Inorganic raw materials economy and provenance of chipped industry in some stone age sites of northern and central Italy

An opportunistic and local choice of raw materials is typically attested in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic industries throughout Italy. The quality of the raw material usually affected the flaking technology and quality of the products. In the Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic, raw material procurement strategies were more complex. Flint was exploited both locally, in areas where abundant outcrops of raw materials were available (such as the Lessini mountains), and in distant localities, after which it was transported or exchanged over medium/long distances. Different routes of exchange were thus followed in the various periods; good reconstruction of these routes have been provided by a study of the Garfagnana sites in Northern Tuscany, and the Mesolithic deposit of Mondeval de Sora (Dolomites). An interesting example of a Late Upper Paleolithic flint quarry and workshop were found in Abruzzo, in the San Bartolomeo shelter. The extended trade of obsidian from Lipari, Palmarola and Sardinia to the Italian Peninsula is attested in the Neolithic, with some differences concerning the age and different areas.