Hunter-gatherer land use in Late Glacial south-east Italy.

This paper is concerned with the Late Palaeolithic settlement of south-eastern Italy at the close of the Pleistocene. The Late Palaeolithic assemblages of the region have been studied previously from a rigid typological stance, with various schemes put forward suggesting evolution of the assemblages through different stages of an Epigravettian tradition, while the potential role of social and economic factors in shaping the various industries has been ignored. This paper shows how the Late Palaeolithic occupation of the region should be considered in relation to the former existence of an extensive coastal plain and to the sea-level rise which submerged it. Factors such as the availability of lithic raw material and the alternative strategies by which it was procured, the particular activities in which the tools were used and the role of the sites within a larger land use system were clearly crucial to assemblage composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]