Lithic technology will be studied to understand how the site’s occupants (be they Neandertals or AMHs) managed their stone tools and organized their production and curation with various environmental/ecological constraints. Lithic artifacts will be analysed, measured and attributed according to typological, technological and techno-functional approaches. Petrographic determination and refitting of lithic implements will be carried out to determine the Raw Material Units (RMU) in order to reconstruct how lithic resources were exploited. Spatial distribution analysis of RMUs will produce data on the use of site-spaces, site-formation processes and possible post depositional disturbance.
Detecting cultural innovations and symbolic behaviour of “transitional” humans also require analyses of worked animal bones, ornaments, engraved stones or bones, and pigments. The functional life of bone tools will be investigated by means of use-wear and taphonomic studies.
Research team and Collaborators involved in WP4:
Simona Arrighi
Giulia Marciani
Adriana Moroni
Annamaria Ronchitelli