Fifty thousand years of flint knapping and tool shaping across the Mousterian and Uluzzian sequence of Fumane cave

Quaternary International 247 (2012) 125e150

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Fifty thousand years of flint knapping and tool shaping across the Mousterian and Uluzzian sequence of Fumane cave Marco Peresani Sezione di Paleobiologia, Preistoria e Antropologia, Dipartimento di Biologia ed Evoluzione, Università di Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d’Este, 32, I-44100 Ferrara, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Available online 18 February 2011

Grotta di Fumane, a Mousterian site in northern Italy, has been extensively explored over the last two decades in order to gather data on Neanderthal behaviour from during the Late Pleistocene up to the appearance of Modern Humans. The 12 m thick sedimentary sequence includes several layers that have yielded variable amounts of flint artefacts and faunal remains, particularly in BR11, A11, A8-A9 and A5A6, related to repeated and complex human occupations. The earliest assemblages record the exclusive use of the Levallois method from S9 to BR7 for the production of flakes with unidirectional and centripetal recurrent modalities. In BR9, bifaces and different types of cores have also been found. The first striking technological replacement occurs in BR6, up to BR3, where there is a complex of layers with the infrequent occurrence of bones, flakes and scrapers, made with a method closely resembling the Quina technique. Further evidence of variability in lithic technology is provided by the re-appearance of the Levallois technology during MIS3, in layer A11 e although here focused more on blades than flakes e and by the Levallois/Discoid alternance throughout the transect from A10V to A5-A6. The persistence of the Mousterian tradition in the lowermost A4 Uluzzian level continues to be evidenced by Levallois flakes and cores, side-scrapers, points and thinned implements. The presence of conjoined flakes and cores proves that innovations occurred in A4 and A3 and, with the disappearance of the Levallois technology in A3, other methods focused on different kinds of flakes, short thick blades, thin bladelets and flake-bladelets. Even though most of this evidence is similar to that of other Levallois sequences in the Mediterranean rim, some, such as the bifaces and the Quina assemblages, provides us with new details of the cultural scenario. The former are ascribable to the vast spread of bifacial industries from North-west France to Central and Eastern Europe in MIS4 and early MIS3, whereas the latter can be linked to the dissemination of Quina in Southeast France. The perspectives adopted for assessing the significance of the A units are broadly borne out in the other late Mousterian industries, where the replacement of Levallois techniques by discoid technologies is recorded, independently of geographical and palaeo-environmental context and site function. Striking innovations in lithic technology occurring at the top of the sequence record the appearance of the Uluzzian in Southern Italy and the Balkans. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Foreword Changes in lithic technology are one of the most intriguing aspects of Prehistory. They have been the subject of intense debate and play a pivotal role in assessing the cognitive capabilities of archaic humans. As evidence of these changes is more abundant in some regions than others, and as contexts differ according to the time and function of the occupation, interpretations of the

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appearance of new methods of chipping rocks should be based on the most significant set of sites. Caves and rock shelters with huge, excellent stratigraphic sequences spanning large time intervals can provide fruitful, highly detailed data on formation processes, function, landscape ecology and subsistence strategies, viewed from a context in which lithic sources are unvaried in time and space. In the Mediterranean rim, Grotta di Fumane is one of the key sites for the study of all these questions. Even if only partially surveyed, the archaeological record of the site opens up wideranging perspectives for supplying detailed information on human behaviour during the Late Middle Palaeolithic and at the transition to the Upper Palaeolithic.

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M. Peresani / Quaternary International 247 (2012) 125e150

2. Fumane cave 2.1. Cave setting and morphology The opening of the Fumane cave lies at the base of a rock wall at 350 m a.s.l. on the left slope of the valley of a small tributary stream flowing eastwards to join the main cut, the Fumane Valley, in the Monti Lessini, part of the Veneto Pre-Alps in the Northeastern region of Italy (Fig. 1). This important site was already known in the XIX century, and the first explorations were carried out by the Natural History Museum of Verona in 1964 and 1982 at the bottom of a sequence exposed by a road cutting in 1950. A new series of investigations, still in progress, was begun in 1988 (Bartolomei et al., 1992) under the patronage of the Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage of Veneto. The work continues on a regular basis every year in field campaigns lasting twoethree months. The cave was part of a fossil karst complex system probably datable to the Neogene period and excavated in the Ooliti di San Vigilio carbonate sandstone, an upper Lias formation characterized by the alternation of thick banks of oolithic calcarenites with typical cross lamination and micritic banks of metric thickness which are separated from the former banks by a discontinuity. In the stream valley where the cave opens, this formation is extensively dolomitized. The karst complex was composed of a wide cavity, perhaps a pit, the lower portion of which was filled with residual dolomite sands. Several tunnels open at the middle and upper levels of the original pit. Among these, a small tunnel in the easternmost zone was partially explored in 1996 and 1997. Three further tunnels overlook the upper part of the karst complex excavated in the micritic bank. A main (B) and secondary (C) tunnel

forms the major rock shelter which extends to the right where a third tunnel (A) joins. The latter tunnel and the left cave-mouth portion of tunnel B form a vault in the calcarenitic unit which has been made unstable due to several fractures running roughly parallel to the rock wall that overhangs the cave. Thus, the presumed original cave entrance, in the left zone, extended several metres externally. In 1998, the upper cavities were completely obstructed by the aggradation of the sedimentary succession and the collapsed external vault, occurring in different episodes. After the removal of this landslide between 1990 and 1996, the sheltered area of almost 60 m2 was brought to light, at the level of the earliest Aurignacian layers. The morphology of the present-day cave is a result of the combined action of large collapses affecting the thick banks and the dismantling phases of the micritic bank, mostly caused by freezing and thawing. 2.2. Sedimentary sequence and its chronological layout The whole complex of cavities, which has been partially explored in recent times, preserves a sedimentary sequence 12 m thick divided into four macro-units labelled S, BR, A and D on the basis of their lithological features and content of archaeological remains (Fig. 2). The sequence records the main climatic events occurring in the last glacial cycle, from the Early Würm to the onset of the Late Würm, and includes numerous Middle and Upper Paleolithic levels. The lowermost units are horizontal beds grouped in the macro-unit S, made of residual dolomite sands, stones, a few partially weathered boulders and traces of human occupation. This differentiation is based on the grade of anthropization rather than on the lithological content. The

Fig. 1. Map of Northern Italy showing the Middle Palaeolithic sites referred to in the paper: 1 e Grotta Fumane and Grotta Ghiacciaia; 2 e Riparo Tagliente; 3 e Grotta Broion and Grotta San Bernardino.

M. Peresani / Quaternary International 247 (2012) 125e150

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Fig. 2. Stratigraphic sequence of Fumane Cave showing the main sagittal section running from outside to the inner cave along the tunnel B. The lithological features of the most significant units within macro-units S, BR, A and D are shown. Key: 1 e rendzina, upper soil; 2 e slope deposits with boulders; 3 e living floors, with high concentration of organic matter or charcoal; 4 e loess and sandy loess; 5 e CaCO3 cemented layers; 5 e sandy deposits; 6 e unweathered and weathered bedrock (drawn by M. Cremaschi).

overlying macro-unit BR records the predominance of aeolian loam and coarse open-work breccia. With the exception of a thick living floor with dense cultural remains in BR11, the Mousterian archaeological evidence in this macro-unit mostly takes the form of dispersed lithic artefacts and faunal remains or hearths with scattered tools and bones ascribed to short-term occupations (Cremaschi et al., 2005). Traces of much more intense human occupation have been inferred from the record of macro-unit A and its several horizontal layers, from A13 to A1. There are Mousterian living floors in A11, A10, A9, A6-A5 (Broglio et al., 2003), Uluzzians in A4 and A3 (Peresani, 2008) and Proto-Aurignacians in A2 and A1 (Broglio et al., 2006, 2009; Bertola et al., 2009). Macro-unit D, at the top of the sequence, is made of large blocks that have collapsed from the cavity roof at different times. Evidence of human presence can still be seen in the lowermost layers, D3d, D3b, D3a and D1c, these being the latest Aurignacian units, but it becomes sporadic in the middle level, D1d, where dispersed Gravettian artefacts have been recovered. Previous assessments based on sedimentological and pedological and preliminary palaeontological analyses have been reported elsewhere (Cassoli and Tagliacozzo, 1994; Cremaschi et al., 2005; Cremaschi and Ferraro, 2006). Macroscopic features, grain size, heavy minerals, micromorphology and magnetic properties demonstrate that pedogenesis affected the bedrock in conditions of climatic instability, followed by moderate roof degradation and the

sedimentation of dolomite sands by running water from the karst system at the end of MIS5 (Martini et al., 2001). Above this, macrounit BR and aeolian dust indicate alternating wet and dry episodes under the very cold climatic conditions attributed to MIS4 and the beginning of MIS3 (Martini et al., 2001). Units A and the lower units D originated from the deposition of dolomite sand and aeolian dust, and frost-shattered stones were affected locally by cryoturbation and other deformations. U/Th, TL and several 14C dates (Table 1) show that the late Mousterian falls in the MIS3 (Martini et al., 2001; Peresani et al., 2008; Higham et al., 2009). The roof collapse occurred in the middle-upper part of unit D and the post-depositional periglacial deformations indicate very cold climatic conditions at the onset of and during MIS2. These indications are confirmed on a wider scale by the variability observed in the macromammal associations, which belong to a rich and diversified fauna introduced into the cave and exploited by humans. In macro-unit S cervids prevail over caprids, while episodes of climate cooling have been identified in S9 and S3, where the rates are reversed. In macro-unit BR, the prevalence of cervids is recorded in a first phase, and there is a more marked presence of caprids in BR6, which peaks in BR1. Cervids prevail in units A13-A12 and above, up to their abrupt replacement with ibex and chamois coinciding with the first Aurignacian in A2 and the spread of alpine grassland (Cassoli and Tagliacozzo, 1994; Cremaschi et al., 2005).

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Table 1 A summary of numerical ages from the Mousterian and Uluzzian levels of Grotta di Fumane. Details on the TL and the combined ESR/U-series data sets are given in Peresani et al. (2008). The Radiocarbon dates are on single charcoal fragments and are here reported at 1s confidence. From the large 14C dataset available for this sequence, only ABOXSc 14C and one single ABA 14C measurements have been here reported (see Higham et al., 2009 for discussion). Context

Technocomplex

Nature

Lab. Ref.

Method

Date

A3SIV-425 A4I A5 A5 A5 þ A6 A5 þ A6 A6 A6 A9 A11 a BR11 BR12 S7

Uluzzian Uluzzian Moust. Levallois

Charcoal Tooth Charcoal Charcoal Tooth Charcoal Burnt flint Tooth Tooth Tooth Burnt flint Burnt flint Burnt flint

LTL1795A FU0003 OxA-17980 OxA-X-2275-45 FU9606 OxA-17566 4 FU9607 FU0004 FU0005 MA 6 7

ABA14C U/Th e ESR ABOx-SC 14C ABOx-SC 14C U/Th e ESR ABOx-SC 14C TL U/Th e ESR U/Th e ESR U/Th e ESR TL TL TL

37,828 44,000 40,150 41,650 38,000 40,460 50,000 38,000 46,000 49,000 55,000 57,000 79,000

Moust. Levallois Moust. Levallois Moust. Moust. Moust. Moust. Moust.

Discoid Levallois Levallois Levallois Levallois

3. Lithic assemblages and the cultural sequence
















430 4000 350 650 4000 360 8000 4000 5000 5000 7000 8000 11,000

scarse. They are grey or brown with Nummulites and Discocyclines, with the coarse texture of the parent rock.

