Construct or modify this is the question: the relevance of retouch between final Lower Palaeolithic and early Middle Palaeolithic

Abstract

Great attention has always been paid to the presence of retouched tools as chrono-cultural proxies in prehistoric lithic assemblages; since the last century typological lists have been traditionally used to summarize the morphological variability shown by the European Palaeolithic lithic assemblages. More recent technological and use-wear analyses focused on linking the retouched tools to a specific reduction sequence and function/s. Regardless of the approaches used, the behavioural significance of retouching is often overlooked. In this scenario, we suggest a more comprehensive interpretation of Lower-Middle Palaeolithic retouched tools based on a techno-functional approach, which considers typological, technological, and use-wear results as part of an inductive-deductive process. By means of this approach we discuss the lithic assemblages from two well-known Italian open-air sites, Fontana Ranuccio (Anagni, Lazio), dated to MIS 11 and frequented by Homo heidelbergensis , and Poggetti Vecchi (Grosseto, Toscana), which attests the presence of early Neanderthals at the onset of the MIS6. Our data allow deeper insight into the passage from the Acheulean to the onset of the Mousterian, by comparing also Tyrrhenian archaeological evidence for a wider understanding of the Middle Pleistocene humans’ competencies and behaviours.