The typological deception of Isernia: an only splinters world
The layer of La Pineta has returned an abundant lithic industry, with a clear dichotomy among calcareous and flint-stone handiworks. The last ones, most of the times have small dimensions, are obtained from bad quality little flint-stone slabs, rich of incipient fractures that have influenced in a certain way the techniques adopted for the manufacture. As the testing proves, it’s completely probable that the Prehistoric people have intervened with direct percussion, but above all with the splintering on anvil with hard moving striker, in order to cause the core breaking and successively the production of a large number of splinters, especially the little ones.
The carinate handiworks, often found in association with the splinters, are nothing but the last and simply fortuitous result of the intense exploitation of the raw materials support defined as debris, namely manufacturing rejects. Their morphology usually deceives as they present a series of multiple detachments which could be interpreted wrongly as retouching.
The aspect is also confirmed by the handiworks functional analysis either through the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and metallographic microscope, that have highlighted the clear utilization signs along the splinters active edges. Their presence, intensity, location and distribution can provide useful information about the movement direction and the hardness of the materials. However, in most of the cases, they are wears derived by the cut of meat masses, probably concomitant at the treatment and dismemberment of animal carcasses. There are a few examples of wears referable to the manufacturing of hard materials like wood.
After all what raises from the study of the flint-stone finds of Isernia is that, apart from the kind of work through which the manufactures were used, especially the little splinters (a few centimetres long) ensured easily and rapidly a wide range of operations linked basically to the necessity of meat supplying.

How and where people lived in Isernia
The latest researches on the site allow to propose a completely innovative interpretation
about the formation processes of the old explored archaeosurfaces, allowing a functional interpretation of the harvesting industry.
The different grounds of anthropical frequenting (3c, 3a, 3S10) represent the result of behavioural attitudes inserted in specific strategies aimed to the finding of parts of meat masses with alimentary aim, strengthened by the paleogeographic reconstruction of the area, with depositional and distributive processes of the lithic and osseous finds, with technical and typological characteristics of splinters and cores, as well as the operative sequence adopted by Prehistoric men for their manufacture and utilization. The archaeosurfaces don’t represent anything but different interfaces of an unitary, installing stage that the sequence of its burying methods makes attribute wrongly to archaeological levels distinguished on the chronological level.
The union element of the archaeosurfaces is represented by the humid environments present in the area in that period, marked by travertine formations emerged partly with discontinuous proceeding, partly linear, often characterised by a progressive, horizontal and vertical increase. This last aspect, because of water presence and flowing, is documented by the exposed sections and excavation relieves that highlight typical structure linked to this phenomenon. It’s probable that a wide and inhomogeneous network of travertine emerged elements characterised the whole area, defining in some cases little humid environments (ponds) communicating one another.
The excavation has highlighted a large quantity of lithic materials along the extend and tight surface of one of these travertine relieves surrounded by water. The finds are quite recent, most of them represented by splinters obtained by direct percussion or on anvil (Peretto, 1994), with surfaces characterised by frequent traces connected with the meat cut activity. In this area the osseous remains are very poor; instead they are very frequent at its sides, where water lapped the relief and the flint-stone materials reduced.
The stable frequenting of the travertine relieves surrounded by watery environment offered probably the necessary security and protection to the human group. The exploration of the surrounding territory involved the possibility to recover parts of animal carcasses with alimentary food, with no exclusion of carrions actions. They were moved to these areas, definitely safer than the grassland open spaces, to be further on subdivided and exploited, also with the bones fracture to recover the medulla. Frequenting constantly humid environments close to the relief (it had already been observed from the first stage of the research; Peretto et alii, 1983) involves many benefits, in particular the attenuation of decomposition smells.