Small shifts in handedness bias during the Early Mesolithic? A reconstruction inferred from Microburin technology in the eastern Italian Alps

This study discusses the existence of a variability recorded in lateralization indexes of proximal microburins, a by-product of the individual manufacture of microliths, in a sample of Sauveterrian sites from the Italian Eastern Alps. At first glance, such variability may appear to support the existence of customary handling, pertaining perhaps to an ensemble of normalized technical procedures accomplished by the members of the human group regardless of site type, context and economic activities. However, plotting the patterns in lateralization index against the regional Sauveterrian chrono-cultural sequence reveals a diverse correlation emerges and indicates how the early settlement phase involved greater functional differentiation among sites used by selected human groups compared with the successive phases, when this pattern vanishes. This trend may correspond to the decrease in lateralization observed on skeletal markers from the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic, linked to the change in technological models and techniques employed in food gathering. The implications of this research at different levels are also discussed.

► A variability in lateralization morphology of microburins is recorded in the Early Mesolithic of the italian Alps.
► We infer handedness from the shape of these artefacts.
► Prevalence of right-handedness has been observed only in an earlier phase of the period.
► In middle and later phases the indirect indicators are essentially equal frequencies of left and right-handedness.
► Economic tasks, actors and social activities are considered for explaining this evidence.