Over 12,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers living on the Ligurian coast already practiced complex gestures that exceeded simple survival. In the cave of Arene Candide, used as a necropolis during the Upper Paleolithic, a human skull was voluntarily shaped from early childhood by a tight bandage, giving an elongated and flattened shape to the cranial vault. This specimen, identified under the name AC12, has just been studied by a team associating the University of Florence and several Italian and international institutions.
An exceptional funeral site on the Ligurian coast
The Cave of Arene Candide, located on the northwest coast of Italy, at the top of a 90-meter high white sand dune, is known to have sheltered, between 12,900 and 11,600 years before the present, one of the most important necropolises in the Upper Paleolithic. The excavations carried out in the 1940s revealed more than 220 individuals, testifying to complex funeral rituals. According to archaeologists, these practices included the intentional reopening of tombs and the reorganization of older remains around new burials.
AC12 skull was found in a particular context, according to Arkeonews. He rested at the top of the AC15 burial, nicknamed the “Cervid Bois Tomb” due to the large wood arranged nearby. Protected by two slabs and a broken wheel, it was separated from its mandible and other bones. The latter were gathered in a secondary deposit. Researchers, including Irene Dori from the University of Florence, see it as a sign of specific ritual attention. She explains to Live science : ” The position and treatment of this skull indicate that the individual probably occupied a singular place in the community ».
The link with AC15, a teenager with a rare bone pathology, also questions. This intentional association could reflect a symbolic connection between two individuals deemed “exceptional” by their contemporaries. This funeral treatment underlines that, in these hunter-gatherers, some deceased received a particular staging. Perhaps linked to their status or their role in collective stories. This precise archaeological framework makes it possible to replace the discovery of AC12 in an already very elaborate social and symbolic dynamic. And that long before the arrival of agriculture in Europe.
An unprecedented morphological analysis
Since its discovery, the AC12 skull has fueled the debates. Rebuilt in the 1970s, he presented an abnormally elongated form. Some researchers have seen the consequences of a disease, such as craniostenosis, or infantile trauma. Others, including P. Masseri from the end of the 1970s, considered an intentional modification. However, no detailed study made it possible to decide.
To remove this uncertainty, the international team led by Irene Dori, used computed tomography (CT-SCAN). This technique made it possible to “dismantle” the restoration of the 1970s virtually. Then reconstruct the skull into four distinct versions. The fragments have been realized by semi-automatic 3D protocols, ensuring a more reliable restitution of the original morphology.
The researchers then compared these reconstructions to 46 reference skulls. They included prehistoric Italian individuals in the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, known pathological cases, as well as examples of intentional cranial modifications from the whole world. The team applied geometric morphometry, a statistical method which analyzes the form of bones from precise benchmarks and slippery “semilandmarks”. These are intermediate points placed on a bone to precisely describe its curves and its complete shape.
The results are unequivocal. AC12 is clearly closer to the group of skulls voluntarily modified, with a very high probability of classification. The pathological skulls, in comparison, show different profiles. In particular, there is a more round form of the frontal or a distinct flattening of the occipital. Thus, according to the authors, ” Analyzes exclude pathological or accidental causes and confirm a deliberate cultural modification ».
An annular modeling technique
The study made it possible to identify the precise technique used on AC12. Our ancestors have used “oblique” ring fingers. He consisted in firmly rolling strips of fabric around the skull of an infant. This constraint, applied over several months or years, induces a characteristic lengthening and flattening of the cranial vault. Unlike involuntary deformations caused by sleep positions or porting devices, this method specifically aims to transform the overall shape of the skull.
The team dismissed accidental causes, or pathology, by comparison. In fact, positional plagiocephaly, the prolonged wearing in a rigid cradle or the use of a front strip to transport loads above all modify localized areas, without producing the marked occipital lengthening of AC12. “” The observed morphology corresponds to a clearly defined aesthetic or symbolic objective “Explain the researchers.
© T. Mori et al., 2025
The social implications of such a gesture are important. A cranial modification imposed from early childhood and visible all of life works as an identity marker. It can point out belonging to a group, hereditary status, or even a spiritual meaning. AC12 is the only complete skull of the necropolis presenting this modification, which suggests a rare and selective practice.
This exceptional character invites you to consider AC12 as the bearer of a lasting visual message. A message understandable by contemporaries and transmitted from generation to generation. In hunter societies of the Upper Paleolithic, where collective identities were manifested by material and bodily practices, such a bodily marking had to play a central role in social recognition and the maintenance of traditions.
A practice rooted in the Paleolithic
In addition, the discovery of AC12 moves the chronology of intentional cranial modification in Europe. So far, the oldest known examples on the continent were much more recent. This skull attests that this practice already existed in epigravetians, contemporaries of the last glacial upheavals.
The researchers compare this find to known cases in Australia (13,000 years) and in China (11,200 years), leaving the question of the origin of the practice. Irene Dori specifies: ” It is possible that this custom was born independently in different regions. Or she was able to circulate between groups by cultural contacts ».
The motivations vary according to cultures: affirmation of kinship links, differentiation between groups, marking of status or spiritual beliefs. In some contexts, as in pre -Columbian America, these deformations were associated with elites or religious functions.
In Arene Candide, the scarcity of practice and its association with a specific burial reinforce the idea of a gesture reserved for some “exceptional” individuals. Archaeologists emphasize that, in hunter societies, social complexity does not necessarily result in strict vertical hierarchy. The gesture could rather be a symbolic marking linked to accounts or to memorable events for the group.
This discovery is part of an extended vision of symbolic behavior with the Upper Paleolithic. Identity could express themselves through lasting bodily practices. It recalls that, long before sedentary civilizations, mobile societies had already developed powerful visual means of signifying belonging and collective memory.
Source: Mori, T., sparacello, vs, riga, A. et al. “” “Early European Evidence of Artificial Cranial Modification from the Italian Late Upper Palaeolithic Arene Cave”. SCI REP 1527792 (2025).
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