Citation: Larentis, O. Human, All Too Human: Differentiating Non-Human from Human Bones in Protohistoric Cremation Contexts from Northern Italy. Heritage 2023, 6, 647–661. https://doi.org/10.3390/ heritage6010034 Academic Editors: Lembi Lõugas and Eve Rannamäe Received: 1 December 2022 Revised: 9 January 2023 Accepted: 11 January 2023 Published: 14 January 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). heritage Article Human, All Too Human: Differentiating Non-Human from Human Bones in Protohistoric Cremation Contexts from Northern Italy Omar Larentis Centre of Research in Osteoarchaeology and Paleopathology, Department of Biotechnologies and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy; omar.larentis@uninsubria.it Abstract: Differentiating cremated non-human bones from human ones in archaeological contexts is a challenging task. This analysis aims at proposing a rather solid criterion based on an osteoarchaeologi- cal sample. In this work, the main issues of taxonomic identification of cremated remains are analysed and a research methodology tested on an Italian protohistoric sample is proposed. The 314 subjects composing the sample come from 298 tombs of the Golasecca Civilization (1st millennium BC in north-eastern Italy). On a morphological basis, 246 bone fragments were selected from which as many thin sections were obtained for a histomorphological evaluation. From the analyses, we identified the presence of animals in burials, whereas a mere morphometric analysis was not able to recognize them. Furthermore, the taxonomic identification has allowed us to propose new hypotheses on the funerary rite of Golasecca linked to the zooarchaeological remains. Keywords: cremation; protohistory; taxonomic identification; non-human; Golasecca Civilisation; thin section; bone tissue; histomorphometry 1. Introduction 1.1. Cremation in Northern Italy during Protohistory In northern Italy, the first findings of bone remains that have undergone a process of combustion or heating date back to the Early and Middle Neolithic VBQ culture. They are fragments coming from Po Valley contexts, whose ritual interpretation is often con- troversial [1,2]. For example, regarding these debated contexts, five pits containing burnt remains were excavated between 2003 and 2005 in the Early Neolithic settlement of “Lugo di Grezzana.” Many bones mixed with other materials come from pit ES 541/03. Most of the bones were non-human; however, some fragments showed morphological human features. The histomorphological analysis confirmed the identification of these fragments as human bones [1]. Sporadic contexts with cremated remains are also attested during the Copper Age in north-eastern Italy, such as at Vela IX, Velturno and Varna in Trentino-Alto Adige, and a cremation tomb datable to the early Bronze Age (Tomb 22 of the site of Arano, Verona) comes from the same area [3]. Testimonies of cremated remains increase during the Middle Bronze Age and the Final Bronze Age. The cremation rite starts from the Scamozzina facies in southern Piedmont, and the oldest burial of this type comes from the Alba necropolis [4]. An equally ancient attestation could be that of the tumulus of Stenico (Trento, Italy), whose data, coming from the excavation report [5] and from the first archaeological considerations and anthropo- logical analyses [6], have been recently studied; the archaeological area extends to over 7000 m 2 , and has over 220 circular combustion pits grouped in defined nuclei containing cremated human remains [7,8]. During the Late Bronze Age, in the 13th century BC, in the territories north of the Po, in eastern Piedmont and western Lombardy, the facies of Canegrate developed in which Heritage 2023, 6, 647–661. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage6010034 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/heritage