M Mussi
Biographic Data
| ID | 49405 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Mussi |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Mussi |
| SIGNATURE | MUSSI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Sapienza University of Rome |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9393-9591 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 48 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 345 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Heritage Management and Early Human Evolution: Melka Kunture as a Model for In Situ Musealisation in the Eastern African Rift
The eastern African archaeological record is central to understanding early human evolution, yet its Pleistocene sites often present major challenges for public interpretation due to their open-air character and limited monumentality. In this context, in situ musealisation has emerged as a key strategy for combining conservation, research, and public access. This paper examines the historical development of such practices in eastern African archa…
Everyday Life and Activities of a Later Stone Age Community at Beefa Cave (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia)
Beefa Cave is a site that is part of the Melka Kunture archaeological complex located in the Ethiopian Highlands in the upper Awash River Valley. Excavations have revealed a sequence of ashy levels dating to the mid-Holocene. Lithic artifacts, faunal remains, undiagnostic pottery, and micro- and macrobotanical remains were recovered. The lithic assemblage of Beefa Cave is analyzed here using a techno-typological approach, combined with use-wear a…
The Mesolithic seen through a keyhole at S’Omu e S’Orku (Somk) and the case of environmental hazards on the western coast of Sardinia, 9500–7800 cal BP
S’Omu e S’Orku (SOMK) is a collapsed rock shelter on the western coast of Sardinia, with a 9500–7800 cal BP geoarchaeological stratigraphic sequence encompassing the 9.3 and the 8.2 ka climatic events of the early Holocene. Sardinia is quite remote from the Italian coast and from mainland Europe, without firm evidence of human peopling before the onset of the Holocene. The animal species of the time were very few, all of them endemic, with Prolag…
Mid-Holocene climate and high-elevation environments during the Later Stone Age occupations of Beefa Cave (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia)
International audience
Unravelling the Development of Large Flake Technology During the Early Acheulean: The Evidence from Simbiro Gully at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia)
The volcanic rock spheres of Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia) at Gombore IB and later Acheulean sites
The large lithic assemblage of Gombore I, level B (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia) and the early Acheulean technology in East Africa
The emergence of the Acheulean is a central topic in human evolution research. Current data suggest that this process began around 2.0 million years ago in the upper Awash River basin, specifically on the Ethiopian plateau, in the region of Melka Kunture. There are so far few known sites of the early stages of development of this technocomplex, most of which are restricted to East Africa. Although some of the major milestones in Acheulean stone t…
The Early Acheulean on the Ethiopian highlands: The case of Gombore IB at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia)
Funerary practices and post-mortem manipulations by the early Holocene hunter-gatherers of Riparo Blanc (Mount Circeo, central Italy)
Isotopic insights into the Early Acheulean (1.95 Ma–1.66 Ma) high-elevation paleoenvironments at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash Valley, Ethiopia)
In this paper, we present stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of fauna tooth enamel from Garba IVD (1.95 Ma) and Gombore IB (1.66 Ma), two Early Acheulean sites of Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia), and discuss faunal taxonomy and fossil pollen. Our aim is to infer the diet and habitat of the fossil fauna, as well as the environment of both sites, in order to provide a broader paleoecological reconstruction. During the Pleistocene, the …
Melka Kunture (alto Awash, Etiopía) entre 2.000.000 y 5.000 años
Melka Kunture es un clúster de yacimientos prehistóricos situados en el altiplano etíope, a 2.000-2.200 m sobre el nivel del mar, en la cuenca alta del río Awash. El clima es más bien fresco (temperatura media anual de 17° C) y lluvioso. Los resultados palinológicos demuestran que la vegetación durante el Pleistoceno era de tipo afromontano y, por lo tanto, diferente a la de sabana que se desarrolla en cotas más bajas. Tras casi 60 años de excava…
The paleolandscape evolution of the southwestern coast of Sardinia (Italy) and its impact on Mesolithic settlements
