• Human Evolution
• Human Behavior
• Paleolithic Archaeology
• Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition
• Lithic Technology

The beginning of the Upper Paleolithic is one of the most crucial periods in human prehistory, during which we see the development of a more sophisticated bone industry, the widespread use of personal ornaments and, above all, the spread of figurative art. After a quite relative stability in the archaeological record, new methods of working stone raw materials are also developed and improved. Indeed, the blade-based lithic industry becomes central. This method, starting from the Aurignacian and the Early Ahmarian, permits the production of lighter and smaller products, the bladelets, that were probably hafted in composite tools and used for multiple and various activities. Some researchers have claimed that these industries are the evidence of an important increase in human mobility through much wider territories and of a new sophisticated concept in prehistoric weaponry. Due to the fact that the appearance of innovative techno-complexes has been used to trace the spread of Anatomically Modern Humans through Europe from the Near East, the issue has raised up a lot of interest. However, few studies analyze and compare these industries, which today come from several countries and cultures across Eurasia, so little attempt has been made to highlight the possible local affiliation or inter-regional differences between them. Some research suggests that particular types of production like the lamellar, are significant though this remains a tentative conclusion. Our project has two main objectives. First, to carry out an accurate technological and typo-morphological analysis of blades and bladelets productions of key sites across Eurasia, in order to test the hypothesis of provenience of the Protoaurignacian from the Near East, where the Early Ahmarian is dated 46 ky cal BP, at least for Kebara, while the beginning of the Protoaurignacian is placed between 42 ky cal BP and 39 ky cal BP; second, to deconstruct the monolithic portrait of the Aurignacian, in order to have a more complex view of the early stages of the European Upper Paleolithic, assessing whether it is best seen as several material culture based entities.

Since December 2015: Doctoral studies at the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Supervisors: Prof. Nicholas Conard & Prof. Dr. Michael Bolus

July 2015: Master of Arts in Quaternary, Prehistory and Archaeology at Ferrara University, Italy (thesis title: Morph-metrical variability of the Protoaurignacian retouched bladelets found in Grotta di Fumane, Grotte d’Isturitz and Grotte des Cottés)

Supervisors: Prof. Marco Peresani & Prof. Marie Soressi

September 2014 – February 2015: Erasmus+ at Toulouse University, France (thesis research at TRACES - Travaux et Recherches Archéologiques sur les Cultures, les Espaces et les Sociétés. UMR 5608)

Supervisors: Dr. Nicolas Teyssandier & Prof. François Bon

October 2013: Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology at Rome II, Italy (thesis title: The last Neandertal: transition and extinction between Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the Iberian Peninsula)

Supervisor: Prof. Mario Federico Rolfo

September 2012 – July 2013: LLP/Erasmus at Granada University, Spain (thesis research at the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology)

Supervisor: Prof. Juan Antonio Cámara Serrano

April 2015 – June 2015: Visiting Research Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (project title: Bladelet production during the Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Early Ahmarian at Kebara Cave and the Levantine Aurignacian at Hayonim cave)

Atlante Fundation Research Grant (price: 2.500,00 euro)

Supervisors: Prof. Anna Belfer-Cohen & Prof. Marco Peresani

Matteo Romandini, Armando Falcucci, Fabio Gurioli & Alberto Broglio, 2014. First European Anatomically Modern Humans and the “route of shells”: chronological and qualitative evidence from the Veneto plain Region sites, UISPP congress (Burgos, Spain)

Arma Veirana (Liguria, Italy), July – August 2015. Directors: Prof. Fabio Negrino et alii (University of Genova);

Les Cottés & Le Fontenioux (Saint-Pierre-de-Maille, France), July – August 2014. Directors: Prof. Marie Soressi (University of Leiden), Dr. Morgan Roussel (University of Leiden);

Covolèto di Nadale (Vicenza , Italy), May 2014. Director: Prof. Marco Peresani (University of Ferrara);

Grotte di Pastena (Pastena, Italy), July – August 2013. Director: Dr. Micaela Angle (Soprintendenza dei Beni Archeologici di Roma);

Villaggio delle Macine (Castel Gandolfo, Italy), July 2012. Director: Prof. Mario Federico Rolfo (University of Rome Tor Vergata);

Castello di Catignano, (Gambassi Terme, Italy), July 2011. Director: Dr. Marja Mendera (Associazione Archeologica della Valdelsa Fiorentina).