Middle Palaeolithic in the South of Albania: perspectives from the study of the lithic industry of Istraishta site

Abstract

Neanderthal groups developed different models of mobility and exploitation of resources across their territory: these differences can be linked to various knapping methods and are probably related to adaptative strategies and responses at many ecological and cultural levels. Neanderthals associated with Discoid knapping are known to depend on a context-specific, not planned exploitation of lithic raw materials for daily food procurement and be more mobile than others using different technologies. However, we have no defined data for most of the geographical contexts where this technocomplex was found. This study presents the open-air site of Istraishta, where the Mousterian is characterized by the Discoid technology applied to the reduction of pebbles, thin plates and flakes. The multidisciplinary investigations include the study of the lithic surface collection, of the quality and variety of the lithic raw materials exploited in the site as well as the analysis of the soil which is preserved in localized patches. These new data on the behavioral variability of Neanderthals in the southern Balkans are here contextualized at a macro-regional level, with analogies with many sites of the Adriatic basin mainly framed chronologically between MIS 5 and MIS 3.