Early European evidence of artificial cranial modification from the Italian Late Upper Palaeolithic Arene Candide Cave

Abstract

This study reports on early Eurasian evidence of artificial cranial modification (ACM) in a Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) individual (AC12) from Arene Candide Cave, Italy (ca. 12,620-12,190 Cal BP). We used virtual anthropology and geometric morphometrics to compare AC12's cranial morphology with LUP, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Italian specimens, pathologically modified individuals, and a global sample of ACM cases. Our analyses consistently demonstrate a strong affinity between AC12 and the ACM group, distinct from other comparative samples. Statistical analyses confirm AC12 as a clear outlier for non-ACM groups, with high probabilities of belonging to the ACM cluster. This discovery provides evidence suggesting an earlier origin of ACM on the continent, confirming that this globally distributed practice has Palaeolithic roots. Situated within a complex LUP funerary site, this finding illuminates the deep antiquity of culturally mediated body modification and its role in signifying ascribed identity within ancient hunter-gatherer societies.

Keywords: Geometric morphometrics; Human body culturalization; Permanent body modifications; Virtual anthropology.

Fig. 1

Location and excavation details of the Arene Candide Cave and AC12 specimen. (a) Map of Northern Italy with the location of Arene Candide site; (b) The area excavated in the 1940s, later called “Epigravettian necropolis”. The AC12 cranium (labelled in a larger font size) and AC12 post-cranial elements (indicated within the red ellipse), along with the AC15 skeleton, are shown in figure. The colours used are explain in the legend; (c,d) Historical photographs from the original excavation. In (c), the cranium (coloured in brown) is located beneath the stones structure (coloured in yellow). In (d), the cranium has been removed, and the stones are still in place. The partial excavated AC15 skeleton is clearly visible in the top of right corner; (e,f) Lateral (left and right) view of AC12 cranium as it is currently preserved in the Museum of Anthropology in Florence.

Fig. 2

PC1 and PC2 scatterplot, landmarks analysis. Red circle: pathological or unintentionally modified individuals (Sca: Scaphocefaly, Tur: Turrocephaly, Mic: Microcephaly, Pla: Plagiocephaly). Black triangle: Epigravettian individuals; black square: Neolithic individuals; black diamond Mesolithic individuals. Blue circle: intentionally modified individuals (Annular oblique ACM). Brown triangle: AC12 mean reconstruction; green triangle: different AC12 reconstructions; fuchsia triangle: AC12 original specimen. Shape changes on the sides of the plot exhibit + -2 standard deviation of each PCs, visualized using wireframe in lateral view (left side).

Fig. 3

PC1 and PC2 scatterplot, landmarks and semilandmarks analysis. Red circle: pathological or unintentionally modified individuals (Sca: Scaphocefaly, Tur: Turrocephaly, Mic: Microcephaly, Pla: Plagiocephaly). Black triangle: Epigravettian individuals; black square: Neolithic individuals; black diamond: Mesolithic individuals. Blue circle: intentionally modified individuals (Annular oblique ACM). Brown triangle: AC12 mean reconstruction; green triangle: different AC12 reconstructions; fuchsia triangle: AC12 original specimen. Shape changes on the sides of the plot exhibit + -2 standard deviation of each PCs, visualized using TPS deformation on a reference specimen.

Fig. 4

Violin boxplot of pairwise Procrustes distances (PPD) distributions. Green: PPD between different AC12’s reconstructions. Blue: PPD between AC12 mean and ACM individuals. Grey: PPD between AC12 mean and LUP-Meso-Neo individuals. Red: PPD between AC12 mean and pathological individuals. Yellow: interindividual PPD in the LUP-Meso-Neo group. Purple: interindividual PPD between LUP-Meso-Neo individuals.

Fig. 5

Virtual reconstruction of AC12 V1 with landmarks and semilandmarks. (a,b) frontal and left lateral views of full reconstruction of AC12 V1; (c–e) anterior oblique and inferior views of AC12 V1 showing landmarks (red dots, numbered as listed in Supplementary Table 4) and semilandmarks (small green dots).