Cooking, cleaning, and tossing: high-resolution analysis of domestic activities at the Mid-Neolithic site of Molino Casarotto (Vicenza, NE Italy).

ABSTRACT: The Middle Neolithic lakeshore site of Molino Casarotto (4700 - 4400 cal BCE; Vicenza province, northern Italy) preserves some of the most informative deposits related to Neolithic daily life in Italy. The organisation and use of space within the Neolithic domestic contexts remain poorly understood, largely due to the limited preservation of archaeological evidence. At Molino Casarotto, however, these aspects can be explored thanks to the presence of domestic hearth rake-out layers and shell middens, which form substantial accumulations interdigitating with repeatedly renovated cooking plates. Several heated stones were recovered in association with these combustion structures. High-resolution sediment analyses (micromorphology, micro-FTIR, and XRD) allowed for the characterisation of the

SUBMITTER: Cristiano N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12698799 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature