Introduction

This three-year research project is investigating Upper Palaeolithic resource procurement in central Italy. This project is a collaborative effort between the Universities of Bradford, Royal Holloway, London, Oxford, Pisa, Florence, Rome, and Siena, the Pigorini Museum, and the isotope laboratories at the Max Planck Institute and the British National Isotope Geosciences Laboratory.

The project combines high precision dating with stable isotope analyses to study seasonal ungulate movement; analyses faunal remains to identify human predation; and investigates lithic raw material procurement, tool production, and tool use to improve understanding of site function.

The results of these combined analyses will facilitate the testing of two principal economic models: the Broad Spectrum Revolution and Eric Higg's seasonal mobility model. Both models have previously been used to describe hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies in central Italy prior to the adoption of agriculture.