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Paolo Biagi

Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Asian and North African Studies, Senior Researcher

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Phone: +39 0412346324
Address: Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca' Cappello, San Polo 2035, I-30125 Venezia

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Papers by Paolo Biagi

P Biagi 2023 - Mount Chikiani Obsidian Sources (Lesser Caucasus, Georgia)

East and West, 2023

The scope of the surveys carried out during the last week of July and the first ten days of Augus... more The scope of the surveys carried out during the last week of July and the first ten days of August 2023 was to improve our knowledge of the presence of knapped obsidian artefacts in the high-altitude stone-walled Bronze Age villages and kurgans located within a radius of some 50 km from the obsidian mines located on the Eastern slopes of Mt. Chikiani, and to improve our knowledge of the circulation and trade of this important knappable raw material. During the 2023 season a Garmin GPS and a non-professional drone (DJI Mini 2) were systematically employed to locate and photograph the archaeological structures. Among them are dozens of kurgans, some of which were discovered on the Western slopes of Mt. Paravani at c. 2500 m a.s.l. Artefacts knapped from obsidian obtained from both Mt. Chikiani and the Armenian source of Ashotsk were found in this area.

Exploitation, Transport, and Circulation of the Rohri Hills Chert (Sindh, Pakistan) during the Indus Period

Heritage, 2024

During the third millennium cal BC, the Indus communities exploited great quantities of chert fro... more During the third millennium cal BC, the Indus communities exploited great quantities of
chert from the Rohri Hills mines in Upper Sindh for making different types of artifacts. This paper
discusses the way chert was transported to the Indus Civilization centers and the problems related to
the type, quantity, and quality of raw material and artifacts that were transported, including when,
why, and where. This paper raises the question of land and water transport. Both these methods
were probably used according to the landscape location of the Indus sites. Another problem concerns
the landscape characteristics of the Indus Valley during the Bronze Age before the climate changes
that took place around the end of the third millennium cal BC and the disappearance of the Hakra
River, which was an important watercourse during the Indus phase. What do we know of the way
the Indus communities exploited, transported, and circulated knappable chert? Why have the Indus
settlements excavated around the Rohri Hills, the largest chert mines of the Indian Subcontinent,
yielded little evidence of chert artifacts and nodules? What do we know of this important problem,
which is strictly related to the everyday life of the Indus communities and their economy? Why this
problem has been systematically neglected by most archaeologists despite its importance?

P. Biagi, R. Nisbet, T. Fantuzzi - Exploiting Mangroves and Rushing Back Home. Fifteen Years of Research Along the Northern Coast of the Arabian Sea, Pakistan

The Radiocarbon Chronology of the Shan-Koba Rock-Shelter, a Late Paaleolithic an Mesoithic Sequence in the Crimean Mountains (Ukraine)

The Archaeological Record of the Indus (Harappan) Lithic Production: The Excavation of RH862 Flint Mine and Flint Workshops on the Rohri Hills (Upper Sindh, Pakistan)

Despite more than twenty-five years of intensive research on the exploitation of the lithic raw m... more Despite more than twenty-five years of intensive research on the exploitation of the lithic raw material sources, and the typological characteristics of the Indus (Harappan) chipped stone assemblages by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Sindh, this topic is still neglected in both the recent literature and the general syntheses on the Indus Civilization. Although much work is undoubtedly still to be made, this paper shows how our knowledge has greatly improved mainly thanks to the systematic excavation of flint mining sites and knapping workshops on the Rohri Hills, focussing in particular on Site RH862. Site RH862 is located along the central-western fringes of the Rohri Hills, a series of limestone terraces (or mesas) that extend along the eastern side the Indus Valley in Upper Sindh. This paper is a synthesis of the results and data collected during four fieldwork seasons and excavations by the “Joint Rohri Hills Project” in the above flint mine 1 Department of Asian and Nort...

Human Settlement and Environmental Exploitation of Valcamonica-Valtrompia Watershed from the Beginning of the Holocene to the Middle Ages

EnglishThis paper discusses some aspects of the highaltitude peopling of Valcamonica-Valtrompia w... more EnglishThis paper discusses some aspects of the highaltitude peopling of Valcamonica-Valtrompia watershed within the general pattern of the prehistoric and historic exploitation of the Central Alpine arc of northern Italy. Research carried out during the last 30 years has shown extensive evidence of human occupation starting from the end of the Late Palaeolithic. More information is available for the beginning of the Holocene, witnessing the ascent of the watershed by groups of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers as soon as the alpine pastures had been freed from the ice sheet. The highland zone was exploited again during the Bronze Age, as shown by the recovery of flint arrowheads from present-day footpaths, and a good set of radiocarbon dates. More recent, though sporadic occupations are documented during the Iron Age and the early Medieval period italianoIl lavoro presenta una sintesi dei dati a disposizione riguardanti la frequentazione umana piu antica delle alte quote alpine, con part...

Liguria: 11,000-7000 BP

Prehistoric Shell Middens, Seascapes and Landscapes at Lake Siranda (Las bela, Balochistan): Preliminary Results of the 2011 Fieldwork Season

AbstractThe first season of archaeological surveys carried along the shores of Lake Siranda (Las ... more AbstractThe first season of archaeological surveys carried along the shores of Lake Siranda (Las Bela, Balochistan) in January 2011 has shown the presence of two prehistoric shell middens characterised by fragments of mangrove and marine shells as well as chipped stone artefacts. The shell middens were AMS dated to the middle Holocene by one single specimen of Terebralia palustris gastropod. Their presence indicates that mangrove environments exploited by groups of shellfish gatherers existed in the area at least since the above period, and that the present-day lake depression was in fact a shallow tidal lagoon of the Arabian Sea, the shores of which had been settled at least during part of the Neolithic.KeywordsBalochistan, Las Bela, Lake Siranda, Shell middens, Mangrove environments, Shellfish gatherers1. PrefaceThis paper is a preliminary report of the surveys carried out at Lake Siranda in January 2011. Its scope is to describe the finds we discovered, discuss the results we obt...

