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In the Basilicata region, located in southern Italy and known for hosting among the first occurrences of the Acheulean culture in southwestern Europe, the Lower Paleolithic site of Loreto at Venosa is located less than a kilometer from the emblematic site of Notarchirico and less than 25 km from Cimitero di Atella. The Loreto site has not been studied as thoroughly as the two other sites and, although geological investigations have been carried out in the Venosa basin, no direct numerical dating has ever been published for the three archaeological levels brought to light during the excavation campaigns. We present a multi-method geochronological approach combining ESR/U-series, ESR, and 40Ar/39Ar permitting to refine the age of the most ancient archaeological level (A) of the Loreto site. These data allow us to propose an MIS 13 age for this level, in accordance with previous hypotheses based on geological and paleontological data. We also propose a technical review of the lithic tools preserved in the collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Venosa to integrate Loreto in the evolution scheme of the European Acheulean techno-complex emergence and diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lower Palaeolithic site of Cimitero di Atella is located in the Basilicata region (Southern Italy), about 10 km south of the extinct Monte Vulture volcano. The site was discovered in the early 1990s and was continuously excavated for nearly twenty years under the supervision of Professor E. Borzatti von Löwenstern (University of Florence). This open-air site contained a 5-m-thick fluvio-lacustrine sequence characterized by the occurrence of two main archaeological units with lithic industries and faunal remains. Based on the composition of the lithic assemblages, and in particular the presence of handaxes in the Lower unit, Borzatti von Löwenstern (et al., 1997) attributed the site to the Early Acheulean. Cimitero di Atella was interpreted as the result of various lake shore occupations linked to the exploitation of large mammals (Palaeoloxodon antiquus and Bison sp.) and the opportunistic use of raw materials to produce simple small and large lithic tools (Borzatti von Löwenstern et al., 1997). The purpose of this paper is to present the last five years of research at the site. Geochronological, palaeontological and palynological investigations have been conducted to shed light on the environmental and chronological context of the site and the associated human occupations levels. This essential step enables us to evaluate the nature and potential of archaeological data in order to place the results in a broader framework. The accurate study of the context and of the archaeological material of Cimitero di Atella enable us to rethink the crucial question of the emergence of the bifacial phenomenon in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]