Going off the beaten path? The Casera Lissandri 17 site and the role of the Cansiglio plateau on human ecology during the Early Sauveterrian in North-eastern Italy

Between the Venetian Alps and the Emilian Apennines (Northern Italy): Highland vs. lowland occupation in the early Mesolithic

“…At all these sites, with the exception of some loci of Le Mose, the microlithic assemblages are also composed of triangles, both scalene and isosceles which are usually predominant over backed points (especially double backed ones), crescents and backed truncated bladelets (often characterised by an obtuse angle) according to the most "classical" composition of Sauveterrian assemblages. This composition is also attested at the Alpine sites of Mondeval de Sora, Casera Lissandri XVII, Casera Davi a II and Cima XII, where cherts belong to the Venetian series (from bottom to top: Maiolica, Scaglia Variegata and Scaglia Rossa) with lower percentages of other local types (Livinallongo formation at Mondeval de Sora) (Peresani and Angelini, 2002;Broglio et al, 2006;Fontana et al, 2009a;Valletta et al, 2016;Visentin et al, 2015a) and at the mountain Apennine site of Monte Bagioletto (Cremaschi et al, 1984).…”

“…An interesting aspect is that although raw materials were almost entirely collected in the middle Piave valley (a few kilometres to the west of the site), a rock crystal bipolar core and some flake fragments are also noted. Currently this evidence represents the southernmost for this raw material exposed in the central Alps (Peresani and Angelini, 2002;Peresani, 2009;Peresani and Bertola, 2009;Visentin et al, 2015a). Another Early Mesolithic settlement has been identified in the Palughetto basin and dated to the mid Preboreal (Table 1).…”

“…In several situations, a specialised function has been proposed which is either connected to hunting practices (i.e. I.N.F.S and Casalecchio in the Southern Po plain and Casera Lissandri and Mondeval de Sora in the Venetian pre-Alps and Alps) (Fontana et al, 2009a;Visentin and Fontana, 2015;Visentin et al, 2015a) or to some domestic activity, as at Collecchio .…”

Investigating the diet of Mesolithic groups in the Southern Alps: An attempt using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses

“…On the one hand, evidence from the pre-Alpine area (e.g. the Cansiglio plateau, Peresani et al, 2009;Visentin et al, 2016a) and the Venetian plain (e.g. the area around the Sile river springs, Fontana et al, 2016b) seems to point to a more complex model of occupation in the Sauveterrian (Fontana et al, 2011).…”