Quaternary International 75 (2001) 113}130 Early Italy and the colonization of Western Europe

The early phases of human occupation in Italy are considered in the context of discussions on the chronology and patterns of hominid dispersal out of Africa and into Western Europe. This paper is therefore a synthesis and an evaluation of new data on three, interrelated topics: (a) the question of direct contacts between Italy and North Africa in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene through the Sicilian Channel; (b) the evidence for the successive dispersal in Western Europe of two di!erent technical traditions; and (c) the nature and chronology of the earliest human occupation of Italy. Interpretations of bifaces and biface industries are discussed, as they are an important aspect of Out of Africa models. Hominid presence in Italy is documented at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, their route of entry apparently not through Sicily but from the north. In contrast to the &Ubeidiya and Gesher Benot Ya’aqov assemblages in Israel, the earliest-dated biface assemblages in Italy * with a preliminary date at about 640$70 ka * show no speci"c characteristics that would tie them to the African Acheulean. Evidence for a precedence of core-and-#ake over handaxe industries is ambiguous; their interpretation as designating di!erent groups of hominids lacks a sound archaeological basis. Since faunal exchanges with continental Europe are documented throughout the Pleistocene, the hypothesis of multiple episodes of human migration into Italy should be considered; however, we can neither support it or refute it because the archaeological assemblages do not inform us on speci"c migration events. ( 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 1