The use of blades and pointed tools during middle palaeolithic, the example of Riparo Tagliente (VR)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand Neanderthals' techno-functional behavior at Riparo Tagliente (VR). To this purpose, the use-wear analysis on the lithic artefacts from the upper levels of the Mousterian sequences was carried out. In particular, two main features of the Mousterian lithic assemblage of Riparo Tagliente are considered: how the laminar component and the pointed tools were differently used. The use of blades in the Mousterian period represents a debated issue: many scholars interpret the Mousterian blades as specific tools used as butchering knives, while others underline their use as undifferentiated tools. The use of pointed tools is also an interesting topic: if different scholars stress their undifferentiated use, others propose their use as spear points. The use-wear analysis completed on the Riparo Tagliente's Mousterian lithic assemblage highlights a general opportunistic behavior in the use of knapping products. Concerning the relation between the artefacts' use and their typology, the data collected suggests a relation between blades and butchering activities and an undifferentiated use of pointed tools. Our study also underlines the identification of wear traces on flakes that are usually considered as waste products (i.e. management-flakes of Levallois cores and reshaping flakes), suggesting that we should reconsider the definition of waste products in the light of the use-wear analysis results.