First evidence of a Palaeolithic occupation of the Po plain in Piedmont: the case of Trino (north-western Italy)

The Trino hill is an isolated relief located in north-western Italy, close to Trino municipality. The hill was subject of multidisciplinary studies during the 1970s, when, because of quarrying and agricultural activities, five concentrations of lithic artefacts were recognized and referred to a Palaeolithic occupation of the area. During the 1980s and the 1990s, surface collections continued, but the lithic finds have never been subject of specific studies. Even if most of the lithic assemblages count a few lithic implements, four collection areas (3, 13 E, 13 W and 14) have significative lithic assemblages, representing the most important evidence of a Palaeolithic frequentation of the Po plain in north-western Italy. The present work, in the limits imposed by a surface and not systematic collection, propose a technological study of the lithic artefacts from the Trino hill, with the aim to define the main features of the technological behaviour of the human groups that occupied the area. The results obtained allow to clearly identify a Middle Palaeolithic occupation of the Trino hill, characterized by the exploitation of vein quartz and other local raw materials; allochthonous varieties of chert were used in the next frequentation phases to produce blades and bladelets. Even if part of the laminar production can be referred to Neolithic, most of that remains of indeterminate chronology and could be the result of both an Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic human presence. The systematic and inclusive approach to the study of the Paleolithic of the Piedmont region proposed here has made it possible to obtain a first and realistic overview of the Paleolithic of the region. The methods used for the technological study are similar to those used for other sites in the region and have made it possible to link Trino's surface collections with data from sites systematically investigated in recent years.