The Italian case in the context of the first European peopling

Abstract The Italian Peninsula attests to an early human peopling through the presence of sever‑ al sites, such as Monte Poggiolo and Pirro Nord, the former dated to about 1.0 My (by paleomagnetism and ESR) and the latter dated to 1.2‑1.5 My (on a biochronological basis and especially due to the presence of Allophaiomys ruffoi). Concerning the site of Pirro Nord, the techno‑economical approach to the lithic industries has been used to highlight the technical behaviours and the choices related to raw materials, as well as to make comparisons with other European sites with the same chronology. In this site, the lithic production is generally characterized by short reduction se‑ quences strongly adapted to the initial morphology of raw material (always flint cob‑ bles or pebbles). The lithic production is mainly facilitated by unipolar/orthogonal/ multidirectional débitage; however, centripetal exploitation is also attested to and seems to have an important place inside the debitage economy. From a general point of view, the other contemporary European sites and the African Mode 1 share these features. However, some peculiarities can be underlined. These indicate an extraordinary savoir-faire and capacity for adaptation to the raw material.