Human migrations have been shaping our world since prehistoric times. The study of past migrations can help society understanding how human past mobility shaped the present-day world, affecting not only the genetic heritage of populations, but as well the environment, the distribution of vegetal and animal species, the formation and propagation of cultures, the diffusion of technological innovations. The relevance of migrations in the present-day world is in the public eye and, at a time when there is a prevailing negative perception and misunderstanding of migration in public discourse, one way to avoid simplifications and manipulations is to promote the idea that migrations are a fundamental part of human life, and that they actively participated in shaping European society, culture, since historical times or even prior to that, since prehistory. In this sense, one of the most revolutionary migration phenomena of human history is represented by the spread of Neolithic. Between the 7th and the 6th millennium cal BC, Neolithic colonists from the Eastern Mediterranean moved to Europe, introducing a broad range of new plants.
The QUANT project was designed to study the spread of the Neolithic in the Central and Western Mediterranean through an innovative and multidisciplinary approach to the stone tools used for plant harvesting and processing tasks. Those tools represent an important part of the Neolithic package and were essential for developing different economic practices, such as agriculture and basketry. The assumption of QUANT project was that the study of the techniques used for plant harvesting and processing could be useful to reconstruct the pathways of Neolithic migrations.
The method employed for the analysis of these tools is the Use-Wear Analysis, a scientific discipline that allows reconstructing how ancient tools were used by analysing the wear traces left on the tools’ surface by ancient uses. Wear patterns can be highlighted and recognized thanks to the microscopic observation of the stone tools surfaces through stereoscopic and metallographic microscopy. The novelty of the QUANT project is to associate to the qualitative, visual, observation of use-wear traces, a quantitative methodology: Confocal Scanning Microscopy (CSM) and software designed for surface metrology. This cutting-edge technique allows to objectively distinguishing different types of micro-polishes, overcoming a qualitative assessment of stone tool function.
The obtained results allowed gaining a better understanding of the Neolithic migration process itself, but as well of the emergence of agricultural way-of-life in Europe. Migrations, local adaptations, and the spread of technological innovations played a major role in shaping the Mediterranean and European Neolithic.
