Analisi funzionale di armature geometriche in contesti olocenici

The function of geometric tools is a relevant point of discussion for the interpretation of Mesolithic and Neolithic contexts. The morphology of geometrics allowed archeologists considering these tools to be hunting weapons. Nevertheless, recent use-wear analyses put on light that geometrics were used also as cutting inserts for working soft substances. In particular, the latter function was individuated in some Neolithic sites in Northern Italy. In this paper, we present the results of the analysis of macro- and micro-traces of geometric tools of a variety of sites of the Italian peninsula and Sicily, exemplifying a range of chronology from Mesolithic-Neolithic transition to Recent-Final Neolithic. The correlation of experimental data, use-wear analysis of archeological assemblages, paleoclimatic and faunal data provided hypotheses about the role of geometrics during the transition from a hunting-gathering economy to a system based on domestication of plants and animals.