Ibex as indicator of hunter-gatherer mobility during the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic

The present research concerns some sites within two different areas in Italy: on the one hand the Cilento Region (Salerno – southern Italy), with caves occupied during the final Epigravettian, and on the other, the valley bottom of the Adige River (Trento – Bolzano, northern Italy), with rockshelters frequented by Sauveterrian groups. The sites of both areas, at a little distance from each other and occupied in the same periods, show different frequency of ibex in the faunal record. As this species lives exclusively on mountains and hills with open environments, the observation of its quantity jointly with topographic analysis of the territories allow to examine hunters’ range of action in relation to the different opportunities of tracing Capra ibex.