We present a geomorphological map of the southwestern coast of Sardinia encompassing inland and offshore areas of the S’Omu e S’Orku Mesolithic site. The submerged area was documented by high-resolution multibeam bathymetry combined with Side-Scan Sonar data. The emerged coastal area was surveyed using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle Remote Sensing and field surveys. The inland landforms were shaped by coastal, fluvial, and gravity-induced processes. Mos…
Stone projectiles at Grotta di Pozzo (Italy). Results of a macro-fractures analysis
Grotta di Pozzo is a small cave at 720 m asl and 42° N in the Apennine range of Abruzzo (Central Italy), formerly opening on the edge of a now drained large lake, the Lake Fucino. The archaeological sequence starts on the top of a fluvial-lacustrine deposit at 23,000 cal. BP, with layers including lithic industry of the Early Epigravettian. Later on, from 15,500 cal. BP and up to 14,000 cal. BP, the lithics belong to the Final Epigravettian. Prev…
Une vue d’ensemble sur Melka Kunture, grand complexe de sites pléistocènes dans la vallée supérieure de l’Awash (Éthiopie)
Colorimetric characterization of ochres in a Palaeolithic flint pebble from Maschio dell’Artemisio, Latium, Italy
Age and formation processes of an Acheulean site with extensive accumulation of large cutting tools: Garba I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia)
After the emergence of the Acheulean at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia): From Gombore IB (1.6 Ma) to Gombore Iγ (1.4 Ma), Gombore Iδ (1.3 Ma) and Gombore II OAM Test Pit C (1.2 Ma)
Geomorphological processes, forms and features in the surroundings of the Melka Kunture Palaeolithic site, Ethiopia
The landscape of the surroundings of the Melka Kunture prehistoric site, Upper Awash Basin, Ethiopia, were studied intensively in the last decades. Nonetheless, the area was mainly characterized under a stratigraphic/geological and archaeological point of view. However, a detailed geomorphological map is still lacking. Hence, in this study, we identify, map and visualize geomorphological forms and processes. The morphology of the forms, as well a…
Gombore II (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia): A new approach to formation processes and spatial patterns of an Early Pleistocene Acheulean site
Reassessing Hominin Skills at an Early Middle Pleistocene Hippo Butchery Site: Gombore II-2 (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash valley, Ethiopia)
Before, During, and After the Early Acheulean at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia): A Techno-economic Comparative Analysis
Encoding and decoding the message: The case of the Mid Upper Palaeolithic female imagery
The Mid Upper Palaeolithic record includes a number of statuettes, anthropomorphic pendants, bas-reliefs, portable and wall engravings, all of them depicting female beings, which are collectively known as “Venuses”. During the last one hundred years, they have attracted considerable attention, with interpretation most often than not relating them to fertility and sexuality. Thirty years ago, in a paper entitled “Interaction and Alliance in Palaeo…
Settlement, Society and Cognition in Human Evolution: Landscapes in Mind
This volume provides a landscape narrative of early hominin evolution, linking conventional material and geographic aspects of the early archaeological record with wider and more elusive social, cognitive and symbolic landscapes. It seeks to move beyond a limiting notion of early hominin culture and behaviour as dictated solely by the environment to present the early hominin world as the outcome of a dynamic dialogue between the physical environm…
Garba XIII (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia): A new Acheulean site of the late Lower Pleistocene
The emergence of the acheulean in East Africa - international workshop, Rome, "La Sapienza" University, September 12-13, 2013
An overview and a discussion of the results of the workshop on"The Emergence of the Acheulean in East Africa" held in Rome on September 12-13, 2013
The Surface Alteration Features of Flint Artefacts as a Record of Environmental Processes
Garba XIII (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia): A new Acheulean site of the late Lower Pleistocene
Single carcass of Mammuthus primigenius with lithic artifacts in the Upper Pleistocene of northern Italy
After the emergence of the Acheulean at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia): From Gombore IB (1.6 Ma) to Gombore Iγ (1.4 Ma), Gombore Iδ (1.3 Ma) and Gombore II OAM Test Pit C (1.2 Ma)
Gombore II (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia): A new approach to formation processes and spatial patterns of an Early Pleistocene Acheulean site
A case of chondrodystrophic dwarfism in the Italian late Upper Paleolithic