A Late Palaeolithic Site at Ouriakos (Limnos, Greece) in the north-eastern Aegean

Antiquity, 2013

Between History and Archaeology: Papers in honour of Jacek Lech, 2018

Author response: 'Palaeoshellomics’ reveals the use of freshwater mother-of-pearl in prehistory

Abstract The extensive use of mollusc shell as a versatile raw material is testament to its impor... more Abstract The extensive use of mollusc shell as a versatile raw material is testament to its importance in prehistoric times. The consistent choice of certain species for different purposes, including the making of ornaments, is a direct representation of how humans viewed and exploited their environment. The necessary taxonomic information, however, is often impossible to obtain from objects that are small, heavily worked or degraded. Here we propose a novel biogeochemical approach to track the biological origin of prehistoric mollusc shell. We conducted an in-depth study of archaeological ornaments using microstructural, geochemical and biomolecular analyses, including ‘palaeoshellomics’, the first application of palaeoproteomics to mollusc shells (and indeed to any invertebrate calcified tissue). We reveal the consistent use of locally-sourced freshwater mother-of-pearl for the standardised manufacture of ‘double-buttons’. This craft is found throughout Europe between 4200–3800 BCE, highlighting the ornament-makers’ profound knowledge of the biogeosphere and the existence of cross-cultural traditions. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.45644.001

The beginning of the Neolithic in the Po Plain (northern Italy): Problems and perspectives

Quaternary International, 2017

P. Biagi - Uneasy Riders: With Alexander and Nearchus from Pattala to Rhambakia

The scope of this paper is to interpret the road followed by Alexander and Nearchus on their way ... more The scope of this paper is to interpret the road followed by Alexander and Nearchus on their way back to Babylon from the Indus delta to the country of the fi sh-eaters (Gedrosia). To achieve this goal both classical sources and personal fi eldwork experience in Lower Sindh and Las Bela province of Balochistan were taken into consideration. Given the absence of archaeological fi nds attributable to the Hellenistic period, the unreliability of most of the classical chronicles that were written centuries after the death of Alexander, the landscape changes that aff ected the aforementioned territories during the last two millennia, and the controversial results obtained by fi eldwork by British offi cers and geographers during the period of their conquest of the region, our data on the Macedonian retreat from the country is very poor. Nevertheless, just a few topics can be reinterpreted on the basis of the fi eld evidence acquired during the last 10 years. They regard the way, and the ...

E. Starnini, P. Biagi, B. Gratuze 2024 - ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE OBSIDIAN ASSEMBLAGE FROM HODONI/HODONY (BANAT, ROMANIA) HODONI/HODONY (BÁNÁT, ROMÁNIA) LELŐHELYRŐL SZÁRMAZÓ OBSZIDIÁNOK ARCHEOMETRIAI VIZSGÁLATA

Archeometriai Műhely, 2024

Hodoni "Pocioroane" is one of the archaeological sites discovered near the village of Hodoni/Hodo... more Hodoni "Pocioroane" is one of the archaeological sites discovered near the village of Hodoni/Hodony, ca. 25 km north of Timişoara, in the Romanian Banat. The excavations carried out at "Pocioroane" have yielded traces of superimposed Neolithic settlements and a medieval cemetery. This paper considers 113 obsidian artefacts recovered during the excavations carried out between 1985 and 1991 in the Vinča C2 and Tisza culture layers and features. The obsidian artefacts are represented by waste flakes, bladelets, exhausted cores and a few retouched tools two of which show utilisation marks. The artefacts have been characterised by LA-ICP-MS and XRF methods at the

P. Biagi - Holocene peopling and sea-level changes along the northern coast of the Arabian Sea (Pakistan

Discover Oceans, 2024

Surveys carried out in the provinces of Las Bela and Lower Sindh (Pakistan) have led to the disco... more Surveys carried out in the provinces of Las Bela and Lower Sindh (Pakistan) have led to the discovery of many concentrations of knapped stone artefacts associated with mangrove and sea shells. The most important group of sites has been discovered along the shores of Lake Siranda (Balochistan) and on the limestone terraces that rise from the Indus Plain in Lower Sindh. The radiocarbon dates obtained from the Lake Siranda sites have shown that the ancient lagoon was seasonally settled between the last two centuries of the 8th and the end of the 5th millennium uncal BP that is from the beginning of the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Although more research is needed, we now know the important role played by the coastal zones of Las Bela and Lower Sindh in the Holocene archaeology of the Arabian Sea, the only region of the northern coastline that has provided evidence of Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement. The Neolithic knapped stones discovered during the surveys consist of bladelet artefacts and geometric microliths made from local cherts, while the Chalcolithic Amri Culture implements are obtained from exotic flint. Since the beginning of the Holocene the coastal zone has been affected by dramatic events among which are sea-level rise, tectonic activity, subsidence, and the advance of the Indus Delta. The present landscape shaped around the end of the Bronze Age, when arid conditions established and the Indus Civilisation declined. Unfortunately many of the coastal sites are in danger or have been destroyed by industrial development.

Paolo Biagi, Elisabetta Starnini - The Upper Palaeolithic in the Greater Indus Valley (Pakistan): Problems and perspectives

PREHİSTORYA’NIN “ABİ”Sİ HARUN TAŞKIRAN’A ARMAĞAN KİTABI / STUDIES IN HONOUR OF HARUN TAŞKIRAN, 2023

Archaeological surveys carried out in Sindh in the 1970s were resumed during the last decade and ... more Archaeological surveys carried out in Sindh in the 1970s were resumed during the last decade and are still underway. They have shown that Upper Palaeolithic assemblages occur in few territories of the Greater Indus Valley, Lower Sindh in particular. Among them are the northern coast
of the Arabian Sea and the banks of the seasonal watercourses that flow into the Indian Ocean from the desert regions of the interior. The chronology of the Upper Palaeolithic complexes is difficult to define because the sites consist of surface knapped chert artefacts, in association with which organic material suitable for dating has never been retrieved. The prehistoric lithic assemblages recovered from the southernmost territories of Lower Sindh consist of typical instruments, among which are thick, curved, unilateral abrupt-retouched points obtained from core rejuvenation bladelike flakes. The blanks have been detached from corticated bipolar cores obtained from small chert
pebbles. Upper Palaeolithic workshops for the production of bladelet blanks are very common in the Rohri, Ongar and Daphro Hills near Sukkur and Kotri respectively.