3.1. Lithic sources The macroscopic features (texture, structure, colour and morphoscopy of cortical surfaces) of the flint exploited in Mousterian and Uluzzian industries vary according to the carbonatic formations, which, in the western Monti Lessini, are dated from the Upper Jurassic to the middle Eocene. The most widespread are Maiolica (Biancone, Bi) and its varieties, and Scaglia Rossa (SR) formations, as are Eocene calcarenites (Eoc) and Scaglia Variegata (SV). Conversely, flint from other formations and oolitic limestones (Ool) is rare. The associations reflect the lithological variability of Valpolicella, an area rich in easily provisionable lithic sources within a range of 5e10 km from the site, where the flint is also available loose in fluvial and stream deposits and in deposits on the slopes and in the soils. Most of the raw material introduced onto the site outcrops in the immediate surroundings of the cave (Bi and SR flints). Also to be noted is the use of older patinated artefacts, recovered elsewhere and exploited as cores. The oolitic flints originate from marly limestones, marls and calcarenites in the Jurassic Tenno formation (S. Vigilio Group, Toarcian-Aalenian), which crops out 5 km away in the upper Valpantena and Adige valleys. Several varieties are to be found in the Maiolica micritic limestone formation (Titonian-Aptian), which thickens out from the western (25e30) to the eastern fringe of the Monti Lessini (70e75 in Valpantena). Yellowish-dark flint (Bi-y) outcrops extensively in the western series and in the Fumane valley, and is highly valued because of its excellent quality. The same applies to the grey variety (Bi), which outcrops a few kms north-west of the site and is abundant in stream gravels. The colours often vary from light to dark grey, with the possibility of shading within the same nodule. There are various types of flint distributed randomly in Scaglia Variegata marly limestones (Aptian-Cenomanian). The grey-green (SV-gb) type has excellent flaking properties but nodules are rare. The grey-blackish (SV-gb) type is concentrated at the top of the formation in dark grey thin layers, its use hampered by its poor quality (intense fissuration) and small plate size. The dark-reddish flints from the Scaglia Rossa marly limestones (Turonian-Maastrichtian) are excellent quality and, although rarely found in the immediate site surroundings, are present abundantly in the form of nodules along the western watershed of the Fumane basin. The Paleocene and lower Eocene marls and marly micritic limestones (Peoc) of the southern slopes of western Lessini contain scarce amounts of finely textured flint, coloured grey, dark green or olive green. The succession ends with the middle Eocene calcarenites (Eoc). Again, the flint nodules are

3.2. Previous studies on the Mousterian lithic industries of Fumane In the reporting of the first excavations carried out by the Natural History Museum of Verona, the lithic industries of the Mousterian sequence were merely mentioned and divided up into layers and hearths, and this remained the case until the first techno-typological analyses were carried out by A. Sartorelli after the re-examination of the stratigraphy by Cremaschi in 1985 (Cremaschi et al., 1986). Sartorelli used the Bordes (1961) protocol and examined the techno-typological features of 682 artefacts in five groups, created either according to stratigraphic provenance or in order to make up an adequate number for statistical analysis. Starting from the top, the “strati alti” (layers 12e9) and “focolare IV” group has been attributed to the Typical Mousterian of Levallois technology and Levalloisian facies, whereas the underlying layer 8, with a high incidence of denticulates, Levallois technology and non-Levalloisian facies, has been labelled as Eastern Ferrassie Mousterian, although some doubts have emerged over the homogeneity of the industry due to the Quina features observed in the 3rd arbitrary cut and the recovery of a fragmentary acheulean biface. The following group (“focolare V”) is characterised by the Levallois technique, with a large number of scrapers, and has been ascribed to the Ferrassie Mousterian. Finally, various indexes and features have located the industry of the lowermost layers (layer 7 and “focolare IV”) in the Charentian of the Levalloisian technique. The very few artefacts recovered at the bottom of the sequence are Levallois flakes and scrapers, similar to those found in the overlying industries. With the resumption of the research, the first preliminary observations on the Mousterian cultural sequence have, at a general level, confirmed the key features of the Levallois assemblages, i.e. the variability due to the presence of bifaces and Quina retouched tools (Peresani and Sartorelli, 1998; Cremaschi et al., 2005). However, they have also revealed new details across macro-unit A. The technological replacement observed from A10 to A9 led to the setting up of an integrated analysis project, focusing on the techno-functional significance of the discoid production in A8-A9 (Peresani, 1998; Lemorini et al., 2003) and its abrupt replacement as from the Levallois in the overlying A5-A6 complex (Peresani et al., in press). Moreover, recent confirmation of Uluzzian levels embedded between the Mousterian and the Protoaurignacian has led to new investigations into the lithic industry and the dynamics of the site occupation (Peresani, 2008).

M. Peresani / Quaternary International 247 (2012) 125e150

3.3. Materials and methods The lithic assemblages examined in the current project were recovered in macro-units S, BR and A (Table 2) during the second phase of the research, from 1998 to 2008. The artefacts found in sector C during the 1996e1997 campaigns, part of the A5-A6 complex and the discoid assemblage recovered in layer A9 during the last excavation were excluded from this group (2009). The lithics in the S units were recovered in 1995 from squares 11, 12 and 22, and also from 01, where there was still a strip in place at the base of the main section. Macro-unit BR yielded assemblages from squares 11, 12, 21, 22, and macro-unit A from the entrance of the cave, in extensions varying from 16 (units A10eA12) to 58 m2 (unit A6). The conceptual and analytical approach was inspired by several authors (Geneste, 1985; Delagnes, 1992; Boëda, 1994; Bourguignon, 1996) and updated with new, broader criteria that have long been used in a regional context (Peresani, 2001) for defining the Levallois predetermined products (Grimaldi, 1996; Guette, 2002). To reconstruct the reduction sequences, diacritic, morpho-technical and morphometric analyses were conducted on the cores, the complete Levallois blanks, the by-products deemed to have had a significant role in the production and some refitted pieces. The analysis was limited to artefacts of module (length þ width) greater than 4 cm, including all determinable fragments. The reduction chains were

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replicated with a stepwise experimental testing method. Certain types of exploitation, such as the exploitation of the ventral face cores of large cortical flakes, have been termed as ’Kombewa-type’, with reference to the adaptation of the Kombewa technology to the Levallois volumetric concept (Dauvois, 1981). Technological outlines of both the major and minor lithic productions, together with the key typological features of the retouched blanks, are given in the paragraphs below. 4. The Levallois homogeneity: main features of lithic assemblages from the S units The Levallois method was the exclusive flaking procedure used in all the units from S9 to S2. Most of the artefacts are very well preserved, with either primary or fractured fresh edges, surfaces devoid of abrasions but slightly affected by a patina that hides the finest chromatic features of the flint. Pseudo-retouches are rare, as are heated pieces, which, in unit S4, are associated with traces of combustion structures. 4.1. Unit S9 The lithic implements were found scattered in square 01, in the proximity of bones and an ibex backbone partially embedded in the

Table 2 A summary of Mousterian and Uluzzian lithic technology at Fumane. Except when uncertain (?), the incidence of each method has been estimated using a scale of 4, from sporadic (*), present (**), moderately dominant (***), dominant/exclusive (****). Less know methods that appear in one single level have been grouped in a fifth ensemble (see the text for explanations). Computation of flakes, cores, fragments and shatter (other) was limited to artefacts with module 40 mm. Tools are intended as retouched blanks and thinned brute flakes. Lithics in BR2 and A7 are reworked. Context

Technology Levallois

A3 A4 A5-A6 A7 A8-A9 A10 A10I A10II A10III A10IV A10V A11

** ***

*

****

**** *

“Quina”

Laminar

Other

Flakes

** * *

*** * *

1144 1168 2052 Reworked 2597 744 95 28 28 170 389 4275

26 39 55

12

38 56 139

3.3 4.8 6,8

1182 1207 2107

93 24 6 3

1

135 44 8 1 1 6 20 441

5.2 5.9 8.4 3.6 3.6 3.5 5.1 10.3

2691 768 101 31 28 177 405 4349

73 Reworked 39 127 206 39 25 35 36 105 124 214 117 199 1189 636

1

11

15.1

74

9 45 38 18 2 7 11 25 22 29 29 33 212 90

23.1 35.4 18.4 46.2 8.0 20.0 30.6 23.8 17.7 13.6 24.8 16.6 17.8 14.2

42 208 40 26 35 39 111 126 226 127 205 1223 656

9 15 1 3 4 10 6 7

10.0 9.6 1.6 7.5 7.7 20.4 23.1 21.2

92 157 65 40 55 51 27 34

**** **** **** **** **** *

BR1 BR2 BR3 BR4-BR5 BR6 BR7-7a BR7b BR7c BR7d BR7e BR7f BR8 BR9 BR10 BR11 BR12

**** **** **** **** **** **** **** *** *** **** ****

S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

**** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****

Total

Computation Discoid

*?

*

? **** ****

* *

* * *

90 157 63 40 52 49 26 33 16373

Cores

7 16 73

3 1 2 1 1 3 6 2 9 8 6 34 20

Other

1

5

3 2

2 2 3 3 1 1 451

24

Tools

1527

% Tools

9.3

Total

16714

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M. Peresani / Quaternary International 247 (2012) 125e150

section. The artefacts are Levallois flakes, flakes, one core and various fragments made of all flint types except Ool, SV and Eoc. The core was used to produce flakes from a single face, after the trimming of a striking platform on 20% of the perimeter; before discarding the core, the distal and lateral convexities of the upper face were maintained after a few convergent unidirectional flakes were struck. Levallois predetermination features are visible also on partial cortical and recurrent flakes. The unidirectional modality implies a short displacement of the striking platform or its replacement on the core side, at 90 to the previous one. The preferential modality was not used, whereas one single flake has been ascribed to the centripetal procedure. Two wide and thin flakes were struck from the ventral face of flake-cores, with the planes parallel to the flake-core dividing plane. The retouched tools are simple, biconvex, convergent and thinned scrapers (Fig. 3, no. 4) shaped on long and thick Levallois blanks, small and thin flakes, and fragments of Levallois and Kombewa-type recycled flakes. 4.2. Unit S8 The lithic assemblage includes Levallois flakes, flakes, one core and several fragments made of all flint types except PEoc recovered in S8 and S8a, in a thin dark layer. The core was made on flat nodule and was discarded, after which ten centripetal cortical flakes exploited the naturally shaped convexities. The trimmed striking platform covers 60% of the perimeter. The Levallois blanks are ascribable to the recurrent application of the unidirectional and centripetal methods. The retouched tools are scrapers and one flake, modified on the apex. The side-scrapers are shaped on a Levallois flake, longer than it is wide, and on a cortically backed flake struck to repair the core face. The transverse scrapers are on small, second-choice blanks (hinged flakes) and on by-products (predetermining or cortical flakes). The retouched edges are moderately elaborate.

although often elongated and invading the maintained core face. No more than two to three flakes of varying shape (wide and thin, elongated) and structure (cutting side opposed to back) were struck from the ventral face of the flake-cores with changes in the flaking direction in relation to the flake-core axis. The exploitation involved the trimming of one or two striking platforms, but without prior preparation or maintenance of the core face. The scrapers are lateral, bilateral and convergent, made on either whole or recycled fragments of unidirectional Levallois flakes. One scraper has the bulb thinned. The denticulates, one of which was also thinned, are on either predetermined blanks or by-products. 4.4. Unit S6 Levallois flakes, flakes, three cores and various fragments made of all the flint types except SV and Eoc were found in this layer. Two of the three cores are Levallois: the first is presumably on flake and was discarded after the detachment of core-edge removal and centripetal invasive flakes; the second records a sequence involving the shaping of lateral-distal convexities and the removal of unidirectional flakes alternating with similar flakes crossing the previous ones at an open angle. The Levallois exploitation involved the recurrent use of unidirectional and centripetal modalities with moderate preparation of the core convexities. The unidirectional modality implied two variants in flake orientation, the former consisting in the rotation of the core to 90 and the latter the expansion of the trimmed platform in order to detach triangular flakes. Conversely, the centripetal modality suggests that the intention was to obtain thin, regular blanks (Fig. 3, no. 3). The retouched tools are side-scrapers, manufactured to varying degrees of elaboration and sometimes thinned. The tools, apart from one made on a small cortical flake, are all on recurrent Levallois flake, either centripetal or unidirectional. 4.5. Unit S5

