Use-Wear Analysis of the Lithic Industry of the Lower Palaeolithic Site of Guado San Nicola (Isernia, Central Italy)

Abstract

The Lower Palaeolithic site of Guado San Nicola (GSN) is located near the village of Monteroduni (Molise, Central Italy). The archaeological layers identified date to the transition between the interglacial and the glacial marine isotope stages MIS 11 (i.e. 400 ± 9 ka) and MIS 10 (i.e. 345 ± 9 ka). The bifaces and Levallois products found among the lithic assemblage of GSN make the site the earliest one bearing such tools in Italy and one of the most ancient ones in the Western European context. The aim of this work is to analyze/study/investigate the use-wear traces left on the lithic tools and to understand the activities carried out at the site. The analysis also seeks to figure out how the Levallois products were used, focusing on whether there were or not differences in the activities pursued using Levallois flakes rather than blanks obtained through different knapping methods. Moreover, the present work aims at understanding if and how the faconnage products were used. Since the research focuses on flakes, the bifaces’ flakes resulting from the faconnage process and in some cases from renewal processes are also taken in consideration, while the cores and debris are not. Results show that there were apparently no differences in the use of otherwise obtained flakes and the one resulting from the production of bifaces. Nonetheless, the examined data could be considered a hint for proposing the development of the Levallois method from the practice of faconnage sequences.