Światowit • LXI • 2022

Światowit , 2022

The problem of the origin of the Indus Civilisation has attracted attention of many colleagues wo... more The problem of the origin of the Indus Civilisation has attracted attention of many colleagues working on the archaeology of the Indian Subcontinent and the Indus Valley in particular. What is the role played by the cultural processes preceding the origin and spread of one of the most important Bronze Age civilisations of the ancient world? This paper examines some aspects of the Amri Phase, which flourished in Sindh during the 4 th millennium BC. Our knowledge in this area is very poor. It relies almost exclusively on the ceramic assemblages retrieved during excavations carried out in the type site in the 1960s. Research currently underway in Lower Sindh has led to the discovery of more sites relevant for this problem. Many of them are located close to the ancient Arabian Sea coastline or on limestone terraces which used to be islands in the Chalcolithic times. They consist of shell middens, whose surface has yielded characteristic Amri Culture knapped stone assemblages.

The Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Settlement of Northern Italy: Problems and Perspectives

Quaternary, 2024

This paper considers some problems of the Late Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic periods in Norther... more This paper considers some problems of the Late Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic periods in Northern Italy. More precisely, it deals with chronology, settlement pattern, techno-typological characteristics of knapped stone assemblages, and climatic changes that have taken place in theregion from the discovery of the first sites in the 1960s and the excavations that soon followed to the present state of research. The Italian Alps, the Piedmont, and the valleys that descend from the high massifs have yielded important traces of Late Palaeolithic (Final Epigravettian) and Mesolithic (Sauveterrian and Castelnovian) sites and findspots, some of which are rock shelters that were settled
throughout several millennia. This paper describes and discusses the evidence available mainly from two regions of the western and eastern Alpine arc, which are characterised by very different landscapes and yielded a great variety of archaeological features.

Forgotten Islands of the Past: The Archaeology of the Northern Coast of the Arabian Sea

Island Studies Journal, 2023

The Indus Delta plays an important role in the archaeology of the northern coast of the Arabian S... more The Indus Delta plays an important role in the archaeology of the northern coast of the Arabian Sea. Little was known of this region until a few decades ago. The first surveys were carried out in the 1970s and were resumed by the present author in the 2010s. They have shown the great potential of the area for the interpretation of sea-level rise and its related human settlement between the beginning of the Holocene and the Hellenistic period. In this territory, several limestone terraces rise from the alluvial plain of the River Indus, which were islands in prehistoric and early historic times. Many archaeological artefacts, along with marine and mangrove shells, have been recovered from their surface and radiocarbon dated. These discoveries help us to follow the events that took place in the region in well-defined periods and interpret some aspects of the prehistoric coastal settlement in relation to the advance of the Indus Fan and the retreat of the Arabian Sea. The following questions are addressed in this paper: who settled these islands, when and why? During which prehistoric periods were mangrove and marine environments exploited? And what were the cultural characteristics of the communities that seasonally or permanently settled some of the present 'rocky outcrops'?

Surveys in Lower Sindh: Preliminary Results of the 2021 Season

by Paolo Biagi, Carlo Franco, and Syed F A R A Z Ali

Sindh Antiquities, 2021

Surveys carried out in December 2021 around Gharo, Gujo, the Makli Hills, and the terraces of the... more Surveys carried out in December 2021 around Gharo, Gujo, the Makli Hills, and the terraces of the Khadeji and Mol Rivers have yielded important knapped stone assemblages, which contribute to the study of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene prehistory of Lower Sindh. The surveys were conducted by three persons, and the finds were mapped with the help of a high-precision GPS. Moreover, marine and mangrove shell samples were collected for radiocarbon dating to build a detailed chronology of the prehistoric periods during which the coastal area was settled. Special attention has been paid to the limestone terraces around Gharo, just north of the historical centre of Bhambore, the Tharro Hills, Beri and part of the Makli Hill, close to the city of Kalan Kot. The lithic assemblages recovered during the surveys are not very rich. However, some of them show characteristic technotypological traits, which attribute them to the Chalcolithic Amri Culture, while others are undoubtedly older. This fact, and the absence of Bronze Age material culture remains, is very important. It shows that some of the terraces which rise from the alluvial plain of the Indus, were settled during the fourth millennium cal BC when the landscape was very different from that of the present, and the limestone outcrops were islands surrounded by Arabian Sea waters or mangrove environments.

P Biagi 2023 - Mount Chikiani Obsidian Sources (Lesser Caucasus, Georgia)

East and West, 2023

The scope of the surveys carried out during the last week of July and the first ten days of Augus... more The scope of the surveys carried out during the last week of July and the first ten days of August 2023 was to improve our knowledge of the presence of knapped obsidian artefacts in the high-altitude stone-walled Bronze Age villages and kurgans located within a radius of some 50 km from the obsidian mines located on the Eastern slopes of Mt. Chikiani, and to improve our knowledge of the circulation and trade of this important knappable raw material. During the 2023 season a Garmin GPS and a non-professional drone (DJI Mini 2) were systematically employed to locate and photograph the archaeological structures. Among them are dozens of kurgans, some of which were discovered on the Western slopes of Mt. Paravani at c. 2500 m a.s.l. Artefacts knapped from obsidian obtained from both Mt. Chikiani and the Armenian source of Ashotsk were found in this area.

