Looking for the Mesolithic in the Venetian Plain: first results from the Sile river springs (North-Eastern Italy)

During the ’80s of the last century the activity of local amateurs led to the identification and collection of several thousand lithic artefacts mostly referred to the Mesolithic in the area of the Sile river springs (Veneto, North-Eastern Italy). Although representing one of the rare evidence of occupation of alluvial plains by Mesolithic groups in the Italian peninsula, for several years such discoveries have been completely forgotten. Starting from 2012 a new research project aimed at the diachronic reconstruction of prehistoric settlement dynamics related to environmental changes has been undertaken over this area. The preliminary data indicate an intense occupation near the springs of the river Sile by the Mesolithic groups during the ancient and middle Holocene, in close connection to the peculiar features of this wetland area which possibly represented the focus of rich biotopes suitable for subsistence.