Revisiting Gubbio: Settlement Patterns and Ritual from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Roman Era

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

See attachment.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

See attachment.

Author Response

General:

Thank you for the positive review

Comment in Italics; Reply in Bold:

Abstract- I'd like to see "Italy' or 'Central Italy' included somewhere here so the reader has a
sense of geography prior to reading the article.

We have added Central Italy here and in the initial paragraph

What are findspots? Are these individual sites or individual artifacts?

This is complex point, that varies according to period. We have changed findspot to sites, and explained that we mean the location where artefacts were discovered.

Lines 7 6-78 - dates needed for all periods - Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic,
Chalcolithic, Mesolithic, Archaic, early Iron Age, late Bronze Age, middle Bronze Age, Recent
Bronze Age, Final Bronze Age.

We have added established dates for the Italian peninsula for all periods.

Line 156 - which animals?

We have now specified

Line 162 - any isotopic results? Are they pending? Let us know the status.

We have specified

Line 169 - which period?

We have now specified

Line 174 - dates are shown here but not for all periods - this needs to be fixed (see above).

We have now corrected this (as mentioned above).

Line 191- which faunal remains? They are not discussed or listed.

Line 191- which faunal remains? They are not discussed or listed.

We have elaborated on this point.

The references are relevant but it is important to note that a third of them are from the authors
themselves. Can more be added from outside this project, especially from authors working in
adjacent regions.

We are the main fieldworkers on landscape in this region, so it is difficult to add very much more that is relevant to a landscape approach.  There is a lot on material culture which would be an article in itself. We have limited ourselves to the theme.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Overall, this paper is a very good update of research on the Gubbio sites from 30 years ago. As someone who also does research on prehistoric and historic Italy, I understand well the topics covered and my only question is about what kind of access they had to the large territory. Did that limit where they did their survey and excavations?

Considering Land readers with less background, I suggest a very careful read of this draft to make sure that the general reader understands what research was done before and what is newly added. I note several examples where further information should be added:

Title - has "Neolithic" to the Roman Era, but there's plenty in text about the Paleolithic. Should change to "Paleolithic..." or "Middle Paleolithic..." to the Roman Era.

line 108 - Add more info on "lithic production" at San Marco Neolitico. Different contexts than pottery? Different types? Local?

lines 158-160 - add more info about the metals and lithics found

line 185 - how are the faunal remains indicative of seasonality?

line 230 - "isotopic signatures" should be more specific - C and N? O? Sr?

 

Minor corrections:

For all Figures, enlarge considerably (not A and B in same line) to make readable, also Figure 9

lines 36, 51, 92, - for Figures with letter (A, B) sections, use a semicolon to separate the two sections

line 58 and others throughout - search and replace two spaces with one

line 155 - "study" should be "studies"

line 193 - capitalize "Early Iron" Age

line 258 - Table 1 - capitalize "Imperial" in Full imperial Roman"

line 320 - insert "of" so it reads "...new level of density,..."

line 345 - "Century" should be lower case

Overall, the English is very good and few mistakes/errors, but a number of sentences have too many comma-separated phrases. Have an editor check this to improve some.

Author Response

Comments in Italics. Replies in Bold

Overall, this paper is a very good update of research on the Gubbio sites from 30 years ago. As someone who also does research on prehistoric and historic Italy, I understand well the topics covered and my only question is about what kind of access they had to the large territory. Did that limit where they did their survey and excavations?

Thank you for your kind words.

We have introduced a sentence which explains how the limits of the survey region were defined in the 1980s.

Considering Land readers with less background, I suggest a very careful read of this draft to make sure that the general reader understands what research was done before and what is newly added. I note several examples where further information should be added:

We have followed your specific suggestions.

Title - has "Neolithic" to the Roman Era, but there's plenty in text about the Paleolithic. Should change to "Paleolithic..." or "Middle Paleolithic..." to the Roman Era.

We have corrected the title

line 108 - Add more info on "lithic production" at San Marco Neolitico. Different contexts than pottery? Different types? Local?

This has been examined further in the cited Matarese et al. in press publication, and we have added a few details.

lines 158-160 - add more info about the metals and lithics found

We have added a few words illustrating what was published in the cited 1994 publication.

line 185 - how are the faunal remains indicative of seasonality?

We have added some information from the cited 1994 publication.

line 230 - "isotopic signatures" should be more specific - C and N? O? Sr?

We have added some extra information

For all Figures, enlarge considerably (not A and B in same line) to make readable, also Figure 9

We will instruct the type setter

lines 36, 51, 92, - for Figures with letter (A, B) sections, use a semicolon to separate the two sections

line 58 and others throughout - search and replace two spaces with one

line 155 - "study" should be "studies"

line 193 - capitalize "Early Iron" Age

line 258 - Table 1 - capitalize "Imperial" in Full imperial Roman"

line 320 - insert "of" so it reads "...new level of density,..."

line 345 - "Century" should be lower case

All these smaller issues have been fixed