Exploitation, Transport, and Circulation of the Rohri Hills Chert (Sindh, Pakistan) during the Indus Period

Heritage, 2024

During the third millennium cal BC, the Indus communities exploited great quantities of chert fro... more During the third millennium cal BC, the Indus communities exploited great quantities of
chert from the Rohri Hills mines in Upper Sindh for making different types of artifacts. This paper
discusses the way chert was transported to the Indus Civilization centers and the problems related to
the type, quantity, and quality of raw material and artifacts that were transported, including when,
why, and where. This paper raises the question of land and water transport. Both these methods
were probably used according to the landscape location of the Indus sites. Another problem concerns
the landscape characteristics of the Indus Valley during the Bronze Age before the climate changes
that took place around the end of the third millennium cal BC and the disappearance of the Hakra
River, which was an important watercourse during the Indus phase. What do we know of the way
the Indus communities exploited, transported, and circulated knappable chert? Why have the Indus
settlements excavated around the Rohri Hills, the largest chert mines of the Indian Subcontinent,
yielded little evidence of chert artifacts and nodules? What do we know of this important problem,
which is strictly related to the everyday life of the Indus communities and their economy? Why this
problem has been systematically neglected by most archaeologists despite its importance?

P. Biagi, R. Nisbet, T. Fantuzzi - Exploiting Mangroves and Rushing Back Home. Fifteen Years of Research Along the Northern Coast of the Arabian Sea, Pakistan

The Radiocarbon Chronology of the Shan-Koba Rock-Shelter, a Late Paaleolithic an Mesoithic Sequence in the Crimean Mountains (Ukraine)

The Archaeological Record of the Indus (Harappan) Lithic Production: The Excavation of RH862 Flint Mine and Flint Workshops on the Rohri Hills (Upper Sindh, Pakistan)

Despite more than twenty-five years of intensive research on the exploitation of the lithic raw m... more Despite more than twenty-five years of intensive research on the exploitation of the lithic raw material sources, and the typological characteristics of the Indus (Harappan) chipped stone assemblages by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Sindh, this topic is still neglected in both the recent literature and the general syntheses on the Indus Civilization. Although much work is undoubtedly still to be made, this paper shows how our knowledge has greatly improved mainly thanks to the systematic excavation of flint mining sites and knapping workshops on the Rohri Hills, focussing in particular on Site RH862. Site RH862 is located along the central-western fringes of the Rohri Hills, a series of limestone terraces (or mesas) that extend along the eastern side the Indus Valley in Upper Sindh. This paper is a synthesis of the results and data collected during four fieldwork seasons and excavations by the “Joint Rohri Hills Project” in the above flint mine 1 Department of Asian and Nort...

Human Settlement and Environmental Exploitation of Valcamonica-Valtrompia Watershed from the Beginning of the Holocene to the Middle Ages

EnglishThis paper discusses some aspects of the highaltitude peopling of Valcamonica-Valtrompia w... more EnglishThis paper discusses some aspects of the highaltitude peopling of Valcamonica-Valtrompia watershed within the general pattern of the prehistoric and historic exploitation of the Central Alpine arc of northern Italy. Research carried out during the last 30 years has shown extensive evidence of human occupation starting from the end of the Late Palaeolithic. More information is available for the beginning of the Holocene, witnessing the ascent of the watershed by groups of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers as soon as the alpine pastures had been freed from the ice sheet. The highland zone was exploited again during the Bronze Age, as shown by the recovery of flint arrowheads from present-day footpaths, and a good set of radiocarbon dates. More recent, though sporadic occupations are documented during the Iron Age and the early Medieval period italianoIl lavoro presenta una sintesi dei dati a disposizione riguardanti la frequentazione umana piu antica delle alte quote alpine, con part...

Liguria: 11,000-7000 BP

Prehistoric Shell Middens, Seascapes and Landscapes at Lake Siranda (Las bela, Balochistan): Preliminary Results of the 2011 Fieldwork Season

AbstractThe first season of archaeological surveys carried along the shores of Lake Siranda (Las ... more AbstractThe first season of archaeological surveys carried along the shores of Lake Siranda (Las Bela, Balochistan) in January 2011 has shown the presence of two prehistoric shell middens characterised by fragments of mangrove and marine shells as well as chipped stone artefacts. The shell middens were AMS dated to the middle Holocene by one single specimen of Terebralia palustris gastropod. Their presence indicates that mangrove environments exploited by groups of shellfish gatherers existed in the area at least since the above period, and that the present-day lake depression was in fact a shallow tidal lagoon of the Arabian Sea, the shores of which had been settled at least during part of the Neolithic.KeywordsBalochistan, Las Bela, Lake Siranda, Shell middens, Mangrove environments, Shellfish gatherers1. PrefaceThis paper is a preliminary report of the surveys carried out at Lake Siranda in January 2011. Its scope is to describe the finds we discovered, discuss the results we obt...

A Late Palaeolithic Site at Ouriakos (Limnos, Greece) in the north-eastern Aegean

Antiquity, 2013

Between History and Archaeology: Papers in honour of Jacek Lech, 2018

Author response: 'Palaeoshellomics’ reveals the use of freshwater mother-of-pearl in prehistory

Abstract The extensive use of mollusc shell as a versatile raw material is testament to its impor... more Abstract The extensive use of mollusc shell as a versatile raw material is testament to its importance in prehistoric times. The consistent choice of certain species for different purposes, including the making of ornaments, is a direct representation of how humans viewed and exploited their environment. The necessary taxonomic information, however, is often impossible to obtain from objects that are small, heavily worked or degraded. Here we propose a novel biogeochemical approach to track the biological origin of prehistoric mollusc shell. We conducted an in-depth study of archaeological ornaments using microstructural, geochemical and biomolecular analyses, including ‘palaeoshellomics’, the first application of palaeoproteomics to mollusc shells (and indeed to any invertebrate calcified tissue). We reveal the consistent use of locally-sourced freshwater mother-of-pearl for the standardised manufacture of ‘double-buttons’. This craft is found throughout Europe between 4200–3800 BCE, highlighting the ornament-makers’ profound knowledge of the biogeosphere and the existence of cross-cultural traditions. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.45644.001

