LITHIC PRODUCTIONS DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE (MIS 19-12) IN THE ITALIAN PENINSULA: AN OVERVIEW

Abstract

Archaeological record of the Italian peninsula during the first half of the Middle Pleistocene is characterised by a limited number of sites. In the last decade, new systematic research allowed to refine chronostratigraphies and to improve the contextual and technological information. Here, we report an overview of the Italian archaeological sites between MIS 19 and MIS 12 with the main aim to evaluate the current state of our knowledge on the technological behaviours from the earliest Middle Pleistocene sites where Homo heidelbergensis appears to the emergence of hominins with Neanderthal-like morphology.