The Production System of the Mousterian Lithic Industry of Layer III from the Mezzena rockshelter (Verona, northern Italy)

This paper reports preliminary results of a techno-economic study on the layer III lithic assemblage from the Mezzena Rockshelter, excavated in 1957 by F. Zorzi of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona. The research presented here focuses on the following issues: raw material exploitation (within a local provisioning strategy model), strategies for transfer of lithic materials, predetermination of products, technical objectives and economic aims. Crypto-crystalline silicate rock was introduced into the site after a pre-shaping process carried out nearer the sources, and then exploited by applying several variants of the Levallois method. Three methods had been observed (unidirectional recurrent, centripetal recurrent and preferential Levallois) all independent in their initial phase. The next operative phase, retouching, is documented by the relatively high rate of retouched pieces, most of them made on Levallois blanks. Along with this technological organization we can observe evidence that the finished products were transported both to the site (highly curated retouched pieces) and from the site to other sites (Levallois flakes). The exploitation of micro-crystalline silicate rock shows the same technological system described above, but with greater disassociation the different production phases. The results of the techno-economic analysis reveal mixed production-utilization economic strategies. The incidence of flint finds, the 5 hearths and the occurrence of faunal remains impose certain caution in proposing the settlement dynamic of the Neanderthal groups frequenting the Mezzena Rockshelter. The archaeological record would be the result of more than one consecutive episode of human occupation, probably relatively short in duration