Il Paleolitico medio del Piemonte settentrionale: revisione delle vecchie evidenze e nuove scoperte

Piedmont is a region usually considered as an area where evidences of Middle Palaeolithic human frequentations are sporadic and not considerable, with the exception of the caves that open on the west side of the Fenera mount (Borgosesia, VC). Indeed, until few years ago, the only well-known findings outside the Sesia valley were represented by some lithic tools found in the provinces of Novara, Vercelli and Asti during nonsystematic surveys and therefore lacking in clear stratigraphic references. The archaeological excavations restarted by the University of Ferrara in 2009 at the Ciota Ciara cave (Borgosesia, VC). This being the occasion to revive the attention on this region with the re-examination of some lithic assemblages and the realization of new research projects. In this context, the lithic assemblage of Vaude canavesane (Ciriè, TO) is very interesting: found during unauthorized surveys and excavations, it was confiscated in 1981 and it was recently rediscovered in the Museo di Antichità di Torino during the rearrangement of its storages. This Middle Paleolithic lithic assemblage is composed by 319 artefacts and it comes from the highest part of the Vaude, a plateau located between the Canavese region and the area of Turin. Within the Vaude lithic assemblage, all the knapping methods typical of the Middle Palaeolithic (Opportunistic/S.S.D.A., discoid and Levallois) are attested and all the artefacts are made of local vein quartz. Even if the stratigraphic position of the lithic industries is lost, the consistency of the assemblage concerning the state of preservation and the techno-typological features, allows to propose some interesting remarks, especially because it is the only evidence of a human frequentation of the area during Palaeolithic. Similar, from a geomorphological point of view, is the Baragge biellesi area, subject of a new research project in 2015. Baragge is the name given to the relicts of the wide plains formed by fluvio-glacial and fluvial deposits during the Quaternary period and they represent a unique record for the investigation of the Palaeolithic human frequentation at low altitude. The archaeological survey, carried out thanks to the collaboration between Italian and foreign institutions and under the management of Soprintendenza Archeologia del Piemonte, led to the identification of some lithic artefacts that, from a technological point of view, can be dated to the Middle Palaeolithic: a recurrent centripetal Levallois core, two discoid cores and a discoid flake. All the lithic artefacts were found within a layer formed by coldclimate aeolian deposits that may be dated between 200.000 and 75.000 B.P. (OIS 6-4). Clearly, during Middle Palaeolithic, Piedmont was occupied more intensely than it was thought until few years ago, but it is necessary to increase the researches in order to clarify modalities and dynamics of the human frequentation of the region during Paleolithic.