The Lower Tyrrhenian Versant: was it a techno-cultural area 59 during the Middle Palaeolithic? Evolution of the lithic industries of the Riparo del Molare sequence in the frame of Neanderthal peopling dynamics in Italy.

The study of the Middle Palaeolithic in Italy was completely transformed in recent years by new discoveries and, most of all, by the employment of new methodological approaches. In particular, a more systematic way of interpretating technological, techno- functional and techno-economic aspects of the lithic industries has contributed to an on-going renewal of our knowledge of Neanderthal behaviour. Within this framework, Southern Italy and, particularly, the Lower Tyrrhenian Versant region offers a very important occasion to feed the scientific debate. Since the 1950s, the long lasting research in this area, especially in Cilento, has produced a rich archaeological record from a wealth of multistratified sites covering the whole chronological range during which Neanderthal cultures developed. Among these sites, Riparo del Molare is extremely important for understanding the emergence of the Levallois phenomenon in Cilento and in Southern Italy in general. This probably happened not earlier than the end of Isotopic Stage 6/beginning of Isotopic Stage 5.