The beginning of the Neolithic in the Po Plain (northern Italy): Problems and perspectives

Quaternary International, 2017

P. Biagi - Uneasy Riders: With Alexander and Nearchus from Pattala to Rhambakia

The scope of this paper is to interpret the road followed by Alexander and Nearchus on their way ... more The scope of this paper is to interpret the road followed by Alexander and Nearchus on their way back to Babylon from the Indus delta to the country of the fi sh-eaters (Gedrosia). To achieve this goal both classical sources and personal fi eldwork experience in Lower Sindh and Las Bela province of Balochistan were taken into consideration. Given the absence of archaeological fi nds attributable to the Hellenistic period, the unreliability of most of the classical chronicles that were written centuries after the death of Alexander, the landscape changes that aff ected the aforementioned territories during the last two millennia, and the controversial results obtained by fi eldwork by British offi cers and geographers during the period of their conquest of the region, our data on the Macedonian retreat from the country is very poor. Nevertheless, just a few topics can be reinterpreted on the basis of the fi eld evidence acquired during the last 10 years. They regard the way, and the ...

E. Starnini, P. Biagi, B. Gratuze 2024 - ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE OBSIDIAN ASSEMBLAGE FROM HODONI/HODONY (BANAT, ROMANIA) HODONI/HODONY (BÁNÁT, ROMÁNIA) LELŐHELYRŐL SZÁRMAZÓ OBSZIDIÁNOK ARCHEOMETRIAI VIZSGÁLATA

Archeometriai Műhely, 2024

Hodoni "Pocioroane" is one of the archaeological sites discovered near the village of Hodoni/Hodo... more Hodoni "Pocioroane" is one of the archaeological sites discovered near the village of Hodoni/Hodony, ca. 25 km north of Timişoara, in the Romanian Banat. The excavations carried out at "Pocioroane" have yielded traces of superimposed Neolithic settlements and a medieval cemetery. This paper considers 113 obsidian artefacts recovered during the excavations carried out between 1985 and 1991 in the Vinča C2 and Tisza culture layers and features. The obsidian artefacts are represented by waste flakes, bladelets, exhausted cores and a few retouched tools two of which show utilisation marks. The artefacts have been characterised by LA-ICP-MS and XRF methods at the

P. Biagi - Holocene peopling and sea-level changes along the northern coast of the Arabian Sea (Pakistan

Discover Oceans, 2024

Surveys carried out in the provinces of Las Bela and Lower Sindh (Pakistan) have led to the disco... more Surveys carried out in the provinces of Las Bela and Lower Sindh (Pakistan) have led to the discovery of many concentrations of knapped stone artefacts associated with mangrove and sea shells. The most important group of sites has been discovered along the shores of Lake Siranda (Balochistan) and on the limestone terraces that rise from the Indus Plain in Lower Sindh. The radiocarbon dates obtained from the Lake Siranda sites have shown that the ancient lagoon was seasonally settled between the last two centuries of the 8th and the end of the 5th millennium uncal BP that is from the beginning of the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Although more research is needed, we now know the important role played by the coastal zones of Las Bela and Lower Sindh in the Holocene archaeology of the Arabian Sea, the only region of the northern coastline that has provided evidence of Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement. The Neolithic knapped stones discovered during the surveys consist of bladelet artefacts and geometric microliths made from local cherts, while the Chalcolithic Amri Culture implements are obtained from exotic flint. Since the beginning of the Holocene the coastal zone has been affected by dramatic events among which are sea-level rise, tectonic activity, subsidence, and the advance of the Indus Delta. The present landscape shaped around the end of the Bronze Age, when arid conditions established and the Indus Civilisation declined. Unfortunately many of the coastal sites are in danger or have been destroyed by industrial development.

Paolo Biagi, Elisabetta Starnini - The Upper Palaeolithic in the Greater Indus Valley (Pakistan): Problems and perspectives

PREHİSTORYA’NIN “ABİ”Sİ HARUN TAŞKIRAN’A ARMAĞAN KİTABI / STUDIES IN HONOUR OF HARUN TAŞKIRAN, 2023

Archaeological surveys carried out in Sindh in the 1970s were resumed during the last decade and ... more Archaeological surveys carried out in Sindh in the 1970s were resumed during the last decade and are still underway. They have shown that Upper Palaeolithic assemblages occur in few territories of the Greater Indus Valley, Lower Sindh in particular. Among them are the northern coast
of the Arabian Sea and the banks of the seasonal watercourses that flow into the Indian Ocean from the desert regions of the interior. The chronology of the Upper Palaeolithic complexes is difficult to define because the sites consist of surface knapped chert artefacts, in association with which organic material suitable for dating has never been retrieved. The prehistoric lithic assemblages recovered from the southernmost territories of Lower Sindh consist of typical instruments, among which are thick, curved, unilateral abrupt-retouched points obtained from core rejuvenation bladelike flakes. The blanks have been detached from corticated bipolar cores obtained from small chert
pebbles. Upper Palaeolithic workshops for the production of bladelet blanks are very common in the Rohri, Ongar and Daphro Hills near Sukkur and Kotri respectively.

Światowit • LXI • 2022

Światowit , 2022

The problem of the origin of the Indus Civilisation has attracted attention of many colleagues wo... more The problem of the origin of the Indus Civilisation has attracted attention of many colleagues working on the archaeology of the Indian Subcontinent and the Indus Valley in particular. What is the role played by the cultural processes preceding the origin and spread of one of the most important Bronze Age civilisations of the ancient world? This paper examines some aspects of the Amri Phase, which flourished in Sindh during the 4 th millennium BC. Our knowledge in this area is very poor. It relies almost exclusively on the ceramic assemblages retrieved during excavations carried out in the type site in the 1960s. Research currently underway in Lower Sindh has led to the discovery of more sites relevant for this problem. Many of them are located close to the ancient Arabian Sea coastline or on limestone terraces which used to be islands in the Chalcolithic times. They consist of shell middens, whose surface has yielded characteristic Amri Culture knapped stone assemblages.

The Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Settlement of Northern Italy: Problems and Perspectives

Quaternary, 2024

This paper considers some problems of the Late Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic periods in Norther... more This paper considers some problems of the Late Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic periods in Northern Italy. More precisely, it deals with chronology, settlement pattern, techno-typological characteristics of knapped stone assemblages, and climatic changes that have taken place in theregion from the discovery of the first sites in the 1960s and the excavations that soon followed to the present state of research. The Italian Alps, the Piedmont, and the valleys that descend from the high massifs have yielded important traces of Late Palaeolithic (Final Epigravettian) and Mesolithic (Sauveterrian and Castelnovian) sites and findspots, some of which are rock shelters that were settled
throughout several millennia. This paper describes and discusses the evidence available mainly from two regions of the western and eastern Alpine arc, which are characterised by very different landscapes and yielded a great variety of archaeological features.

Forgotten Islands of the Past: The Archaeology of the Northern Coast of the Arabian Sea

Island Studies Journal, 2023

The Indus Delta plays an important role in the archaeology of the northern coast of the Arabian S... more The Indus Delta plays an important role in the archaeology of the northern coast of the Arabian Sea. Little was known of this region until a few decades ago. The first surveys were carried out in the 1970s and were resumed by the present author in the 2010s. They have shown the great potential of the area for the interpretation of sea-level rise and its related human settlement between the beginning of the Holocene and the Hellenistic period. In this territory, several limestone terraces rise from the alluvial plain of the River Indus, which were islands in prehistoric and early historic times. Many archaeological artefacts, along with marine and mangrove shells, have been recovered from their surface and radiocarbon dated. These discoveries help us to follow the events that took place in the region in well-defined periods and interpret some aspects of the prehistoric coastal settlement in relation to the advance of the Indus Fan and the retreat of the Arabian Sea. The following questions are addressed in this paper: who settled these islands, when and why? During which prehistoric periods were mangrove and marine environments exploited? And what were the cultural characteristics of the communities that seasonally or permanently settled some of the present 'rocky outcrops'?

Surveys in Lower Sindh: Preliminary Results of the 2021 Season

by Paolo Biagi, Carlo Franco, and Syed F A R A Z Ali

Sindh Antiquities, 2021

Surveys carried out in December 2021 around Gharo, Gujo, the Makli Hills, and the terraces of the... more Surveys carried out in December 2021 around Gharo, Gujo, the Makli Hills, and the terraces of the Khadeji and Mol Rivers have yielded important knapped stone assemblages, which contribute to the study of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene prehistory of Lower Sindh. The surveys were conducted by three persons, and the finds were mapped with the help of a high-precision GPS. Moreover, marine and mangrove shell samples were collected for radiocarbon dating to build a detailed chronology of the prehistoric periods during which the coastal area was settled. Special attention has been paid to the limestone terraces around Gharo, just north of the historical centre of Bhambore, the Tharro Hills, Beri and part of the Makli Hill, close to the city of Kalan Kot. The lithic assemblages recovered during the surveys are not very rich. However, some of them show characteristic technotypological traits, which attribute them to the Chalcolithic Amri Culture, while others are undoubtedly older. This fact, and the absence of Bronze Age material culture remains, is very important. It shows that some of the terraces which rise from the alluvial plain of the Indus, were settled during the fourth millennium cal BC when the landscape was very different from that of the present, and the limestone outcrops were islands surrounded by Arabian Sea waters or mangrove environments.

Gunflints from Greece: more specimens from the Samarina highlands of the Pindus range of Western Macedonia

Gunflints Bulletin 10, 2020

Description of 4 new gunflints from the Samarina mountains in Western Macedonia and the discussio... more

P Biagi, E Starnini & C Beltrame 2015 - Gunflints from the sea: The Mercurio shipwreck in the north Adriatic waters (Italy)

by Paolo Biagi and Elisabetta Starnini

Preliminary report of the study of a gunflint assemblage from the Italic Kingdom Napoleonic brig ... more

Gunflint Newsletter NS 7 (includes - Biagi, P., Starnini, E., & Beltrame, C. 2015: Gunflints from the sea: The Mercurio shipwreck in the north Adriatic waters (Italy))

by Torben Bjarke Ballin, Paolo Biagi, and Elisabetta Starnini

Gunflint Newsletter NS 4 (includes - Biagi, P., Starnini, E., & Efstratiou, N. 2015: Gunflints from Greece: a few specimens from Lemnos, and the Pindus range of Western Macedonia)

by Torben Bjarke Ballin, Paolo Biagi, and Elisabetta Starnini

P. Biagi 1978 - La Preistoria in terra bresciana. Culture e stazioni dal paleolitico all'età del bronzo

Schede Grafo 3, 1978

A synthesis of our knowledge of the prehistoric archaeology of the province of Brescia (northern ... more

P. Biagi 1981 - Preistoria nel Cremonese e nel Mantovano. Culture e stazioni dal Paleolitico all'Età del Rame

SChede Grafo n. 7, Brescia , 1981

A synthesis of our knowledge of the prehistory of these two regions of Northern Italy from the Pa... more

150 Years of Oriental Studies at Ca’ Foscari

I Libri di Ca' Foscari 8, 2018

Papers on oriental topics by researchers of Ca' Foscari University to celebrate its 150th anniver... more

Casal Amri figures 101-Tables

Fouilles d'Amri volume II, 1964

Plates from Casal's volume II, excavations at Amri, 1964

Casal, J.-M. 1964 - Fouilles d'Amri Volume II

Fouilles d'Amri, 1964

Figures 1-100 from the Amri excavations volume, 1964

HIGHLAND ZONE EXPLOITATION IN SOUTHERN EUROPE

Monografie di Natura Bresciana, 20, 1994

Proceedings of the International Round table held at the Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali di Br... more