During excavations by P. Graziosi at Romito Cave near Papasidero (Cosenza) in Calabria, Italy, two skeletons (Romito 1 and 2) were discovered in a common grave. Although the specimens were briefly described by Messeri ( Atti X Riuniuone Scientifica Ist. Ital. Preist. Protest. , pp. 301–307, 1966), it is generally unknown in the anthropological literature that one of these individuals is a chondrodystrophic dwarf. As such, the specimen provides th…
Italian palaeolithic and mesolithic burials
Reassessing Hominin Skills at an Early Middle Pleistocene Hippo Butchery Site: Gombore II-2 (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash valley, Ethiopia)
Garba III (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia): A MSA site with archaic Homo sapiens remains revisited
Age and formation processes of an Acheulean site with extensive accumulation of large cutting tools: Garba I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia)
Large mammal guilds at the time of the first human colonization of Europe: The case of the Italian Pleistocene record
L'utilisation de la stéatite dans les grottes des Balzi Rossi (ou grottes de Grimaldi)
Steatite is a soft, variously coloured and sometimes translucid mineral. It is found in mountainous areas, within metamorphic outcrops, and occasionally as river pebbles. Talcum powder is made by scratching and grinding it. During the Upper Palaeolithic, it was used to make pendants and figurines. Talcum powder was possibly used for tanning hides, but this cannot be definitely proved. Steatite items were found in the Balzi Rossi sites, at the fro…
The large lithic assemblage of Gombore I, level B (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia) and the early Acheulean technology in East Africa
The emergence of the Acheulean is a central topic in human evolution research. Current data suggest that this process began around 2.0 million years ago in the upper Awash River basin, specifically on the Ethiopian plateau, in the region of Melka Kunture. There are so far few known sites of the early stages of development of this technocomplex, most of which are restricted to East Africa. Although some of the major milestones in Acheulean stone t…
Laser ablation depth profiling of U-series and Sr isotopes in human fossils
The Big Mosaic
The volcanic rock spheres of Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia) at Gombore IB and later Acheulean sites
Fontana Nuova di Ragusa (Sicily, Italy): Southernmost Aurignacian site in Europe
Fontana Nuova di Ragusa, a small rock-shelter in southeast Sicily, was thoroughly excavated by Bernabò Brea in 1949. In the far south of Europe — Sicily is nearly on a latitude with Africa — it has continuing importance as marking a southern geographical limit of Aurignacian settlement, and as proof of humans crossing the strait into island Sicily
The emergence of the acheulean in East Africa - international workshop, Rome, "La Sapienza" University, September 12-13, 2013
An overview and a discussion of the results of the workshop on"The Emergence of the Acheulean in East Africa" held in Rome on September 12-13, 2013
Unravelling the Development of Large Flake Technology During the Early Acheulean: The Evidence from Simbiro Gully at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia)
The World of Elephants
Italian palaeolithic and mesolithic burials
Abstracts — Second Symposium on Upper Paleolithic
A case of chondrodystrophic dwarfism in the Italian late Upper Paleolithic
During excavations by P. Graziosi at Romito Cave near Papasidero (Cosenza) in Calabria, Italy, two skeletons (Romito 1 and 2) were discovered in a common grave. Although the specimens were briefly described by Messeri ( Atti X Riuniuone Scientifica Ist. Ital. Preist. Protest. , pp. 301–307, 1966), it is generally unknown in the anthropological literature that one of these individuals is a chondrodystrophic dwarf. As such, the specimen provides th…
L'utilisation de la stéatite dans les grottes des Balzi Rossi (ou grottes de Grimaldi)
Steatite is a soft, variously coloured and sometimes translucid mineral. It is found in mountainous areas, within metamorphic outcrops, and occasionally as river pebbles. Talcum powder is made by scratching and grinding it. During the Upper Palaeolithic, it was used to make pendants and figurines. Talcum powder was possibly used for tanning hides, but this cannot be definitely proved. Steatite items were found in the Balzi Rossi sites, at the fro…
Fontana Nuova di Ragusa (Sicily, Italy): Southernmost Aurignacian site in Europe
Fontana Nuova di Ragusa, a small rock-shelter in southeast Sicily, was thoroughly excavated by Bernabò Brea in 1949. In the far south of Europe — Sicily is nearly on a latitude with Africa — it has continuing importance as marking a southern geographical limit of Aurignacian settlement, and as proof of humans crossing the strait into island Sicily
The Big Mosaic