4.3. Unit S7 This assemblage consists of Levallois and other flakes, one irregular core, two flake-cores and various fragments made of all the flint types except Ool, Peoc and Eoc. The Levallois blanks are recurrent unidirectional and their patterning suggest that bidirectional and orthogonal variants were applied after new striking platforms were trimmed, either opposite to or rotated at 90 to the previous ones. Centripetal flaking is equally well recorded, suggesting that the intention was to produce thin flakes with quite regular outlines,

This layer yielded Levallois flakes, flakes and fragments made from all the flint types except PEoc. The scarcity of complete and fragmentary Levallois artefacts prevents any detailed observations from being made, apart from simply noting the exclusive use of the recurrent unidirectional (Fig. 3, no. 2) and centripetal modalities. The degree of predetermination is low, consisting of flat or faceted butts, poorly shaped convexities, the removal of core-edge flakes and the use of predetermined\ing unidirectional scars, whereas the centripetal modality regarded the maintenance of the proximal zone and

Fig. 3. Recurrent unidirectional Levallois flakes (1, 2), side-scraper on recurrent centripetal flake (3) and convergent scraper on presumed Levallois flake (4) found in levels S9 (4), S6 (3), S5 (2) and S2 (1) (drawn by G. Almerigogna 3, 4; S. Muratori 1, 2).

M. Peresani / Quaternary International 247 (2012) 125e150

some of the lateral traits on the forthcoming flake. The tool set consists of a marginally retouched Kombewa-type flake, a recycled cortical fragment and one indeterminable tool on Levallois flake. 4.6. Unit S4 The lithic assemblage groups together pieces from S4 and, to a lesser extent, from the S4base level. It includes Levallois flakes, flakes, cores and various fragments made of all the flint varieties except Ool. There are three cores. One recurrent centripetal Levallois core records two steps, the first of these aimed at obtaining a centripetal flake followed by the moderate preparation of the convexity and the removal of two more partially core-edged flakes. The other two cores were used to remove flakes, with a sensu lato centripetal procedure of low predetermination. Due to the scarcity of unidirectional and centripetal Levallois products, the degree of predetermination cannot be ascertained, although a certain level of accuracy in the trimming of the striking platform (5 over 7 determinable butts) has been noted. The single side-scraper is on cortical flake and has the ventral face thinned. 4.7. Unit S3 This assemblage consists entirely of Levallois flakes, flakes, various indeterminable items and fragments made from all the flint varieties, with a marked preference for the cretaceous types. Apart from one semi-cortical flake suggesting the exploitation of natural convexities, and some other flakes bearing unidirectional scars, the Levallois technological patterns indicate the exclusive application of recurrent modalities, with the unidirectional modality largely prevalent. Striking platforms are partially trimmed (5 out of 12 butts are faceted) and predetermination ranges from moderate to brief on the proximal zone of the future products and on the lateral belts. On the core, the convexities are delineated by predetermined and/or predetermining flakes, sometimes exceeding the core-edge. The distal zone has been shaped expediently by the scars left after the removal of flakes from opposite to or across the flaking axis of the future flake. Another solution was to follow the ridges left by previous removals, and yet another was to open a new striking platform in another position, although never opposite the first one, in order to introduce a new flaking zone for the removal of short series of unidirectional flakes. The partial overlapping of convergent series thus ensures the reciprocal maintenance of the lateral-distal convexities. The centripetal flakes are too scarce or fragmentary for the technological details to be recognised. The retouched tools are mostly scrapers, either lateral (including one with a thinned bulb), bilateral or convergent, made on cortical flakes and unidirectional Levallois flakes, some of which are debording. The scrapers also denote the use of recycled fragmentary flakes. The single notch in this tool set has been manufactured on cortical flake. 4.8. Unit S2 Levallois flakes, flakes, a few indeterminable pieces and various fragments made of all the flint types except Ool were recovered in unit S2 and, to a lesser extent, in level S2base. The end-products are ascribable to the recurrent unidirectional modality (Fig. 3, no. 1), with a moderate degree of predermination and with the removals sometimes alternating with calibration operations on the side of the core volume to be removed. One flake-core, and a flake transformed into a convergent scraper, suggest that wide and thin flakes were detached from the ventral face of flake-cores. The complete and/or determinable retouched tools are side-scrapers, some of which are thinned, convergent and transverse scrapers shaped from totally cortical flake, Levallois, Kombewa-type flakes and by-products.

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5. Variability in the BR units Continuing from macro-unit S, the lithic assemblages that mark the cultural succession of macro-unit BR, although predominantly Levallois, record variability at some levels, shown by the replacement with a Quina industry from levels BR6 to BR4, and perhaps BR3, and the recovery of bifacials in BR9. 5.1. Unit BR12 This assemblage originates mainly from layer BR12 and, to a lesser extent, from the base level BR12a, which was dealt with separately during the fieldwork because of its organic content and abundant archaeological record. The presence of Levallois flakes, Kombewa-type flakes and various by-products suggest that this method was applied extensively, divided into a main reduction sequence and secondary sequences with technical variations in the context of the same modality. Two recurrent modalities, the unidirectional and the centripetal, can be recognised, with the former being more in evidence throughout the reduction sequence, from initialization to core discard. All the flint types were exploited, albeit in variable proportions, with a high prevalence of Bi, which, together with SR, makes up 91% of the assemblage. The Ool, SV, Svgb and Eoc varieties are less present and sometimes incidental. The presence of semi-cortical flakes with unidirectional scars suggests that small plates and blocks that were naturally suitable for predetermining the first detachments were selected as cores. Hence, in many cases, raw cobble was processed without any preliminary arrangements apart from the shaping of the lateral convexities by the detachment of naturally backed long flakes. The flake production and predetermination comply with the Levallois criteria of predetermination, albeit with technical variants and devices (convergent unidirectional, series of removals with arrangements) for the serial production of long flakes with regular edges. The lateral convexities were maintained on the core by means of core-edge removal flakes, whereas the distal convexity was shaped by one or more invasive flakes and by plunged and debordant flakes. The degree of predetermination is moderate to low, with reduced devices, less waste of raw material and a limited number of preparatory flakes, whereas the proximal portion of the core was subject to modifications aimed at either removing residual prominences or pre-shaping the morphological outline of the future Levallois flake. In some cases, the striking platform was extended to the sides of the core to allow the serial production of elongated blanks, whose scars overlap partially in the distal zone to delineate the lateral convexities. Data about multidirectional series are unfortunately scarce and incomplete, although these variants could have played a complementary role to the unidirectional stricto sensu, inasmuch as they provided short series of variably conformed blanks. The production ended at the final stage of exploitation, presumably when the core was exhausted, in that, apart from a possible cause related to evidence provided by some hinged scars, the only interpretable cause of core discard is the ablation of the volume after the exploitation of the last prepared face. To emphasise how good the selection of raw material was, it should be noted that no instances of core deactivation due to incipient fissuration or voids have been encountered. The centripetal modality is markedly subordinate to the unidirectional modality in that it seems to be located at the end of the main reduction sequence. This production involved the clockwise or crossed-series removal of invasive flakes with the maintenance of the predetermined volume reduced to a minimum. Thus, the combined removal of core-edge and centripetal flakes shaped the surface in an apparent continuous process that led to two different, contrasting results: a high number of blanks per core and a low

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grade of morphometric and morpho-technical standardisation of the potential functional edges. On examining the faceted, flat and simple butts it can be seen that the preparation ranged from moderate to careful. The predetermination may have involved the use of devices at the distal end of the core face for removing residual ridges or regularising the shape of the flake to be produced. Two cores and about twenty large and thin flakes attest to the exploitation of flake-cores with different orientations. The tools are mainly scrapers, with lateral scrapers predominating over transverse, convergent and marginally retouched ones. There are also points, denticulates, brute thinned flakes and other specimens. The retouched implements were manufactured on any type of blank, although more often on Levallois (unidirectional) flakes than on cortical blanks or the various products resulting from the maintenance of the cores. The same applies to the Kombewatype flakes, the flakes affected by flaking accidents and the occasional indeterminable recycled fragment. The side-scrapers, and also the points, were manufactured on Levallois blanks more often than on transverse and marginally retouched blanks, whereas Levallois, Kombewa-type, hinged flakes were used for the denticulates. Only a few blanks, either whole or fragmented, were heavily reduced by retouching. 5.2. Unit BR11 The lithics were recovered in sub-units and arbitrary cuts BR11, BR11a, BR11b, BR11c, BR11d and BR11e. The highest number is in BR11d and this decreases in BR11b and BR11. Most of the assemblage is ascribable to Levallois reduction, as evidenced by the predetermined blanks, cores and numerous flat, elongated, cortical flakes. The set of finds ascribable to Levallois core maintenance includes a wide range of specimens suggesting the use of various devices, such as the trimming of striking platforms, predetermination, the repair of flaking faces and the ablation of flaking accidents. The same applies to the exploitation of flake-cores. All the flint types were exploited, although to a varying extent: SR, Bi and Bi-y make up 90% of the assemblage, the rest being SV, SV-gb, Ool and Eoc. The Levallois production consists of a main reduction sequence based on recurrent unidirectional exploitation which, at the same time, involves a level of variability determined by the presence of secondary reduction sequences (i.e. combination with the recurrent centripetal modality) and the application of technical variants related to the unidirectional modality. The initialization was on

small plates and blocks with large faces that were already naturally suitable for the predetermination of the lateral and distal convexities. The blank was then processed, after the preparation of flat, dihedral or faceted striking platforms, and the lateral convexities were shaped by means of detaching blades along the longest edges of the solid. The same procedure was used for the distal convexities, which were either naturally shaped or improved with a small number of removals, either oblique or orthogonal to the core axis. The evidence related to the unidirectional flakes reflects a desire to optimise the exploitation of the volumes in a way consistent with the technical criteria adopted during the main production phase, right up to deactivation. In this optimisation strategy, the decortication and initial shaping of the core convexities were avoided, thus applying the basic rules of the predetermination while keeping the operations for re-establishing the core architecture to a minimum. From this perspective it seems therefore justified to interpret some of the variants (convergent unidirectional, series of variably oriented removals) as specific paths adopted during the reduction sequence for accomplishing the principal task, namely the serial production of blanks longer than they are wide. The striking platforms were faceted in an almost systematic manner, whereas the lateral convexities were created and maintained by means of ordinary and Levallois core-edge removal flakes and the distal convexity was modelled with a number of different devices: the removal of one or a series of moderately invasive and slanted flakes opposite or oblique to the flaking axis of the predetermined blank, the exploitation of the distal curvature left by plunged debordant flakes or of the ridges left by previous Levallois removals. Other preparatory actions were taken on the peripheral belt of the core face, aimed at either ablating the remaining prominences or improving the holding/hafting properties of the future Levallois blank. In a few cases, it can be seen that the expansion of the striking platform made it possible to produce new series of converging blanks, whose scars overlap in the distal zone of the core face to form one of the two lateral convexities. The cores were thus exploited by multidirectional series from the very first stages of the reduction, and the fact that this was a routine rather than contextual practice is proved by the relative frequency of the Levallois flakes and the various fragmented or imperfect artefacts bearing orthogonal or bidirectional patterns on the dorsal face. The centripetal modality had a secondary role in the flakemaking, in that it became active in the middle and final steps of the unidirectional sequence (Fig. 4, no. 4). There could be several

Fig. 4. Convergent (1) and double scrapers (2), thinned transverse scraper (3) and recurrent centripete Levallois core (4) found in BR11 (drawn by G. Almerigogna).

