Modalità di sfruttamento delle risorse litiche durante il Paleolitico medio dei Monti Lessini (Verona)

We propose an interpretative model for the exploitation strategies carried out by the prehistoric people who have intensively populated the area of the Monti Lessini (Verona) during the Middle Palaeolithic. Our model is based on observations of lithic assemblages coming from open air sites as well as caves and and collected during systematic surveys or archaeological excavation. In particular we have focused on the raw material with which the majority of the of these industries had been realized: the fl int or, more exactly, fl ints coming from various formations and characterized by different texture and physical parameters. We suggest that the great variability of the fl int, both from the quantitative and qualitative point of view, has probably affected or at least played a signifi cant role in the applications of the volumetric exploitation methods and of the chaînes opératoires. The abundance of raw materials and the easy of its procurement throughout the Middle Palaeolithic (but also in the present days) have induced us to refl ect not so much on the necessary strategies for raw material “economy” - the availability and proximity of the sources have never represented a limit to its wide use - but on the empirical knowledge acquired even during our experimental reconstruction of the knapping sequence. The texture and the morphology of the nodule or cobble to be used as a core determine, to a signifi cant extent, the technical objectives of artefact morphology and size. Our work, which began in 2003, has allowed us to develop a model for variable flint management strategies during the Middle Palaeolithic, based on fl int texture, availability and cultural traditions. There seem to be no differences concerning the exploitation methods applied to different fl ints. We observe a decrease in the frequency of microcrystalline flint within the complexes of the EMP (Early Middle Palaeolithic) and a concomitant increase in the frequency of cryptocrystalline fl int. The exploitation of fl int with a coarser texture determines a tendency to obtaining artefacts of larger size. It seems possible to suggest a model for differential exploitation and management of raw materials based on their physical and rheologic characteristics.