Earliest Italy: An overview of the Italian Paleolithic and Mesolithic
The Surface Alteration Features of Flint Artefacts as a Record of Environmental Processes
The World of Elephants
Studying Proboscideans: Knowledge, problems, and perspectives
Large mammal guilds at the time of the first human colonization of Europe: The case of the Italian Pleistocene record
Single carcass of Mammuthus primigenius with lithic artifacts in the Upper Pleistocene of northern Italy
Parietal art discovered at Arene Candide Cave (Liguria, Italy)
The authors have discovered small oval panels of parallel lines in the famous Ligurian cave of Arene Candide, and show that it must be art of the Epigravettian period, c. 11-10000bp (uncalibrated
Human peopling of Italian intramontane basins: The early Middle Pleistocene site of Pagliare di Sassa (L'Aquila, central Italy)
Human settlement of Italy during the Younger Dryas
The Italian Gravettian and Epigravettian “Venuses” in a European Context
Twenty female statuettes, known as Gravettian “venuses”, are currently known in Italy (figure A). This is the highest concentration in Western Europe, with pieces found in both open-air sites and caves, especially at Balzi Rossi (Barma Grande and Grotte du Prince). For the Epigravettian, we retain seven localities with portable and parietal art (figure B). This second phase of artistic production, attributed to the last millennia of the Tardiglac…
Les « vénus » du Gravettien et de l’Épigravettien italiens dans un cadre européen
Vingt statuettes féminines, connues comme « vénus » gravettiennes, sont connues à ce jour en Italie (figure A) : la plus forte concentration d’Europe occidentale, avec des pièces trouvées en plein air comme en grotte, surtout aux Balzi Rossi (Barma Grande et Grotte du Prince). Pour l’Épigravettien, nous retenons sept localités, avec art mobilier et art pariétal (figure B). Cette deuxième phase de production artistique, des tout derniers millénair…
Grotticella Blanc-Cardini at Balzi Rossi (Ventimiglia, Italy)
In the caves of Balzi Rossi, the parietal art includes engravings in the following cavities and shelters : Grotte des Enfants, Grotta di Florestano, niche in the wall near Riparo Mochi, Grotticella Blanc-Cardini, Grotta del Caviglione and Barma Grande (figure). We present here the Grotticella Blanc-Cardini (2.80 m high, 0.55 m wide and 2.60 m deep). There are no traces of sediment indicating an archaeological layer. An adult can slide into the ca…
Grotta di Pozzo (AQ, Italie centrale), une grotte ornée « au féminin »
Grotta di Pozzo, au centre de la péninsule italienne, est un abri 12 m de long sur 4 m de profondeur (figure A). Les niveaux archéologiques du Paléolithique supérieur ont des dates s’étageant de 23 000 à 14 000 cal BP, avec une industrie lithique de l’Épigravettien ancien à pièces à cran suivie d’une industrie de l’Épigravettien final. Le Dryas récent est représenté par un niveau très pauvre, au-dessus duquel se trouve une escargotière à industri…
Grotta di Pozzo (Aq, Central Italy), a Cave Decorated with a“Woman’s Touch”
Grotta di Pozzo, in the center of the Italian peninsula, is a rock shelter 13 m long and 4 m deep (figure A). The Upper Paleolithic levels are dated from 23 000 to 14 000 cal BP. They contain an Early Epipaleolithic lithic industry with shouldered pieces, followed by a Final Epigravettian industry. The Late Dryas is represented by a very poor level, overlain by a snail shell layer with a Sauveterrian industry and a few mixed artefacts from the Ne…
Grotticella Blanc-Cardini aux Balzi Rossi (Vintimille, Italie)
L’art pariétal des grottes des Balzi Rossi comporte des gravures dans les cavités et abris suivants : Grotte des Enfants, Grotte de Florestan, niche de la paroi près de Riparo Mochi, Grotticella Blanc- Cardini, Grotta del Caviglione et Barma Grande (figure). Nous présentons ici la Grotticella Blanc- Cardini (2,80 m de haut, 0,55 m de large et 2,60 m de profondeur). Aucune trace de sédiment n’indique un niveau archéologique. Un adulte s’y glisse a…
Laser ablation depth profiling of U-series and Sr isotopes in human fossils
Garba III (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia): A MSA site with archaic Homo sapiens remains revisited
Garba XIII (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia): A new Acheulean site of the late Lower Pleistocene
The emergence of the acheulean in East Africa - international workshop, Rome, "La Sapienza" University, September 12-13, 2013
An overview and a discussion of the results of the workshop on"The Emergence of the Acheulean in East Africa" held in Rome on September 12-13, 2013
Geography (38 works) · Archaeology (34 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (34 works) · Geology (22 works) · Paleontology (20 works) · Pleistocene (19 works) · Acheulean (15 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (13 works) · Cave (11 works) · Art (10 works)