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reasons for this: hinged sensu lato unidirectional removals leading to the activation of new flaking axes for repair purposes, with the consequent expansion of the striking platforms; core reduction, with the consequent contraction in size to the detriment of the morpho-technical features of the predetermined blanks; frequent changes of direction in the series of unidirectional flakes, with the orthogonal orientation in particular bringing the morphologies assumed by the core very close to the centripetal morphology, with minimal modifications required for the transition, were it not for the careful faceting of the striking platform. The flakes thus have variable contours with an outline that is either polygonal or, when the removals go partially beyond the core edge, fan-shaped. The production was uninterrupted, apart from in the rare cases where the core face needed to be re-established after the striking of an invasive flake. This kind of strategy resulted in a high number of blanks per core, but with a low grade of morphometric and morpho-technical standardisation in the outline of the potentially functional edges. Apart from in cases of hinged or plunged flakes, or in cases when further re-shaping of the convexities is considered economically deficitary, the production ends with the reduction of the core volume. The same applies to the centripetally exploited cores. No discards attributable to incipient fissurations, voids or other phenomena indicating the poor selection of lithic raw materials have been observed. Several of the flakes and four of the cores attest to the exploitation of the lower faces of flake-cores recovered from by-products of the main reduction sequence. The actions were variable and mostly involved the proximal zone, where the bulb could be removed directly after the convexities had been prepared. Again, the exploitation was on parallel planes with uni- or bidirectional patterning. The flakes are thin and invasive and the edges relatively long and regular, sometimes with the partial removal of the coreedge. Other cores have been ascribed to different processes. One scheme is characterised by the detachment of small multidirectional flakes from polyhedron-like cores, and another by the semiturning detachment of bladelets and laminar flakes 40 mm long, with the distal and transverse convexities shaped by plunged and lateral detachments respectively. The retouched tools are mostly scrapers, points, notches and denticulates. The scrapers are simple, double, transverse (exceptionally), convergent or marginally retouched (Fig. 4, nos. 1e3). These retouched implements were made on a wide typological array of blanks, the most frequent being Levallois flakes and, of these, the unidirectional ones. Cortical flakes and Kombewa-type flakes were less frequent, although flakes affected by accidents and various fragments were also used. In the specific case of scrapers, it has been observed that the lateral, convergent and transverse types were mostly shaped on partially cortical, Levallois and core-edge removal flakes. The marginally or partially retouched tools, on the other hand, were fashioned on predetermining flakes and other byproducts. The notches and denticulates tended to be manufactured on cortical flakes and flakes affected by imperfections, whereas the points were made on semi-cortical flakes and Levallois flakes. A number of unretouched, cortical, Levallois and Kombewa-type flakes were thinned on the ventral face. 5.3. Unit BR10 The lithic assemblage consists of Levallois end- and by-products, intensively retouched flakes, flakes originating from procedures other than Levallois and several fragments made of all the flint types except SV-gb. The technological patterns suggest the application of recurrent rather than preferential methods, using two

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modalities e apparently independently e the unidirectional (Fig. 5, no.5) and the centripetal. Despite the scarcity of diagnostic artefacts, the steps, modalities and maintenance of the unidirectional sequences can be broadly reconstructed. The initial exploitation was carried out on carefully selected raw materials with a shape that naturally followed the lines of the lateral-transverse convexities required in this volumetric concept. The full exploitation, therefore, was limited to trimming flat striking platforms for the striking of long and straight flakes after the first cortical detachments. Details of the maintenance of the convexities and the striking platforms for the recurrent production are extremely scarce, demonstrating that this procedure required the detachment of a number of flakes. It should be noted that only a few of the endproducts had been subject to elaborate preparation on their distal portion prior to being struck. There is also little evidence of the variants produced with this modality requiring further striking platforms opposite or orthogonal to the main one. The centripetal procedure is attested to by a number of artefacts, some of them predetermined (Fig. 5, no. 6) and others core-edge removal flakes. Their size suggests the action of a specific, independent reduction sequence, despite the lack of cortical flakes. The level of elaboration of the convexities is always low. Besides Levallois, the flake-making also included plunged flakes made from a very simple core, large flakes made from flake-cores reduced on the ventral face, thick flakes with a triangular outline, an inclined flat butt and a decorticated back made from a slightly modified block (Fig. 5, no. 4) and discoid flakes made from an unifacial core. Most of the complete and/or determinable retouched tools are side-scrapers, plus a few bilateral, convergent and transverse scrapers made on cortical flake, unidirectional Levallois flake and flake with a back opposite to the retouched edge. One unusually large transverse scraper with has one wide demi-Quina retouched edge with its opposite side ventrally thinned (Fig. 5, no. 7). The number of scrapers and flakes that are thinned opposite to a retouched or a functionally usable margin is not negligible. 5.4. Unit BR9 Three bifaces, flakes, Levallois flakes and by-products, intensively retouched flakes, fragments and flake-cores made of all the flint types except SV have been found in this layer. The first biface is extensively worked on both the surfaces (Fig. 5, no. 1), the second is a rough-draft made on smoothed oblate block and the third is too fragmentary to be featured. No waste from the shaping out of bifaces was recovered. Levallois flakes and one point were produced using unidirectional and centripetal modalities (Fig. 5, no. 3), although the number of artefacts ascribable to the first steps of the reduction sequence is very small. The same applies to the maintenance of the core face, as well as to all the possible variants of the unidirectional modality. It is immediately evident, from the sizes of the predetermined flakes and the core-edge removal flakes, that the centripetal flaking is not filiated to the unidirectional modality. There is a high incidence of exploitation of large flake-cores, focusing on single or very few Kombewa-type flakes and using a simple procedure. This consisted either in truncating one edge for positioning the striking platform prior to removing the bulb with a single blow, or more elaborate preparations with the aim of producing a short series of unidirectional, variably oriented flakes. Conversely, a different but less frequent procedure involved striking thick flakes from the thickness of unprepared blocks (Fig. 5, no. 2). The retouched tools are mostly lateral and convergent scrapers and points, usually made from either unidirectional and centripetal

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Fig. 5. Biface (1), recurrent unidirectional (3, 5) and centripetal (6) Levallois flakes, scraper with extensive thinning on the lower face (7) and cores (2, 4) found in BR10 (4e7) and BR9 (1e3) (drawn by G. Almerigogna 1; S. Muratori 2e7).

Levallois flakes or small cortical and Kombewa-type flakes. The number of more or less extensively thinned scrapers is not negligible. 5.5. Unit BR8 The assemblage of this unit consists of Levallois flakes and byproducts, intensively retouched flakes and fragments, made of all the flint types except Ool and SV-gb. The Levallois flake-making is based on recurrent, unidirectional and centripetal rather than preferential methods. The initial production and the core shaping

out are poorly represented. The unidirectional predetermination focuses on long and convergent blanks and implied moderate maintenance of the core peripheral convexities. The same holds for the centripetal independent reduction sequence, which produced ordinary and core-edge removal flakes. Worth noting is a fragmentary centripete core of Tertiary sandstone flint, carefully maintained and larger than the other cores (Fig. 6, no. 2). The tool set includes side-scrapers and, to a lesser extent, convergent scrapers, points and one denticulate made on cortical and unidirectional Levallois flakes. The retouching is invasive and carefully shaped, with a higher incidence on the implements

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thinned on the ventral or dorsal face than on the ordinary tools (Fig. 6, no. 1). 5.6. Unit BR7 Unit BR7 is the thickest sedimentary body of the Fumane sequence, with no internal differentiation in the fabric of constituent materials and magnitude of the anthropic traces and signatures. For this reason, it has been divided into six arbitrary cuts labelled BR7f to BR7a, which have yielded many retouched and unretouched Levallois flakes and by-products, cores and indeterminable fragments. Edge preservation varies from excellent to poor, due to weak pseudo-retouches. 5.6.1. BR7f More or less complete Levallois flakes were made using the unidirectional modality (Fig. 7, no. 1) which also involved bidirectional or orthogonal patterns as the reduction progressed. The absence of Levallois cores and the scarcity of cortical and of centripetal flakes means that there are no details of the reduction strategy. Flake-cores are also scarce. The tools are side and convergent (Fig. 7, no.2) scrapers made on large cortical flakes and on ordinary and core-edge removal Levallois flakes. The retouching is sometimes so invasive that it hides the original features of the blank and is thus carefully shaped, especially on scrapers thinned on the ventral and/or dorsal face. 5.6.2. BR7e This assemblage includes a large, thin and unmodified cortical flake of Bi-y flint that has been interpreted as a raw blank, presumably intended for flake-core exploitation. Some other flakes and one core (Fig. 8, no. 9) suggest that the unidirectional modality was applied with no further declinations and that the core peripheral convexities were only roughly predetermined. The proximal portion of the ongoing artefact and the lateral convexity, on the other hand, may have been carefully shaped. A small, asymmetric and bipyramidal core with a centripetal pattern on the less convex face has been interpreted as the last centripetal exploitation of a previous Levallois sequence. A few Kombewa-type flakes were struck from flake-cores, as in the Levallois predetermination. The tools consist of several single and double scrapers, transverse and convergent scrapers (Fig. 8, nos. 7, 8) and one point. These are made on cortical flakes and unidirectional flakes, and with core-edge removal on either ordinary or Levallois flakes. Some pieces are intensively reduced, whereas others are thinned on the ventral face opposite to the retouched edge.

Fig. 7. Recurrent unidirectional Levallois flake (1) and convergent scraper (2) found in BR7f (drawn by S. Muratori).

5.6.3. BR7d Cores and flakes, although scarce, demonstrate that the unidirectional and, to a lesser extent, centripetal modalities were applied on all the types of flint. Preferential Levallois flakes are sporadic. Two unidirectional cores (Fig. 8, no. 6) shaped from SR and Bi shattered fragments were curated to different extents by means of numerous to very few preparatory flakes aimed at exploiting the naturally fractured surface architecture. A third core attests to the exploitation of the ventral face of a flake. Except for one retouched point, the tool kit consists entirely of lateral and bilateral scrapers (Fig. 8, nos. 4, 5) made on large cortical, Levallois or partially hinged flakes. Other flakes have been so intensively retouched that they have lost their original features. Scrapers thinned in the zone opposite to the retouched edge are also present. 5.6.4. BR7c The few Levallois artefacts in this small assemblage were made using the recurrent unidirectional modality sensu latu (Fig. 8, no. 1), right from the initial step of the reduction sequence. The smallness of the calibre of the single centripetal flake suggests that the unidirectional modality was converted to the centripetal modality to complete the final step of the reduction sequence. Most of the scrapers are on Levallois flakes. One point (Fig. 8, no. 2) and a few scrapers had been intensively retouched, although most of

Fig. 6. Scraper with inverse thinning on Levallois flake (1) and fragmentary recurrent centripete Levallois core (2) found in BR8 (drawn by S. Muratori).

