Continuity and discontinuity in raw material exploitation and procurement from Middle to Final Upper Palaeolithic in the Salento (Apulia, Southern Italy)

The Salento region in southern Apulia contains many important Palaeolithic sites that range in age from the Middle to the final Upper Palaeolithic. The Uluzzian – an Italian transitional industry – also is restricted almost exclusively to this region. The overall scarcity of fine-grained raw material in the area also forced human groups to opportunistically exploit non-flint raw materials and/or to prolong the use-life of flint artefacts in various ways. Limestone, siliceous limestone and other raw materials have been 9 employed in Mousterian and Uluzzian industries, while in Epigravettian industries other procurement strategies have been carried to obtain an almost exclusive use of flint. In this paper, we delineate models of raw material economy in Mousterian, Uluzzian and Epigravettian assemblages, focusing particularly on raw material procurement and circulation in the Salento. This study is based on an analysis of raw material availability in the region and of lithic production in selected lithic assemblages (e.g., Giganti cave, Romanelli cave, Uluzzo C cave, Cavallo cave, Mario Bernardini, Fondo Focone). Surveys carried in field seasons 2005 and 2006 focused particularly on most southern part of Salento. The systematic survey covered an area of 30 km in radius starting from Leuca Cape. Survey was systematic and covered entirely the area but it was unable to isolate any source for flint raw material that occurs neither in veins nor in secondary outcrops as conglomerate pebbles. This also includes the consideration of possible secondary deposition sources such as marine or ancient fluvial conglomerates. This systematic absence raises questions regarding possible raw material procurement patterns. The Apulia region possesses a high quality flint source in the form of veins and outcrops in the Gargano peninsula, 350 km to the north of Leuca. Other known sources are the already cited Bradano basin and the pebble conglomerates near Brindisi in Apulia, which are located 110 km to the north and have to be regarded as the most probable flint sources. Particularly, those sources are the most probable ones concerning flint industries from the Uluzzo bay sites (Uluzzo C cave, Cavallo cave, M. Bernardini). This composite situation gives a multifaceted point of view on human adaptation through time, sowing important variations in behaviour from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic and giving the opportunity of delineate models outlying similarities and differences in Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans.