Technological continuity and discontinuity in the Romagnano Loc III rock shelter (NE Italy) Mesolithic series

This paper reports results of a technological study carried out on the lithic assemblages of the Mesolithic sequence of Romagnano rock shelter, in the south-eastern Alps, which represents the reference site for the Sauveterrian and Castelnovian of northeastern Italy. Considering the technical differences between the two phases, this work has tried to ascertain aspects of continuity and discontinuity within this series in the aim of investigating the way this transition occurred – abrupt or progressive. The objectives of débitage and the techniques applied, along with the reductions sequences and the methods involved, have been reconstructed. In order to interpret these data, a comparison with other main Castelnovian assemblages of the Italian peninsula has been carried out. Results attained indicate that the major changes occurred at the transition between I and II Mesolithic are closely related to the introduction of new knapping techniques – indirect percussion/pressure. The persistence of some characters derived from the more ancient pragmatic Sauveterrian tradition has also been highlighted. The existence of a real progressive transition seems difficult to be proved considering that Romagnano, as other continuous series available from other rock shelters of the peninsula, could have undergone problems of stratigraphic disturbance.