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Fig. 8. Recurrent unidirectional sensu latu Levallois flake (1), simple (4), double (5, 7) and convergent (8) scrapers on recurrent Levallois flakes (4e8), point (2), side-scraper thinned on the upper face (3) and recurrent unidirectional Levallois cores (6, 9) found in BR7e (7e9), BR7d (4e6) and BR7c (1e3) (drawn by S. Muratori).

the scrapers had been partially and marginally retouched. The modifications also involved one side-scraper made on a large flake, shortened by two inverse truncations used as platforms for dorsal thinning prior to retouching (Fig. 8, no. 3). 5.6.5. BR7b The moderate amount of artefacts does not rule out the possibility of ascertaining that the unidirectional recurrent modality was widely used. Two cortical flakes stand out in particular: the first is large and thick and has been interpreted as an intended flake-core, whereas the second has a cortical back and has is retouched on the opposite side (Fig. 9, no. 7). 5.6.6. BR7a The flakes from this small set suggest that unidirectional detachments (Fig. 9, no. 4) were organised in short sequences, crossing over one another at a narrow angle. The tools are a few

moderately retouched transverse, simple and double scrapers (Fig. 9, no. 5) and one scraper with an opposing denticulate edge made on a shattered fragment (Fig. 9, no. 6). 5.6.7. BR7 The Levallois flakes are unidirectional (Fig. 9, no. 1) and occasionally preferential and centripetal. The purpose of the flakemaking, evident right from the decortication step, was to extract blanks longer than they are wide, by means of the rough predetermination of the peripheral convexities. The exploitation of flake-cores is attested to by one scraper on Kombewa-type flake. The other tools are lateral or bilateral scrapers (Fig. 9, no. 3) on cortical and Levallois flakes, although with core-edge removal. A few pieces were intensively reduced by retouching, whereas others were thinned on the ventral face opposite to the retouched edge (Fig. 9, no. 2). One specimen was made on a weakly patinated shattered fragment.

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Fig. 9. Recurrent undirectional Levallois flakes (1, 4), simple (7) and double (3, 5) scrapers, side-scraper thinned on the lower face (2) and denticulate on shatter (6) found in BR7b (7), BR7a (4e6) and BR7 (1e3) (drawn by S. Muratori).

5.7. Unit BR6

5.8. Unit BR5-BR4

The discontinuity in the Levallois sequence in this level can be seen from the appearance of flaking procedures generally attributable to the Quina volumetric concept (Bourguignon, 1996). The high percentage of blanks transformed into retouched tools and the intense reduction due to retouching make the operational schemes and predetermining parameters on the flakes unreadable, and this is also the case for the core volumetric pattern and the arrangement of the flaking surfaces. The faces join the single core at 70 : the upper face is wider and was used for bidirectional detachments, whereas the lower face is composed of conjoined faces and decreases sharply due to the reduction in volume (Fig. 10, no. 5). Therefore, the exploitation of Bi and the other flint types mainly involves wide flakes with a natural or flaked back and a transverse thin edge struck from the main core face in secant and parallel orientations in relation to the dividing plane of the core, and short rectangular flakes from the core thickness. Some other flakes were struck repeatedly from small blocks in a criss-cross pattern. The tools are small, with only 5 of the scrapers longer 5 cm, and are simple, double, lateral-transverse and transverse, as well as convergent (Fig. 10, nos. 1e4), one of them being a rejuvenation flake. The simple and demi-Quina scrapers are made on various types of flakes, either weakly or moderately retouched, mostly convex, and sporadically thinned. The Quina scrapers are on flake with a thick butt opposite the retouched edge. There are also a few denticulates. One large scraper on cortical flake has been carefully scaled-stepped retouched and was also used for extracting large flakes from the ventral face.

This assemblage consists of retouched tools, flakes and cores mostly made of Bi flint. The scrapers are large, with distinctive morpho-technical features: cortical and uncortical large flakes, short and thick, with flat or cortical inclined butts bearing parallel scars usually oriented to the blank axis (Bourguignon, 1996). The flakemaking focuses either on large flakes, backed with a thin transverse edge, or short flakes, with the larger flakes having been detached from the planes in alternating secant and parallel lines in relation to the sagittal plane of the core. Almost all the flakes have a back opposite to the retouched edge. The scraper types are 13 Quina and 31 demiQuina, simple, double, convergent, lateral-transverse, transverse and bifacially retouched (Fig. 11). The Quina scrapers are small and mostly made on asymmetric backed flakes, sometimes modified for grasping or shafting. The structural parts, i.e. the back, the butt or the natural edge, the thinned edge or the bulb, the removed butt or a modified edge, are either isolated from one another or adjoining. Steppedscaled retouches of the third or higher orders are visible on the Quina scrapers, whereas the demi-Quina have lower orders and less invasive retouching. The scrapers are mostly convex, despite concave, straight and concave-convex features. 5.9. Unit BR3 The cores, flakes and retouched tools found in this layer provide evidence that makes it possible to assess which modalities were used in the flake-making. Nodules, sub-rounded blocks and pebbles of all flint types except Ool and PEoc have been processed to obtain two kinds of flakes: either long and thick with a cortical back

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Fig. 10. Transverse ordinary (2) and Quina (2e4) scrapers, convergent scraper (1) and core (5) found in BR6 (drawn by S. Muratori).

opposite to a thin edge, or large and variable in thickness, sometimes with a cortical or uncortical back. The technical features and the volumetric structures observed on two of the cores suggest that the flakes were detached from slightly inclined planes. The core face is patterned with uni/bidirectional detachments, often normally oriented, and by means of minor preparatory flakes whose butts are either cortical, flat and inclined and marginally faceted, or flat with laterally oriented scars. The lower core face bears the striking platform and limits the extension of the upper face with the scars of short and thick flakes. Further flakes have been detached from polydirectional cores. Thin flakes have been extracted from the ventral face of flake-cores. The scrapers are lateral or transverse with simple or Quina scaled/stepped retouches. 5.10. Unit BR2 Artefacts in this unit are scarce. Edges modified by pseudoretouches and abraded surfaces suggest that most of them were reworked. 5.11. Unit BR1 In the light of new field investigations, the variable degree of preservation of the flakes, cores, tools and various fragments in this lithic assemblage verifies the claim that there is an association between the Levallois method and artefacts produced with different flaking methods. All the flint types were exploited except for Ool. The Levallois method is recurrent, the blanks, including semicortical blanks, were used to make scrapers. Other methods were used to produce thick and wide flakes for Quina scrapers, wide and thin unidirectional flakes and long and thick flakes with a cortical back opposite to the thin edge. A few small, chunky flakes were produced from thick flake-cores. The presence of wide

cortical flakes and other artefacts suggest that flaking accidents were removed from centripetally exploited core faces. The retouched tools are scrapers, consisting of the previously mentioned Quina scrapers and side-scrapers, from marginally to moderately retouched. 6. The final Mousterian: levallois blades, tipped thick flakes and the other aims of the lithic technology The technological variability recorded in layers A11 to A5 (Fig. 12) is expressed at different levels. At the volumetric concept level, the discoid complexes A8-A9 and A10I-A10IV alternate throughout the sequence to the Levallois assemblages in A11, A10V, A10, A5 þ A6, where the different recurrent modalities make the reduction sequences more or less comparable. The cultural sequence ends at the top, in the Uluzzian, which records the gradual disappearance of the Levallois technology and the appearance of other volumetric concepts and flaking modalities. 6.1. Unit A11 The large amount of lithics in this unit was recovered from levels rich in organic matter (A11, A11aee, A11base, A11buca, A11T, corresponding to arbitrary cuts) and anthropic sediment reworked from cryoturbation in the underlying sterile units A12 and A13. Most of the assemblage was yielded by A11, A11base, A12 and A11c. Levallois technology was used to produce innumerable flakes, cores and by-products shaped into numerous retouched tools and associated to sporadic artefacts ascribed to other flaking methods. Bi and SR make up almost 70% of the flint types, with SV, Ool, Eoc, SVg-b in smaller proportions. The Levallois production involves one main reduction sequence and at least one branching-out centered on the exploitation of flake-cores. Furthermore, different levels of variability result from

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Fig. 11. Transverse demi-Quina (1e3) and Quina (4) scrapers, demi-Quina (5) and ordinary (6) side-scrapers, Quina side-scrapers (7, 8) found in BR4 (1e2, 4e8) and BR5 (3) (drawn by G. Almerigogna).

the coexistence or alternation of unidirectional and centripetal recurrent modalities and some technical variants. The main goal is the production of blades (Fig. 13, nos. 6e7) and flake-blades, mostly convergent, whereas the extraction of points and small flakes is of minor importance. The unidirectional modality was begun on nodules and small plates already patterned from natural peripheral convexities that were suitable for the volumetric setting of the Levallois core. After the preparation of flat or more elaborate striking platforms, the first

detachments were aimed at shaping the core face, by removing the long ridges or small flakes lying obliquely or orthogonally to the main axis of the blank. These procedures shaped the core quickly, by-passing extensive and time-consuming decortication operations. The full serial production of predetermined items then began, with the manufacture of long, regular and sometimes convergent blades, and continued right up to the discarding of the core, although with a number of variants. The blade-making began from one single trimmed striking platform, with the exploitation of

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Fig. 12. Sketched section with evidence of the late Mousterian (A11-A5), Uluzzian (A4-A3) and the earliest Aurignacian layer (A2) differentiated on the basis of content of archaeological remains (increasing from light grey to dark grey and black). Below centre, a section drawn 0.6 m east of the main one. The faunal bioturbation is indicated by central oblique lines between levels A11 and A2 (by M. Cremaschi & M. Peresani, redrawn by S. Muratori).

lateral convexities that were shaped stepwise either by Levallois core-edge removal or with ordinary flakes and small flakes struck from the core edge. Subsequent core reductions involved the opening of new platforms opposite or lateral to the unidirectional stricto sensu platform. The patterns suggest that when one flake was removed, new flakes were then struck from a contiguous side until the volume was exhausted, or that alternating series were struck from opposing or contiguous sides. The maintenance of the convexities was thus reduced to a minimum and prevalently related to the core-edge removal flakes. The cores thus assumed rectangular outlines, with trimmed striking platforms all round, and retained this pattern until they were discarded (Fig. 13, no. 5). The centripetal modality had a clearly subordinate role to the unidirectional modality, in that it was applied at the end of the main reduction sequence, when the core pattern approached the centripetal outline. This scheme has been observed on all types of flint apart from Ool, which was also fully exploited by means of an independent centripetal reduction sequence. The subsequent large invasive centripete removals fit well with this modality, suggesting its adoption e albeit occasionally e as the preferential modality. The Levallois production stopped simply when the volume was all used up in the last ablation of the flaking core face. Although the usual flaking accidents such as hinging and plunging did occur, it seems that the deactivation was based on specific choices, rather than being related to premature discarding because of incipient fissurations, voids or other imperfections resulting from the careless selection of raw material. The non-negligible number and variability of Kombewa-type flakes is a demonstration of the varying range of actions that were used to exploit the ventral face of flake-cores after the setting up of the faceted and short striking platforms. The bulb was removed in one single flake, or in a few flakes struck parallel to the plane dividing the core-flake. The exploitation focused on thin and invasive flakes, core-edge removal flakes, longer than they are wide and with regular edges, although not without accidents and imperfections.

The predominant class of retouched tools is scrapers, with much smaller numbers of notches and denticulates - especially points thinned flakes and marginally retouched flakes made on semicortical flakes, Levallois flakes and by-products. Of the scrapers, the simple type is more frequent than the double and convergent varieties (Fig. 13, nos. 7e9), with very few transverse types and one bifacially retouched implement. The scrapers were produced using Levallois rather than cortical flakes and other flake by-products. Cores and fragmentary flakes were recycled at times. The retouching was moderately invasive and ventral thinning was rare. 6.2. Unit A10 The fine aggradational sequence of this unit is recorded in several layers (A10V-A10I, A10) with a variable density of artefacts and ecofacts. The lithics are in the form of flakes, cores, retouched tools and fragments ascribed to the Levallois and discoid procedures, either alternating or coexisting. At the current point in the research, it is not possible to detect specific links between the type of flint and the flaking method. 6.2.1. A10V The Levallois production here is based on two levels of flexibility, one involving the unidirectional and centripetal modalities and the other implying a set of variants of the unidirectional modality, focusing more on blades with parallel or convergent sides than on unstandardised and small flakes. The initial steps resulted in the extraction of semi-cortical and naturally backed blades, whereas the reduction saw the arrangement of new platforms, contiguous or normally positioned in relation to the first one, followed by the detachment of short series of unidirectional flakes. The convexities and the proximal zone of the Levallois flake being produced were more or less carefully maintained. Centripetal flaking was applied at the end of the sequence, except for on Ool flint, which was exploited right from the initial steps. A few Kombewa-type flakes attest to the exploitation of flake-cores resulting

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Fig. 13. Brute (1, 6) and retouched recurrent undirectional Levallois flakes (2, 7), pseudo-levallois points (3, 4), convergent scraper on undirectional Levallois flakes (8), double scraper (9) and Levallois core (5) found in A11 (5e9), A10IV (4), A10 II (3), A10 (2) and interface A10/A9 (1) (drawn by G. Almerigogna 5e9; S. Muratori 1e4).

from cortical flakes. The scrapers and denticulates are more or less equal in number. The retouching ranges from marginal to moderately invasive and the blanks are mostly Levallois and semi-cortical, sometimes with the tool ventral face thinned. 6.2.2. A10IV This lithic assemblage, apart from a very small number of Levallois flakes, was produced with discoid technology,. The flakes and cores fully fit the predetermination criteria of this volumetric concept, suggesting that cores and flake-cores were exploited in a similar way to as in the A8-A9 complex. Pseudo-Levallois points (Fig. 13, no. 4), backed flakes, sub-circular, quadrangular or triangular flakes were produced by means of centripetally or chordally oriented removals, with the alternation of core surfaces and the repeated changes in the position of the core-edge resulting in the core having a polyhedral outline. The products are a few centimetres long, with thick and strong edges regardless of flake size, and with retouching ranging from marginal to moderately invasive. Notches and denticulates with direct or reverse retouching are more numerous than scrapers.

6.2.3. A10III The discoid technology continues in this small collection, which includes cortical flakes with a centripetal pattern, pseudo-Levallois points, centripetal flakes detached from flake-cores and one flake thinned on its proximal zone. 6.2.4. A10II The few artefacts recovered in this level are fully attributable to discoid reduction sequences, as is the exploitation of the flakecores and, presumably, the raw materials. The combination of centripetal and chordal detachments made it possible to extract pseudo-Levallois points, triangular flakes, flakes wider than they are long and flakes with a cortical or noncortical back. 6.2.5. A10I The variability in the A10 sequence of levels continues in this lithic assemblage, related mostly to the activation of recurrent centripetal flaking procedures within the discoid system. The flakes and the few cores suggest that the operative sequence used, first of all, a “widened” unidirectional pattern which quickly became

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centripetal. The convexity of the flaking core face changes from slight to strong throughout the reduction. The flaking products are mostly ordinary flakes of comparable length and breadth, and flakes with a natural back, whereas pseudo-Levallois points are very scarce (Fig. 13, no. 3). The brute edges are moderately strong and the retouching varies from marginal to moderately invasive on the side-scrapers, the only tools to be recovered from this layer. 6.2.6. A10 With the exception of few discoid flakes of uncertain provenance, this lithic assemblage is fully ascribable to the Levallois method, applied here with unidirectional and centripetal recurrent modalities. The first of these focuses on blades with regular, parallel or convergent sides (Fig. 13, nos. 1, 2). During the reduction, the main striking platform has been extended to support the serial production of the blades, which converge at a narrow angle to the previous series, whilst the same time shaping one of the lateral convexities. The centripetal procedure, on the other hand, was less important as it was applied when the core became smaller at the end, replacing the unidirectional pattern. The cores were discarded after the detachment of a large and invasive flake or a few centripetal hinged flakes. The sequence branches out into the production of a few Kombewa-type flakes and one flake-core made from cortical flakes. It should be noted that one flake was exploited for making bladelets. The scrapers are the simple, double, transverse and convergent types, sometimes made on Levallois blanks but mostly on semi-cortical flakes, core-edge removal flakes and other by-products. The retouching ranges from marginal to moderately invasive, and thinning is rare. There are a few denticulates, and one point. 6.3. Unit A9-A8 The use of raw materials in this industry is no different to that of the previous and later Levallois assemblages, with Bi and SR flint being the most exploited and the other types in much shorter supply. Each group of flint records the same artefact number/ weight rate. Thus, although slight differences have been observed in the use of blanks and in the properties of the raw material, the lithic production and economy did not vary between the different lithological groups (Peresani, 1998). The production system was structured in two reduction sequences, a main one and a secondary one, with the same shared goal of producing short, strong and sometimes pointed implements, as evidenced by the pseudo-Levallois points, backed flakes and the sub-circular, quadrangular or triangular flakes (Fig. 14, nos. 1e14) (Peresani, 1998). The former system exploited blocks and nodules, whereas the latter, which was simpler and less productive, used flake-cores either originating from by-products (cortical flakes) or introduced directly onto the site. The cores began to yield usable blanks right from the initial steps, with the outline gradually changing from unidirectional to discoid (Fig. 14, nos. 15e17). The flakes thus become shorter, and simple schemes with one or two parallel or convergent detachments are replaced by centripete schemes. There are also modifications in the morphological and functional arrangements and face convexities of the cores, whose outline changes to polyhedral. In all cases, this variability fully responds to the production needs (Peresani, 1998). The considerable thickness of these blanks (mean value ¼ 11 mm) and the presence of suitable edges are in accordance with the findings of functional investigations (Lemorini et al., 2003). With some exceptions, the types of motions and actions are randomly spread across the sample. Furthermore, while the use of specific artefacts for certain specific functions has not been observed, the different

kinds of blanks e both retouched and brute e were used in similar ways in the processing of hard e moderately hard more than hardvery hard material. The motions were variable, with transverse being more frequent than longitudinal, unidirectional and bidirectional. Further data regarding the definition of the functional aims have been obtained experimentally, and these supported the interpretation of the discoid artefacts as being “strong” blanks, suitable for processing hard and very hard materials. 6.4. Unit A7 The only artefacts found in this layer were modified by pseudoretouching and, for this reason, are considered as reworked. 6.5. Unit A6-A5 This assemblage groups together the artefacts recovered in A5, A5 þ A6, A6 and correlated levels. There are innumerable Levallois blanks and cores, together with flakes detached for shaping out and maintaining the cores during reduction. As well as these pieces, further artefacts have been ascribed to the discoid and blade volumetric concepts and to weakly organized centripetal and multidirectional procedures. Bi and SR flint types (90% of the total) prevail over SV, SV-gb, Ool and Eoct. The Levallois production goes through a main reduction sequence with at least one secondary sequence for the exploitation of flake-cores. The flake-making has a first level of variability in which the unidirectional modality is replaced by the centripetal modality, with the sporadic application of the preferential modality (Fig. 15, no. 10). Lower levels of variability, occurring during the reduction sequences, are related to a small number of technical variants. The making of blades with regular and convergent sides (Fig. 15, no. 1, 2) is of more significance in the flake-making than the production of centripetal, less regular, small flakes. The unidirectional modality was applied on nodules, blocks and small plates naturally shaped with lateral and distal convexities suitable for the predetermination. At the onset, the core striking platforms were moderately trimmed (flat, sometimes with faceted or dihedral butts on the cortical flakes) and the peripheral convexities were shaped out by removing the long edges of the solid or detaching flakes that were obliquely or normally oriented to the main axis of the blank, thus avoiding the need for a full and exacting decortication procedure. Furthermore, the blades were struck from a single trimmed striking platform and, rarely, from an additional opposite platform, either faceted or left flat. Any residual prominencies in the proximal portion of the future flake were eliminated, whereas the lateral convexities were shaped and maintained by detaching flakes and Levallois flakes from the coreedge. A third procedure, which further optimised the use of the raw materials and facilitated the production, involved the expansion of the striking platform and the removal of an additional unidirectional series, crossing the former series at a narrow angle, with converging axial ridges (Fig. 15, no. 3). The grade of predetermination thus implied a considerable reduction in the number of motor actions and use of raw material in the re-shaping of the convexities. Several reasons have been suggested as to why the centripetal modality was used at almost the end of the unidirectional sequence. One of these regards the degree of core reduction, which entails a contraction in flake size to the detriment of the basic morpho-technical features of the unidirectional blanks. Another regards the unidirectional variants, which lead to the assumption of core patterns proximal to centripete, and yet another refers to the repair of flaking accidents and fractures, mostly hinged, which results in the detachment of differently patterned flakes and the

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Fig. 14. Scraper on triangular flake (1), brute (2, 4, 5) and retouched (3, 6, 7) centripetal flakes, retouched (8, 13) and brute (9, 14) core-edge removal flakes, thinned (10) and brute (11, 12) pseudo-Levallois points and Discoid cores (15, 16) found in A8 (1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15) and A9 (2, 4, 5, 7, 10e12, 14, 16, and 17) (drawn by G. Almerigogna).

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Fig. 15. Recurrent undirectional Levallois flakes (1e3), side-scrapers on undirectional Levallois flake (5, 7) and on cortical flake (6), Mousterian point (4), denticulate (8), sidescraper thinne don the ventral face (9) and preferential Levallois core found in A5 (1, 4e6), A5 þ A6 (10), A6 (2, 3, 7e9) (drawn by G. Almerigogna 1e3, 5e10; S. Muratori 4).

expansion or opening of new striking platforms. The centripetal flakes have thin edges and polygonal or fan-shaped outlines when they intercept the core edge. The maintenance of the convexities is extremely limited, and alternates between pairs of flakes or flakemaking series. Invasive flakes with centripetal patterns fit well with this modality, although the occasional adoption of preferential flaking is not excluded, with one core having been definitely ascribed to this modality. The core exploitation presumably stopped when the volume was reduced or when the basic morpho-technical criteria were altered. Apart from common flaking accidents such as hinging or plunging, no apparent causes other than the exhaustion of the

volume after the last exploitation have been noted. The discarding of the core was thus related to the specific intention not to go beyond a certain threshold in flake size. No premature discards due to incipient fissurations, voids or indications of poorly selected raw materials have been observed. Several flakes detached from the ventral face of flake-cores suggest a set of actions and gestures related to the exploitation of the proximal zone of the core. These actions included the trimming of the striking platform, the ablation of the bulb e by means of either a blow or lateral detachment, or after the preparation of the lateral convexities e and the exploitation of the residual convexity parallel to the sagittal plane of the flake-core. The aim was to obtain