Monografie diNatura Bresciana, 13

The Neolithisation of the Apine Region, 1990

Proceedings of the conference held at The Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali

G. Laplace 1964 - Essai de Typologie Systématique

Annali dell'Università di Ferrara, sezione Paleontologia Umana e Paletnologia, Supplemento II al Volume I, 1964

The most famous work by G. Laplace, published in Ferrara in 1964. Basic text of Late Palaeolithi... more

Dreamers. 40 Years of Italian Archaelogical Excavations in Oman, 2019

Two papers regarding the researches caried out in Oman in the 1980s. One on the coastel survey, o... more

P. Biagi (ed.) 1990 - The Neolithisation of the Alpine Region. Part II

Monografie di Natura Bresciana 13: pages 99-157. Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Brescia, 2018

More papers on the topic, continuing part 1

P. Biagi (ed.) 1990 - The Neolitihisation of the Alpine region

Monografie di Natura Bresciana 13. Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Brescia, 1990

Giornata dell'archeologia: scavi e ricerche del Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici a cura di Luigi Sperti

Volume 11, 2017, of the serieswith 9 papers on the archaeological activities of the Department of... more

12: PAOLO BIAGI -- New Discoveries of Mesolithic sites in the Thar Desert (Upper Sindh, Pakistan)

by Eric Olijdam and Paolo Biagi

Exploiting Mangroves and Rushing Back Home Fifteen Years of Research Along the Northern Coast of the Arabian Sea, Pakistan

The research carried out between 2000 and 2014 along the northern coast of the Arabian Sea in Low... more The research carried out between 2000 and 2014 along the northern coast of the Arabian Sea in Lower Sindh and Las Bela (Balochistan, Pakistan) has shown that the two regions started to be settled during the last two centuries of the 8th millennium BP. The sites consist of shell middens, shell scatters and fishermen villages, many of which were sampled for conventional and AMS radiocarbon dating from mangrove and marine shells. So far 95 sites have been AMS (GrA-) or conventionally (GrN-) radiocarbon-dated. This paper describes the results obtained from three well-defined macro areas (Lake Siranda, the coastline between Cape Gadani and the Hab River mouth, and the Indus Delta) where the aforementioned research methodology has been applied. The results contribute to the interpretation of the archaeology of the coastal area of Pakistan and the Arabian Sea, the definition of the sea-level variations since the mid-Atlantic period, the presence/absence and exploitation of ancient mangroves, the dynamic of the Indus Delta advance, and the chronology of the early navigation along the northern coast of the Indian Ocean.

C. Antonetti, Introduction and edition of: With Alexander in India and Central Asia. Moving East and Back to West, Oxford (Oxbow) 2017.

by Claudia Antonetti and Paolo Biagi

Proceedings of the International Conference 'Anabasi: Sulle orme di Alessandro dalla morte di Dar... more

Eurasiatica 6. Armenia, Caucaso e Asia Centrale Ricerche 2016 (edited by A. Ferrari and E. Ianiro)

New Data on Source Characterization and Exploitation of Obsidian from the Chikiani Area (Georgia)... more New Data on Source Characterization and Exploitation of Obsidian
from the Chikiani Area (Georgia)
Paolo Biagi, Bernard Gratuze 9
Ricerche archeologiche dell’Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia
in Georgia (2009-2014)
Elena Rova 37
I kurgan reali del periodo scita: complessità architettonica,
ideologia e ritualismo funerario
Lorenzo Crescioli 65
Antiche città alane
Paolo Ognibene 117
La traduzione armena del breviario domenicano (Venezia 1714)
Note di storia, codicologia e bibliografia testuale
Paolo Lucca 135
Fazil’ Iskander: la letteratura russa canta l’Abcasia
Maria Candida Ghidini 177
The ‘Water Relations in Central Asia Dataset’ (WRCAD)
An online tool for researchers, practitioners and students
Filippo Menga 185
The Development of State-civil Society Relations in Kazakhstan
Chiara Pierobon 203

Atti del II Convegno di Studi Balcanici

Eurasiatica, Quaderni di Studi su Balcani, Anatolia, Iran, Caucaso e Asia Centrale, Volume 3

Atti del II Convegno di Studi Balcanici

Moments in Time: Papers Presented to Pál Raczky on His 60th Birthday. Prehistoric Studies I.

by Gabriella Kulcsar, Paolo Biagi, Alice Choyke, Tibor Paluch, Bondár Mária, and Katalin Sebők

Moments in Time: Papers Presented to Pál Raczky on His 60th Birthday

by Viktória Kiss, Paolo Biagi, and Florin Drasovean

Atti della XXIX Riunione Scientifica dell'Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, 1994

This paper describes and discusses the Mesolithic and Neolithic distribution and chronology of Fr... more This paper describes and discusses the Mesolithic and Neolithic distribution and chronology of Friuli and Trieste Karst sites in Northeastern Italy. The material culture characteristics and radiocarbon dates of Istria and Dalmatia are considered to be very important fotr the interpretation of the origin of the Neolithic in the Trieste Gulf

Early farming communities and short-range transhumance in the Cotton Alps (Chisone Valley, Turin) in the late this millennium BC.pdf

by Renato Nisbet and Paolo Biagi

The paper reports the results of excavations on the Copper Age occupation of the Balm'Chanto rock... more

Sussistenza, economia ed ambiente nel Neolitico dell'Italia settentrionale

by Renato Nisbet and Paolo Biagi

Early domestication discussed in its wider context, taking into cosideration zooarchaeology and a... more

