Fire-places, frequentations and the environmental setting of the final Mousterian at Grotta di Fumane: a report from the 2006-2008 research.

The excavations campaigns carried out in 2006-08 at Grotta di Fumane enabled the extensive exploration of the final Mousterian layers and, at the same time, to start the first large-scale research of the valuable archaeological record preserved at the cave entrance. The present work provides a preliminary assessment of the results from several anthropogenic signatures recovered from the complex of units A5-A6. Marked differences between A5-A5+A6 and A6 are shown in the density and number of certain signatures, as a consequence of changes in settlement dynamics. Combustion structures are numerous in A6, a layer which yielded thousands of artefacts and ecofacts. Conversely, anthropogenic signatures in A5 are scarce. Red deer, ungulate and some carnivore bones are exclusively of cultural origin.