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thin and invasive flakes, sometimes core-edge removing, with regular edges, although not without imperfections. A certain number of flakes and cores cannot be ascribed to the Levallois system. A first operative scheme consists of a series of core edges that constitute the basic morpho-technical elements for the recurrent production of small multidirectional and bidirectional flakes. A second scheme is referable to discoid production, in which the flakes are wide and thick, moderately long and differentiated into centripete, core-edge removing and pseudo-Levallois points. Finally, a third scheme attests to the existence of blade-bladelet projects, in which a number of cores and one flake-core were prepared roughly with a single striking platform for the production of bladelets. The flaking angle is 80 e90 wide, the bladelets were detached by semi-turning exploitation, the distal convexity was outlined by plunged scars and the lateral convexity by thick asymmetric bladelets. The direct percussion technique was used, with a hard hammer. The tools are prevalently scrapers and, to a lesser extent, notches and denticulates (Fig. 15, no. 8), points, unretouched thinned flakes and other specimens such as burins, splintered pieces and marginally retouched flakes, made more often on Levallois blanks than on fragments, cortical flakes, predetermining flakes or other by-products. The shaping of discoid flakes, bladelets, a flake-core and various fragments occurred sporadically. Finally, there is a very small number of scrapers and denticulates, so reduced by retouching as to make the original blanks unidentifiable. The scrapers are more often simple than double (Fig. 15, nos. 1, 5, 6, 7), convergent and transverse, made on cortical flakes, Levallois blades and unidirectional flake-blades (Fig. 15, no. 7) and, to a lesser extent, on thick asymmetric predetermining flakes and a small number of by-products. The retouching is simple and moderately invasive. Marginal retouching, and the thinning of flakes on the ventral or dorsal faces, are sporadic (Fig. 15, no. 9). As regards the other tools, the unusual occurrence of points (Fig. 15, no. 4) and convergent tools on semi-cortical and Levallois flakes is to be noted. 7. The Uluzzian The Neandertal cultural succession of Fumane ends with the Uluzzian (Peresani, 2008), a complex from units A4 and A3 made up of artefacts found during extensive excavations. This does not include one hundred artefacts, clearly identifiable as Aurignacian, recovered in the eastern inner sector of the cave entrance, distributed more in A3 than in A4 as a consequence of the postdepositional deformations that affected the zone locally. The central and western sectors and the dwelling structures found there, on the other hand, are in an excellent state of preservation. The flake, cores and tools made of all the flint types in the two lithic sets are lithologically, technologically and typologically comparable on a general level, although there are differences from A4 to A3, due to the disappearance of some methods and the appearance or increase of other flaking procedures. Thus, there were different reduction methods, with the aim of extracting flakes, blades and bladelets from small smoothed blocks, angular blocks and plates recovered in the close site surroundings. The Levallois method is the most used method in A4, but almost disappears in A3. Flakes and cores were made using the centripetal rather than the unidirectional recurrent modality (Fig. 16, nos. 10, 13). Levallois blades and laminar flakes are therefore sporadic and have fairly regular shapes, whereas on polygonal or fan-shaped flakes of variable size there is evidence of centripete core reduction until discard, when the volumetric threshold was reached and flaking accidents occurred. The arrangement of the convexities on the centripete core face was minimal, interposed between the extraction of single flakes or a short series of predetermined flakes.

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A centripetal flaking procedure different to the Levallois method has been used, with a low degree of predetermination. This procedure was incipient in A4 and more extensively used in A3. It is recurrent, with the striking platforms weakly trimmed (IF ¼ 23.4) and the core face roughly prepared and maintained. The cores are produced from flat-convex flakes, or plates or pyramidal blocks with large voids. The flakes are thin and have a polygonal outline. A further modality has been observed exclusively in A3. Moderately strong rectangular flakes with a cortical back opposite to a thin cutting edge were extracted from small plates modified with inclined and roughly trimmed striking platforms. The lateral core convexity was positioned on the larger side of the raw cobble. The flakes were struck either from the main core face or from the thickness of the plate. Again, layer A3 records the ephemeral production of single and wide flakes from cores with a rhombohedral longitudinal profile outlined by the inclined rough striking platform, two large faces and a roughly prepared distal convexity. The upper volume was exhausted after the large predetermined flake was removed. There were also very ephemeral procedures, regarding the exploitation of flake-cores and pseudopolyhedral cores for the production of some Kombewa-type and irregular flakes in both the layers. Lastly, the incipient appearance of blades and bladelets is recorded in A4 (Fig. 16, no. 12), which increases in A3 (Fig. 16, nos. 6, 7). The aim of the blade reduction sequences was to produce cortical, short and thick artefacts from unipolar cores with striking platforms inclined at 70 . Transverse and longitudinal convexities were shaped from lateral blades, plunged blows or other flakes detached opposite to the blade. The percussion was direct, implying the use of a hard hammer. The bladelets were extracted roughly from small smoothed blocks modified with a flat striking platform, with the initial exploitation making use of a natural edge or cortical convexity. The core face is set either on the wider or longer surface of the raw cobble and enlarged during reduction for extracting thin bladelets and lamellar flakes with irregular calibres and profiles. As well as side-scrapers and points, the retouched tools include backed knives, splintered pieces and one end-scraper. Scrapers are predominant in A4 and subordinate to splintered pieces in A3. The simple, bilateral and convergent scrapers were made on Levallois flakes and, often, on semi-cortical flakes, cortical backed flakes and other types of flake (Fig. 16, no. 5), with marginal to moderately invasive retouching. There was also the practice of thinning the lower face, as opposed to the retouched edge (Fig. 16, no. 11). There are very few denticulates and marginally retouched points on Levallois flake (Fig. 16, no. 10). The backed knives are on thin flakes, which can also be cortical, with the back either straight or convex, either totally or partially retouched and opposite to a thin brute edge (Fig. 16, nos. 1e3, 9). The frequency of splintered in A3 is double to that of A4. The shapes vary, as do the thicknesses, and the length ranges from 3 to 5 cm (Fig. 16, nos. 4, 8). There is also evidence of refitting, proving that bladelets could be produced sporadically from these artefacts. The only end-scraper recovered in A3 is on cortical flake and has been marginally retouched on the front opposite to a trimmed edge, thinned widely on its lower face. 8. Discussion and conclusions 8.1. Summarising the variability across the cultural sequence As can be seen on examining the technological and typological data presented here, the lithic assemblages of Fumane express a variability that can be linked to a number of different conceptual and behavioural levels. At the uppermost level there is the alternation and co-presence of the principal volumetric concepts, with the variable incidence of Levallois e represented in almost all the

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Fig. 16. Uluzzian implements: backed knives (1e3, 9), splintered pieces (4, 8), point on undirectional Levallois flake (10), scraper (5), thinned sraper (11), blade core (12), bladelet cores (6, 7), Levallois core (13) found in A4 (8e13) and A3 (1e7) (drawn by S. Muratori 1e7, 12, A. Paolillo 8e11, 13).

sequence e, discoid, Laminar and a concept assimilable to the Quina sphere, whereas the other productions are more expeditious and their grade of predetermination remains low (Table 2). At the lower levels, the Levallois variability is expressed in the different modalities and, within these, in the different core surface maintenance adopted during the flake-making. From the data obtained, it seems that this maintenance was aimed more at the setting of specific predetermination parameters for morphologically and

dimensionally constrained blanks than at achieving purely economic goals. However, because of the varying extensiveness of the investigation in the different layers, it is not possible to evaluate how much this latter factor affected the variability, nor to estimate what relevance each specific lithic material had in the formation processes. The flake-making makes use of the locally available resources, with a constant substantial prevalence of Bi and SR over other types of flint. As the exploitation of blocks, plates and middle

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sized pebbles is more or less unvaried throughout the whole sequence, then the provisioning may have changed in relation to the main flaking methods used: the volumes of raw cobbles increased in the Quina assemblages, whereas the discoid assemblages required either smaller sizes or Uluzzians for producing bladelets from smoothed stream cobbles. Nor should lithological variability be considered a forcing agent in the design of tool sets, which are recorded in different percentages across the sequence. The rate of retouched blanks stays at under 10% in macro-units S and A, independently of the marked technological variability discovered in A11 to A3, and is at 30% almost everywhere in the BR macro-unit, except for in levels BR7-BR7a and BR7b (Table 2). Further analyses are needed to verify whether these variations are the expression of changes in the site function related to ecological conditions during the first part of the Late Pleistocene. Throughout the cultural sequence from S9 to A4, the Levallois production involves two recurrent modalities, the unidirectional and the centripetal. Unidirectional patterns were applied up to almost the end of the reduction sequence for the striking of elongated with thin and regular edges selected for scrapers. These patterns show that the above goals were achieved constantly, although with a certain amount of attention dedicated to optimising the available resources, which may have been subject to deficiencies in terms of either quality (SR flint) or quantity (Cb and Ool exogenous flints). This dual aim may explain why a number of technical variants were adopted, as can be seen when the core exploitation pattern is in series of convergent or orthogonal detachments, in order to reduce the wastage of flint when re-shaping the core-face convexities. The centripetal modality was adopted more or less systematically either when approaching the end of the core reduction or when flake-cores were exploited. This technological change resulted in a reduction in core-face re-shaping operations and an increase in the number of predetermined blanks, to the detriment of the morpho-technical properties. Once the size of elongated blanks exceeded the lower threshold, the economy in the use of resources was aided by the centripetal patterns, allowing the easier removal of possible accidents. This interpretation, more economical than functional, is contrasted by evidence from some of the assemblages (BR10, BR9, BR8 and perhaps the S units), in which the independent exploitation of recurrent centripetal cores is recorded. The Levallois production does not rule out the use of ephemeral procedures for the purpose of extracting flakes of variable shape and thickness from mono- and polydirectional or discoid cores. Worth mentioning here is the BR9 assemblage, with its variability due to the presence of bifacial pieces. Although no flakes resulting from bifacial manufacture have been recovered, the lithological and taphonomical features of these artefacts e local flint, pseudoretouches, light patination e are comparable with those of the whole assemblage. This is not a case, therefore, of tools recovered off-site, but rather of items that were a part of a certain context, the functional and ecological significance of which cannot be specified at this point in the research. The technological and typological break due to the replacement of the Levallois with the Quina assemblage occurs in BR6 up to BR3 and coincides with a targeted use of the dwelling space. Lithic and faunal remains scattered in proximity of hearths record a palimpsest originating from repeated subsistence events correlated to the activation of combustion structures and the consumption and discarding of bones and lithics (Cremaschi et al., 2002). The morphometric differences expressed throughout this transect suggest that economic factors must be carefully examined in the light of the functional and zooarchaeological investigations. A further technological discontinuity coincides with the first substantial anthropization of macro-unit A, providing new evidence of variability in the context of the Levallois system.

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Indeed, closer similarities emerge between A11, A10V, A10, A5-A6 than between previous units and the overlying A4. In these recent units, more than in the earlier ones, the unidirectional reduction focuses on blades with more constrained morphometric calibres, destined for immediate use. Nevertheless, differences have been observed between the two most important lithic assemblages, the A11 and the A5-A6 complex. The modality in A11 combines bidirectional and orthogonal patterns until core deactivation, whereas in A5-A6 there is the lateral expansion of the trimmed striking platforms for the striking of convergent blade series. In the final step of the reduction sequence this “widened” unidirectional pattern is replaced by the centripetal procedure, up to final deactivation. The discoid assemblages in A10IV, A10III and A10I, embedded between the Levallois in A10V and A10, are a prelude to the full appearance of this technology in A8-A9, irrespective of the different flint to chip aptitudes. Throughout the operative sequences, the morphological arrangements of the cores vary according to the main technical goals pursued. The few discoid artefacts recovered in the Levallois A5-A6 complex could be interpreted either as resulting from this method, even if ephemeral, or as items recovered from the underlying discoid complex. The re-appearance of the Levallois assemblage in A5-A6 marks a further abrupt technological replacement, whilst at the same time indicating a kind of continuity in the adoption of this volumetric conception in the A4 Uluzzian complex. However, although the predetermination is recurrent, the blanks tend more to be of variable size and shape. Also, the retouched tool kit differs from the Mousterian, in that side-scrapers are associated to artefacts unknown in the earlier units. Together with the manufacture of very few wide flakes, the full appearance of the blade volumetric concept and other methods is thus recorded in the data. 8.2. The Fumane cultural sequence in context Even though most of the evidence from the Fumane sequence is comparable with that of other stratigraphies in the northern Mediterranean area, it does however provide new details of the Late Pleistocene cultural scenario. Not surprisingly, as in almost all Mousterian sites around the North-Adriatic area, Levallois technology is largely prevalent in the lithic industries that mark the aggradation of the sequence. This flaking method spreads from the Rhône valley to the western Balkans along the Alpine arch and Apennine ridge, where it forms the substrate of complexes traditionally labelled as Typical Mousterian rich in scrapers, Eastern Charentian Mousterian, Pontinian (Bietti, 1990e1991; Peretto, 1992; Palma di Cesnola, 1996; Milliken, 1999e2000), with modulations in different facies in relation to the content of the retouched tools. Although numerical dates prior to MIS3 are scarce, the variability in the Levallois technology in the Fumane macro-units S and BR is the same as in other sites. In this cave, this system focused mostly on longer-than-wide blanks using the unidirectional recurrent modality and, to a lesser extent, on less morphologically constrained blanks, by means of centripetal flake-making. Flexibility in flake-making resulting from the application of these different recurrent modalities has been observed at open-air sites in the northern Apennines and central Italy, formerly attributed, on a paleopedological basis, to the onset of the Würm (Bisi et al., 1982), but now dated to MIS4 (Martini et al., 2001). Conversely, none of the industries has the specific target of producing Levallois points. On a regional scale, at open-air sites as well, the grade of predetermination varies within each modality. Long and regular predetermined blanks were the aim of a priority strategy, from the initial steps right up to deactivation, whatever exploitation the core was subject to in relation to raw material, economy and functional