B. Gratuze, P. Biagi 2016 - New data on source characterization and exploitation of obsidian from the Chikiani area (Georgia)

by Paolo Biagi and Bernard GRATUZE

Conclusion The characterization of the obsidian specimens collected during the 2012 and 2014 surv... more Conclusion The characterization of the obsidian specimens collected during the 2012 and 2014 surveys evidence the existence of at least 3 main obsidian chemical groups at Chikiani. The possible presence of different eruptive phases was already pointed out (Nomade et al. 2015). An age ranging from 2.4 Ma to 2.8 Ma being associated with the studied samples presenting respectively the lowest and highest barium content (638 ppm and 682 / 727 ppm). These datings are however still discussed (Lebedev and Vashakidze 2015). The perfect match observed between the chemical composition patterns of the high barium artefact groups and those of groups 2, 3a and 3b, confirms the attribution of these artefacts to the Chikiani obsidian outcrops. According to the available data, Mt. Chikiani obsidian sources were exploited throughout a long period, ranging from the Early Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age. The supply zone covers a wide territory. Nevertheless, at present little is still known of the modes of exploitation of the different Chikiani flows, and even less of the precise location of the exploitation zones during the different periods. The new characterizations presented here, according to which three Chikiani obsidian groups have been identified and precisely geo referenced for the first time (fig. 9), help interpret the complexity of the role played by Caucasian obsidian exploitation and its modes of circulation inside and outside this Caucasus.

P Biagi 2009 - Review: The Palaeolithic settlement of Asia (Cambridge World Archaeology). xxiv+548 pages, 172 illustrations, 47 tables. 2009. 978-0-521-61310-1.

Antiquity, 2009

This important volume brings together, for the first time, the information currently available on... more

P. Biagi 2019. Review - C. Collina. Le Néolithique ancien en Italie du Sud. Evolution des industries lithiques entre VIIe et VIe millénaire. Archaeopress Archaeology, Oxford 2015. £ 75.00. ISBN 978-1- 78491-186-7 (printed version). £ 19.00.

Germania, 2019

A detailed techno-typological study of the Early Neolithic knapped stone assemblage of southern I... more

P Biagi 2020 - AUTUMN HUNGARIAN ARCHAEOLOGY JOURNAL REVIEW: PRAEHISTORIA NEW SERIES 1-2 (11-12

Hungarian Archaeology, 2020

and a brief note by M. Otte on how we can fight dogmatism. The list of scientific contributions i... more and a brief note by M. Otte on how we can fight dogmatism. The list of scientific contributions is opened by Á. Ringer et al., who discuss the Upper Palaeolithic of the Bükk Mountains of Hungary. It focuses on the problem of the exploitation of quartz porphyry resources that the authors think took place over a long period, lasting ca. 70-80,000 years, and the discovery of two new, important Palaeolithic sites, identified after 2010 in the same region. The first paper is followed by an interesting contribution by A. Kolesnik. It deals with the Middle Palaeolithic period in the Don-bass, where 20 sites of the Eastern Micoquian cultural aspect, char-acterised by a systematic occurrence of leaf-shaped point assemblages , are known to date. The paper describes the finds from three sites located west of the city of Lugansk. They are considered to be the most important campsites of this cultural aspect in the region, showing the techno-typological characteristics of the artefacts in the wider context of the Middle Palaeolithic period in the area bordering the Russian Plain. Moving ahead, M. Otte and P. Noiret report on the "Levallois and Gravettian" cultures, and the problems related to the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic period in some regions of Eurasia. They consider not only the typology and manufacture of the lithic assemblages, but also their origin, diffusion, and the importance of burial rite characteristics and symbolic functions in the interpretation of various forms of mobile and parietal art. Again, some aspects of the Palaeolithic period in Hungary are discussed by P. Szolyák. The paper focuses on a site discovered on Molotov Street, in the town of Miskolc, Hungary, where an assemblage with blade cores and leaf-shaped points was brought to light in 1959. Though still undated, the Miskolc-Molotov Street sequence is accurately described thanks to data acquired from the original notebook that featured detailed drawings of the site's profile and descriptions of the sediments. The assemblage is most probably to be attributed to the end of the Middle / beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic period. Its discovery opens new perspectives to the study of the spread of anatomically modern humans in this region of Central-Eastern Europe. The paper by P. Szolyák et al. is also devoted to the Palaeolithic archaeology of Miskolc. The paper reports in detail for the first time on the results of excavations carried out at the early Epigravettian settle

P. Biagi 2016 - Violetta Reiter, Ressourcenmanagement im Pfahlbau. Technologie und Rohmaterial der Steinbeilklingen vom Mondsee. Mitteilungen der Prähistorischen Kommission Band 81. Two volumes (Text and Katalog). Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 2013.

Newsletter NS 10 (includes - Biagi et al. 2020: Gunflints from Greece: more specimens from the Samarina highlands of the Pindus range of Western Macedonia)

by Torben Bjarke Ballin and Paolo Biagi

Caucasus Georgia

Obsidian in the Mediterranean, 2023

A Short note on the research conducted on the Javakheti Plateau in the Georgian Caucasus looking ... more

P. Biagi 2022 - Some aspects of the Upper Palaeolithic period in Sindh, Pakistan Quelques aspects de la pe´riode du Pale´olithique supe´rieur dans le Sindh, Pakistan

L'Anthropologie, 2022

The study of the Upper Palaeolithic of Sindh is still in its infancy. Although it has slightly im... more The study of the Upper Palaeolithic of Sindh is still in its infancy.
Although it has slightly improved during the last twenty years, and
a few more sites have been discovered in different parts of the
province, we are still far from achieving a good knowledge of the
sequence of the events that took place during the final stages of the
Pleistocene in this region of the Indian Subcontinent. Despite the
archaeological importance of the southern part of the country, the
Arabian Sea coast in particular, which represents the suggested
route followed by Modern Humans to move to India and farther
east, most of this territory has not yielded any tangible trace of
their passage. The scope of this paper is to update the evidence
available for the Upper Palaeolithic of Sindh, and to discuss it
within the general framework of the Upper Palaeolithic period of
the Indian Subcontinent