Searching for the source: reconstructing territorial mobility in the Sabina region (central Italy) through lithic raw material sources

Lithics represent one of the most ubiquitous finds throughout Prehistory, hence one of the best tools to investigate human behavior. Beyond the traditionally adopted technological perspective, multi-scalar approaches can enhance the comprehension of prehistoric societies, with particular emphasis on human-environment interactions. Raw material provenance analyses represent a promising tool to deepen the topic, allowing to detect 1) lithic sources and, consequently, 2) mobility patterns to access natural resources. Human groups were, indeed, deeply aware of the ecosystem they lived in and exploited it according to their needs, adapting to and shaping their landscape. To answer the question of lithic role in revealing mobility and human routes to natural resources, we applied provenance analysis to the assemblage of Grotta Battifratta (Sabina region, northern Latium, central Italy), a cave site showing a long-term occupation from the upper Pleistocene on. We focused on the Neolithic assemblage. The raw materials examined suggest the exploitation of different sources, whose variability has been analyzed using different methods, with the aim of determining their provenance. The identification of lithic deposits will help defining site-catchment areas and territorial behavior, linking the site to a larger territory in order to 1) trace spatial mobility and 2) reconstruct the ancient landscape.