The Middle Palaeolithic site of the Grotta della Ghiacciaia (Venetian Prealps, North Italy).

The results of the study of the lithic artefacts and of the animal remains recovered in the Ghiacciaia Cave during a preliminary investigation carried out in the 1979-80 are discussed in this paper. Site lies in the Western Lessini Mountains and preserves an Upper Pleistocene series constituted by three pedo-stratigraphic macro-units that document the palaeoenvironmental evolution from the Last Interglacial to the First Pleniglacial. The lithic assemblages discovered in the two upper macro-units delineate a techno-typological variability : whilst in the later units the Levallois method was exclusively used, and mainly by means of the unidirectional modality, the scarce artefacts found in the earlier units seem to distinguish themselves for the presence of Quina and demi-Quina scrapers. Besides, throughout the series it is possible to recognise a structural variation of the lithic assemblages, well evident in the retouched tools frequence.