Lower Palaeolithic bifacial from Liguria

3D Model

This stone object (#2112) is one of the earliest evidence of human settlement in the Ligurian region, dating back over 350k years ago. Tools like this are called bifaces, because they were worked on both sides, and represent the most characteristic artefacts of the lower Palaeolithic.

Arturo Issel illustrated and described it for the first time in 1892. According to his reports, it was found by Deo Gratias Perrando in the area of Sassello, in the inland of Savona. However, more recently, a different hypothesis has been proposed, according to which this biface could come from the excavations undertaken between 1887 and 1889 by Giovanni Battista Amerano in the Caverna delle Fate (“Fairies’ cave”), in the Finale area (Savona), which dates back to the Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 8 to 6, i.e. 300k to 190k years ago.

This item has always been part of the former collections of the former Geological Museum, now included in the DISTAV collections at the University of Genoa.