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 attested in the lower and middle Palaeolithic throughout Italy. The quality of raw materials usually affected the flaking technology and quality of the the products. In the upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic raw material procurement strategies become more complex. Flint was exploited both locally, in areas were abundant outcrops of materials were available, and in distant localities. Different routes of exchange were thus followed in the various periods. The extended trade of obsidian from Lipari, Palmarola and Sardinia to the Italian peninsula is attested in the Neolithic.