Re-colonising the Southern Alpine Fringe: Diachronic Data On the Use of Sheltered Space in the Late Epigravettian Site of Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Italy)

This paper focuses on the use of space by Late Epigravettian groups in the Italian peninsula through tl analysis of data from the site of Riparo Taglicntc, which has yielded the earliest owitdence of re-occupation of the Southern Alpine fringe after the end of the LGM. Previous works had underlined the presence of a persistent pattern in the differential use of the outer area of the site — mostly characterized by secondary refuse accumulations — compared to the sheltered area- dedicated to domestic activities undertaken around hearths. Here a "site-structural" approach has been applied to the abundant evidence of the sheltered area, where an articulated stratigraphic series doc-umenting the first occupation phases in the site — disturbed at the top by an artificial 'cut" carried out in historical times — was excavated starting from the late '70s of the last century. Radiocarbon dating of this series indicates a chronological span between 17,219 and 15,940 years cal BP and locates these occupations in the first part of the Late Glacial (GS-2.1a).