Criteria for identifying knapping skill level through the analysis of lithic cores : An example from Val Lastari, Late Paleolithic, Italy

The application of knapping skill analysis has increased over the years, starting from the Eighties and, by now, being employed all over the world on different material cultures and chronological periods. We studied the cores reduced at Val Lastari, a Recent Epigravettian lithic workshop in north-eastern Italy, for recognizing the most influential technological variables to define stoneknapping behaviours. In our case, knapping accidents and cores appearance had more weight than criteria such as core preparation and raw material features thanks to the strategies of exploitation chosen by hunter-gatherers of Val Lastari, and to the ecological context they interacted with. This is the first time that a study of its kind has been proposed for an Italian site, becoming a unique possibility to enrich our knowledge about Epigravettian social learning and organization with new and stimulating information.