Editing Italy (section)

=== Prehistory and antiquity ===
{{Main|Prehistoric Italy|Italic peoples|Etruscan civilisation|Greek colonisation|Magna Graecia}}
[[File:Etruscan Painting 1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] fresco in the [[Monterozzi necropolis]], 5th century BC]]

[[Lower Paleolithic]] artefacts, dating back 850,000 years, have been recovered from [[Monte Poggiolo]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Society|first=National Geographic|title=Erano padani i primi abitanti d'Italia|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.it/scienza/2012/01/20/news/erano_padani_iprimi_abitanti_ditalia-807204|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626220707/http://www.nationalgeographic.it/scienza/2012/01/20/news/erano_padani_iprimi_abitanti_ditalia-807204|archive-date=26 June 2019|access-date=11 March 2019|website=National Geographic}}</ref> Excavations throughout Italy revealed a [[Neanderthal]] presence in the Middle Palaeolithic period 200,000 years ago,<ref>Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2001, ch. 2. {{ISBN|0-3064-6463-2}}.</ref> while [[Early modern human|modern humans]] appeared about 40,000 years ago at [[Riparo Mochi]].<ref>42.7–41.5 ka ([[68–95–99.7 rule|1σ CI]]).
{{Cite journal|last=Douka|first=Katerina|display-authors=etal|year=2012|title=A new chronostratigraphic framework for the Upper Palaeolithic of Riparo Mochi (Italy)|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|volume=62|issue=2|pages=286–299|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.11.009|pmid=22189428|bibcode=2012JHumE..62..286D }}; {{Cite web|date=29 January 2010|title=Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria|url=http://www.iipp.it|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015231105/http://www.iipp.it|archive-date=15 October 2013|publisher=IIPP}}</ref>

The [[Ancient peoples of Italy|ancient peoples]] of pre-Roman Italy were [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]], specifically the [[Italic peoples]]. The main historic peoples of possible non-Indo-European or [[pre-Indo-European languages|pre-Indo-European]] heritage include the [[Etruscans]], the [[Elymians]] and [[Sicani]] of Sicily, and the prehistoric [[Sardinians]], who gave birth to the [[Nuragic civilisation]]. Other ancient populations include the [[Rhaetian people]] and [[Camunni]], known for their [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica|rock drawings in Valcamonica]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rock Drawings in Valcamonica|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/94|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703183257/http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/94|archive-date=3 July 2010|access-date=29 June 2010|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref> A natural mummy, [[Ötzi]], dated 3400–3100 BC, was discovered in the [[Similaun]] glacier in 1991.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bonani|first1=Georges|last2=Ivy|first2=Susan D.|display-authors=etal|year=1994|title=AMS {{SimpleNuclide|Carbon|14}} Age Determination of Tissue, Bone and Grass Samples from the Ötzal Ice Man|url=http://digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu/objectviewer?o=http%3A%2F%2Fradiocarbon.library.arizona.edu%2FVolume36%2FNumber2%2Fazu_radiocarbon_v36_n2_247_250_v.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Radiocarbon|volume=36|issue=2|pages=247–250|doi=10.1017/s0033822200040534|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720211402/https://digitalcommons.library.arizona.edu/objectviewer?o=http%3A%2F%2Fradiocarbon.library.arizona.edu%2FVolume36%2FNumber2%2Fazu_radiocarbon_v36_n2_247_250_v.pdf|archive-date=20 July 2010|access-date=4 February 2016|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The first colonisers were the [[Phoenicia]]ns, who established [[Emporium (antiquity)|emporium]]s on the coasts of Sicily and Sardinia. Some became small urban centers and developed parallel to [[Greek colonies]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Raclot|first1=Thierry|last2=Oudart|first2=Hugues|date=January 2000|title=CORPS GRAS ET OBESITE Acides gras alimentaires et obésité: aspects qualitatifs et quantitatifs|journal=Oléagineux, Corps gras, Lipides|volume=7|issue=1|pages=77–85|doi=10.1051/ocl.2000.0077|issn=1258-8210|doi-access=free}}</ref> During the 8th and 7th centuries, Greek colonies were established at [[Pithecusae]], eventually extending along the south of the Italian Peninsula and the coast of Sicily, an area later known as [[Magna Graecia]].<ref>Emilio Peruzzi, ''Mycenaeans in early Latium'', (Incunabula Graeca 75), Edizioni dell'Ateneo & Bizzarri, Roma, 1980</ref> [[Ionians]], [[Doric Greek|Doric]] colonists, [[Syracusan]]s, and the [[Achaeans (tribe)|Achaeans]] founded various cities. [[Greek colonization of Italy|Greek colonisation]] placed the [[Italic peoples]] in contact with democratic forms of government and high artistic and cultural expressions.<ref>{{Cite web|title=II 1987: Uomini e vicende di Magna Grecia |url=https://www.bpp.it/Apulia/html/archivio/1987/II/art/R87II015.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204123345/https://www.bpp.it/Apulia/html/archivio/1987/II/art/R87II015.html|archive-date=4 February 2021|access-date=31 January 2021|website=bpp.it}}</ref>