted a morphometric approach, analysing cranial features from 27 individuals and comparing them with extensive European samples from different periods. Relationships between populations were reconstructed using multivariate statistical techniques, with cranial shape serving as an indicator of biological affinities.
The results outline a complex pattern of interactions between populations. In the early phases of the Neolithic, evidence is consistent with forms of assimilation: incoming farming groups interacted with local hunter-gatherers and partially intermingled with them. In later phases, however, the population appears more homogeneous. This does not indicate that hunter-gatherers were progressively replaced by farmers; rather, it suggests that, after an initial phase of mixing, the population stabilised and no longer incorporated significant numbers of local individuals. In other words, the reduced variability reflects a decline in contact and integration, rather than a process of replacement.
“The results show that the Neolithic settlement of Liguria was the product of diverse interactions between human groups, with outcomes that were not uniform over time and space. Migration is not a linear phenomenon but a complex process that has always accompanied human history: in this case as well, we see how groups from other regions, such as the Near East, interacted with local populations, giving rise to different dynamics,” says Professor Elisabetta Starnini of the Department of Civilisations and Forms of Knowledge at the University of Pisa, co-author of the study. “My contribution was to place these data within the archaeological framework, interpreting them in light of material and cultural evidence in order to better understand how these interactions translated into historical reality.”
The study involved the Universities of Cagliari, Florence and Palermo, as well as the CNRS and the University of Bordeaux.
