SESSION 3 – Stone tool production and processing techniques
A technological overview of the Noaillian Gravettian of Riparo Mochi (Balzi Rossi, Italy)

Mobility strategies and technological aspects of the Italian Gravettian are poorly understood. An explanatory framework within which to understand the dynamics of Gravettian adaptations is lacking. We analysed the evidence coming from Riparo Mochi (Grimaldi caves, Balzi Rossi area, Liguria), one of the most complete stratigraphic sequence of the Upper Palaeolithic in Mediterranean Europe. Results show that local raw material is the most exploited one even if French and central Italian flints were also imported to the site. In order to reconstruct the Gravettian reduction sequence, we interpret each blank as a product of a hypothetical reduction sequence by means of the classification of the technical features of blanks - such as dorsal scars, crests, dimensions, presence/absence of cortex – together with an experimental knapping activity. The main technical goal was the production of elongated blanks (blades) by means of the uni-directional method of debitage.