The Rio Secco Cave in the North Adriatic Region, Italy. A new context for investigating the Neanderthal demise and the settlement of Anatomically Modern Humans.

During the MIS3 the Northern Adriatic region was covered by open birch-conifer forests, xerophytic scrubs and steppe (Pini et al., 2009), forming a corridor that was crossed by the late Neanderthals and first Modern Humans (Karavanić and Janković, 2006; Peresani, 2011). In this key-region of Mediterranean Europe, where the end of the Middle Paleolithic and the Early Upper Palaeolithic remain undocumented, reliable archaeological contexts are needed to reconstruct the Neanderthal demise and the appearance of AMH. In this scenario, a new contribution comes from Grotta Rio Secco, a cave located at the fringe of the Carnic Pre-Alps and initially explored in 2002, 2010 and 2011 (Peresani and Gurioli, 2007; Peresani et al., 2012). Excavations have exposed a sequence with Early Gravettian and final Mousterian occurrences. The Early Gravettian dates to 33.0–31.2ky Cal BP and records short-term frequentations, suggested by a handful of selected blades and retouched tools made of flint collected outside the region. A sequence of several thin layers dated to 46.0–42.1ky Cal BP represents the final Mousterian. The lithic material shows evidence of Levallois blade and flake technology, discoid and other flaking methods. Formal tools were produced using low quality flint availbale at short distance from the plateau. Animals hunted by Neanderthals were primarily large ungulates, such as bovids, and brown bear. Although the cavity is not yet completely explored, it preserves an archive of potential interest for achieving markers of mobility, settlement dynamics and economy. The implementation of the project with fieldwork and laboratory studies will provide new elements to reconstruct the factors leading to the presence of Neanderthal groups in this area, considered so marginal in comparison to the north Adriatic plain that extended towards south in prehistoric times.