Between “vintage” and “avant-guard”, the Lower Palaeolithic settlements in Molise region (Italy)

Abstract

In the last decades, debates on the origin, timing and spread of the Levallois method and its relation with the end of the Acheulean and transition to the Middle Palaeolithic have intensified, gaining increased importance on the issue of reading into archaeological evidence throughout Europe. There is another significant issue in current debates about the spread of typical Acheulean tools and technologies, which is the subject of numerous scientific interpretations.In the Italian peninsula the spatial and chronological fragmentation of archaeological evidence and the lack of sites featuring good chronostratigraphic context constitute a serious limitation to both establishing a reliable chronological framework and outlining the “evolution” of Middle Pleistocene lithic industries.In this article, we examine the contributions on the discussion of two Lower Palaeolithic sites located in Central-Southern Italy (Isernia La Pineta and Guado San Nicola), which hint both the “tardive” arrival of handaxe shaping, and the early appearance of the Levallois method.