Marco Peresani

Marco Peresani (born 2 November 1963 in Udine) is an Italian prehistoric archaeologist, anthropologist, university professor and scientific communicator.

Career His training and expertise bridges the Natural Sciences and the Humanities. After completing is PhD in 1993 at the university of Ferrara, under the mentorship of Prof. Alberto Broglio and Prof. Mauro Cremaschi, he took on research and teaching positions in the same institution.

Research His research has focused on the Middle Palaeolithic (300-40 ka BP- Neanderthal Man), the arrival of Homo sapiens and the subsequent disappearance of the Neanderthal (45-40 ka BP- Transition between Middle and Upper Palaeolithic) and the peopling of the Adriatic area during the phases before and after the Last Glacial Maximum. He has particularly dedicated himself to the N-E Italian area, but his collaborations and consultancies have led him to expand his range of action to the N-W Apennines (Piovesello site ) and Liguria (Arma Veirana site ) and archaeological research on both sides of the mid-Adriatic (Marche and Albania ). Thanks to these studies of considerable importance, it boasts numerous collaborations with research institutes on international projects. The wealth of his research is represented by the various sites investigated over the years: Grotta de Nadale (Berici, Quina Mousterian), Riparo and Grotta del Broion (Berici, Uluzzian and final Mousterian), Riparo Villabruna (Epigravettian burial ) Grotta del Rio Secco (PN, specialised hunting of cave bears by Neanderthals ), Grotta del Clusantin (specialised hunting of marmots in the Late Glacial period ). A site representing the synthesis of his research is Grotta di Fumane (VR).

Fumane

Research at Grotta di Fumane represents his biggest endavour. He assisted Prof. A. Broglio and M. Cremaschi from the start of the excavation and took the lead in 2006. The impressive stratigraphic archive (ca. 80-30 ka BP) and the good conditions of preservation make it a key site for understanding the adaptive and cultural dynamics first of Neanderthals and then of the early Sapiens. Among the numerous discoveries, the most important are:

the Aurignacian painted stones (ca. 35 ka BP), including the Shaman, can be traced back to the use of the cave by the early Homo sapiens. the Uluzzian, a culture that is completely alien to both the preceding and following contexts, and which signals the arrival of the first Homo sapiens in the Italian peninsula. Non-utilitarian behaviours of the last Neanderthals like exploitation of birds' feathers and talons, fossil shell as a pendant, and green serpentinite pebbles.