The microlithisation of chipped stones in the Old World: Case-studies from the Crimea and northern Italy

The progressive microlithisation of the chipped stone tools started to take place during the Upper Palaeolithic in both Europe and south Asia. This paper examines two case studies, though different, from the Crimean Peninsula and the Italian Alps where long, well radiocarbon-dated sequences have been excavated. It focuses mainly on microlithic geometric tools that became increasingly small around the beginning of the Early Holocene. Among microliths, lunates/crescents played a major role in many European cultures where they continued to be produced until the early metal ages, though of variable dimension and thickness, obtained with different knapping techniques. The general impression is that changes in economic subsistence and strategy led to the adoption of microlithic technologies. Among these are mobility, subsistence diversification, and risk minimisation.