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aims. Whereas at open-air sites the reduction stops at an intermediate grade of the potential exploitation, in shelters the exploitation was more exhaustive and affected structural and typometric arrangements, to the point of producing the microlithism observed on some assemblages (Peresani, 1996). Settlement dynamics were thus responsible both for fractionation in reduction sequences and for variations in the grade of retouching of the predetermined blanks and by-products. The recovery of bifaces in layers ascribed to the first part of MIS3 is surprising, and highlights the significance of the fragmentary biface found in the 3rd cut in 1964 (Cremaschi et al., 1986). No correlations between this cut and the newly exposed sequence have yet been put forward. In the North-Adriatic region, the latest lithic assemblages with bifaces do not go beyond MIS5e, as inferred from the Boccabianca site on the Adriatic coast, where affinities with the Micoquian complex have been observed on one triangular biface and on the strong flakes produced by means of specific technologies (Silvestrini et al., 2000e2001). Foliate points have been found in the Romagna lower Apennines, and although these pieces seem to precede the last Interglacial (Lenzi and Nenzioni, 1996), a more reliable chronological offset is needed. Hence, comparisons with Fumane could focus on the eastern Balkans and the regions covered by the vast spread of bifacial pieces and foliate points from North-Western France to the Crimea and SouthWestern Russia as well. Recent reviews of these complexes have dated them to MIS4 and early MIS3, these being amongst several numerical dates assumed to be reliable (Hopkinson, 2004; Richter, 1997). The Quina assemblages from BR6 to BR3 provide further singular evidence of the Mousterian in the North-Adriatic region, as Quina scrapers have been found very rarely at Grotta della Ghiacciaia (Bertola et al., 1999), close to Fumane, and in other sites. Industries have been discovered throughout the Italian peninsula, on the Tyrrhenian coast (Grotta del Poggio), the Gargano promontory (Paglicci shelter) and in the Salento (Grotta Romanelli, Grotta del Cavallo, Grotta di Uluzzo C) (Palma di Cesnola, 1996; Mussi, 2001), but there are many uncertainties over their chronological attribution. Fumane, on the other hand, is not the only site attributed to the first part of MIS3 in the northern Mediterranean belt. In South-East France, Quina pieces were manufactured 40 ka BP at Esquicho Grapaou (Marzin, 1990) and, a few millennia earlier, at La Combette (Texier et al., 2003). Perspectives for assessing the significance of assemblages in macro-unit A are widely supported by the final Mousterian industries, which persist until the second part of MIS3 around the middle North Mediterranean rim (Boscato et al., 2004; Karavani c, 2004; Peresani, 2006; Slimak, 2008; Peresani et al., in press). Alternations in cultural entities are recorded at Fumane as well as at other sites. This evidence clashes with what has been claimed previously by other scholars, who saw the evolution of Mousterian industries as a process leading to the gradual predominance of denticulates over traditional tools and a corresponding decrease in the application of the Levallois method (Peretto, 1992; MontetWhite, 1996; Palma di Cesnola, 1996). First of all, attention is focused on the Levallois production. Reduction sequences in A11, A10V, A10 and A5-A6 go beyond the regional scale in the Tyrrhenian belt, where Levallois blades were produced at Grotta di Castelcivita and other sites (Palma di Cesnola, 1996; Gambassini, 1997). At Grotta di San Bernardino, 60 km east of Fumane, the flake-manufacture involved the use of devices throughout the whole recurrent unidirectional reduction, and prior to the intense centripetal exploitation at the end of the sequence (Peresani, 1996). Close to Fumane, the still undated units 31 and 32 at Grotta della Ghiacciaia demonstrate that the unidirectional modality was systematically applied to struck blades. Even in this

case, the core exploitation changed to centripete in the final steps of the sequence (Bertola et al., 1999). Affinities are also observable in the tool-sets, mostly composed of scrapers and points, and, to a much lesser extent, in the denticulates. Moreover, at Fumane, evidence of production markedly aimed at the making of elongated, sometimes convergent blanks using Levallois technology can be associated to further distinctive evidence seen in the relatively high number of points and convergent tools in level A5. This evidence is comparable to that of the Levallois-derived lithic industries encountered in Europe, such as the Bohunician  (Skrdla, 2003), the by now invalid Bachokirian (Teyssandier, 2006) and the Neronian (Slimak, 2008), and in the Near East, such as the Emiran (Bar-Yosef, 2000). All these are MIS3 complexes older than the Aurignacian and the Ahmarian in which there is increased blade production, made possible either by the stereotyped Levallois method or different methods closer to the Upper Paleolithic, which, for this reason have also been grouped with the Initial Upper Palaeolithic by certain scholars (Kuhn, 2004). Certain similarities at a technological level, and assemblages discovered in the intermediate area between Europe and the Near East that have been interpreted as the result of a first wave of the spread of Modern Humans in Europe, should e at least in some regions like the Near East, the Balkans and the South-East of France e be seen as a continuity of local, well rooted production strategies after the replacement of the older complexes (Micoquian in central Europe, Tabun B type in the Near East), dated from MIS5 to MIS3 (Teyssandier, 2008). Nevertheless, despite their similarities when focusing on the production of elongated blanks and brute or retouched pointed items, these industries show significant variability and do not bear out the hypothesis of a single origin. Fumane and the extension into the North-Adriatic region, fit into this scenario. The Levallois dominance is reduced or even replaced by the discoid technology. The industries spread, regardless of the geographic and palaeo-environmental context, the site typology, the kinds of mammals hunted and the coexistence with other flaking methods. They are sporadic in the Po Basin, but more common in western Liguria, where no significant correlations have been observed with the ungulate associations, dominated by cervids, and remain unaltered even if there were technological changes. Raw materials were used regardless of their properties, except at Riparo Mochi layer 1 where the Levallois/discoid dichotomy has been related to the exploitation of different materials (see Peresani, 2003). This dynamism in conceptual and functional innovation denotes changes that are significant in some regions, ephemeral in others. Slimak (2008) argues that in the Rhone valley, after the gradual reorientation of technical systems to the production of blades and points in the Neronian, the last expressions of Mousterians were marked by deep breaks in the tradition. Despite not being clearly expressed in economic factors (i.e. cynegetic activities, diet, organisation of settlement systems) (Boscato et al., 2004, 2011; Fiore et al., 2004; Karavani c, 2004; Valensi and Psathi, 2004; Richards et al., 2000), the tendency to abandon deep-rooted behaviour patterns and the appearance of blade manufacture and low-elaboration flake-making methods (Boscato et al., 2011) are a prelude to the emergence of the Uluzzian in Italy (Ronchitelli and Gambassini, 2006) and the establishment of a cultural boundary beyond the North Adriatic (Peresani, 2008), along with the Szeletian in Croatian Zagorjie (Vindjia, layer G1) (Zilhão, 2009). The Uluzzian at Fumane is a very isolated case in the cultural scenario of the North-Adriatic area, as it has been shown to be absent in Liguria, Provence and the Rhone valley (Palma Di Cesnola, 1989; Slimak, 2008). In Italy, it has been found in Apulia (Grotta del Cavallo, Grotta Bernardini, Grotta-Riparo di Uluzzo), Campania

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(Cala and Castelcivita) and Tuscany (La Fabbrica) where it systematically overlies the last Mousterian layers, separated by a discontinuity or a sterile level that prove the absence of stratigraphic alternations. The relationship between the Uluzzian and the Neandertal is still uncertain, as it is based on a small number of teeth found at Grotta del Cavallo (Palma Di Cesnola, 1989; Ronchitelli and Gambassini, 2006). The Fumane evidence clarifies the disputed subdivision of the Uluzzian into lower, middle and upper in relation to typological variability (Gioia, 1990; Kuhn and Bietti, 2000) and demonstrates that it could not have originated from the Mousterian denticulate (Palma Di Cesnola, 1989). What it does record, however, is the persistence of Levallois technology, which, while applied to projects different to those in the previous levels, is supported by the occurrence of centripetal flaking. Across the sequence, the Uluzzians made poorly standardized blades and bladelet and used large inventories of lithic tool sets, including arched backed tools, end-scrapers and splintered pieces. Splintered pieces are another type of specific implement, which may or may not be prevalent in some assemblages, perhaps due to its use as an intermediate object to produce slits and divide bones and antlers. Thus, rather than indicating original population replacements, the Uluzzian and, by extrapolation, the changes observed across the Fumane sequence, may call for the adaptation of volumetric concepts of flake-making and economic strategies to specific ecological contexts. To this end, the evidence pinpoints the northern coastal belt of the Mediterranean Sea as being one of the key areas for reconstructing the history of the Middle Palaeolithic and its boundary with the Upper Palaeolithic (Koz1owski and Otte, 2000; Bar-Yosef, 2000, 2006; Stringer, 2002; Mellars, 2004), a patchy scenario that documents the last, marked cultural evolution of our extinct relatives and the flourishing of so-called “modern” behavioural shifts, originating from certain regional Mousterian entities. Moreover, from these data, in the larger context of the end of the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe, it can be clearly seen that the emergence of the Uluzzian from a Mousterian substrate in the North of Italy highlights the existence of independent behavioural trends in neighbouring areas around the Mediterranean rim. Acknowledgments The author is grateful to the promoters and organizers for the invitation at the Tarragona meeting. Research at Fumane is conducted by Ferrara and Milano I Universities in the framework of a project supported by the Culture Ministry, Veneto Archaeological Superintendency; Lessinia Mountain Community, Regional Natural Park, Department for Cultural Heritage of the Veneto Region, Fumane Municipality, Cariverona Foundation. This study has been grant-aided by the National Research Council through the Short Term Mobility Program and the National Project on Cultural Heritage. Two reviewers provided useful suggestions for improvements to the original manuscript. References Bar-Yosef, O., 2000. The middle and early upper paleolithic in Southwest Asia and neighboring regions. In: Bar-Yosef, O., Pilbeam, D. (Eds.), The Geography of Neandertals and Modern Humans in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean, vol. 8. Peabody Museum Bullettin, Cambridge, pp. 107e156. Bar-Yosef, O., 2006. Neanderthals and modern humans: a different interpretation. In: Conard, N. (Ed.), When Neanderthals and Modern Humans Met. Verlag, Tubingen, pp. 467e482. Bartolomei, G., Broglio, A., Cassoli, P., Castelletti, L., Cremaschi, M., Giacobini, G., Malerba, G., Maspero, A., Peresani, M., Sartorelli, A., Tagliacozzo, A., 1992. La Grotte-Abri de Fumane. Un site Aurignacien au Sud des Alps. Preistoria Alpina 28, 131e179.

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