The Importance of Scaglia Rossa Chert as a Raw Material for Human Populations in Monte San Vicino, Italy Throughout Italian Prehistory

Abstract

All three species of early people in the Monte San Vicino area of the Marche region of Italy used the same basic lithic resource throughout almost 250,000 years of prehistory. From 230,000 to 4,000 years ago, populations of Homo erectus, archaic Homo sapiens (Neanderthals), and fully modem Homo sapiens used Section Rl of the Scaglia Rossa chert as a raw material for tools. This chert was accessible, reliable, and of the best quality. The nature of Coldigioco as an alluvial fan leads to transport of Scaglia Rossa chert nodules in stream beds, making procurement methods time- and energy-efficient. It is for these reasons that populations continued to return seasonally to the Monte San Vicino area in order to make use of the excellent, readily available resource. Despite changing environmental conditions, populations of people, and progressing technology, Scaglia Rossa chert remained the dominant resource into the Early Bronze age.