On the Apennine ridge. The human frequentation at the Piovesello open site 31ky BP.

The Italian Apennine is dearth of evidence dating to the Mid Upper Paleolithic and at the present state one of the best known Gravettian settlement in this area is represented by the site of Fonte delle Mattinate, on the Marche Apennine ridge. After that discovery, no advancements have been made in surveying other patches of this long but crossable mountain chain, until the discovery of the site of Piovesello, which is located on the Ligurian-Emilian Apennine watershed at 870 m of elevation. After the discovery of the first artefacts in 2007 and a survey in 2012, fieldwork has been carried out in 2013 and hundreds of flaked jasper artifacts were found in primary position embedded in loamy sediments in a very limited area at the edge of a small lacustrine context. Radiocarbon dating, together with pollen and charcoal analysis, provided first insight on paleoecological context around the human settlement, shedding light on the attractiveness of this place positioned in proximity of the tree-line at the MIS 3/2 boundary.