Use-wear analysis of allochthonous lithic industry of S.U. 14 at the Ciota Ciara site, Borgosesia (Italy) the toolkits in the subsistence strategies of mobile groups of hunter-gatherers of the Middle Paleolithic

The study of the functional analysis of allochthonous lithic industry from S.U. 14 of the Ciota Ciara cave - rhyolite and radiolarite - aims to understand the mechanisms of interaction between human activities and the ecological and environmental context. The study of use-wear traces on allochthonous raw materials from S.U. 14 complements that already carried out on local raw materials - quartz - to identify or exclude preferential strategies in the exploitation and management of raw materials.The results obtained confirm a pattern of seasonal occupation of the Ciota Ciara cave with complementary management of lithic resources, the same activities have been identified for both local and allochthonous raw materials, namely the processing of animal carcasses and the exploitation of plant resources.The study of functional analysis also contributes to identifying mobile toolkits and defining specialized uses or preferred patterns of use for these small and good-quality raw objects.