Abstract: | One of the basic problems in the prehistoric studies of the Trieste Karst (northeastern Italy) is that of understanding the use of the numerous caves, which represent the only sites known from Palaeolithic to Middle Bronze Age. Recent sedimentological and soil micromorphological analyses add new data to the traditional archaeological ones. In our opinion, the data should be approached from other than an exclusively chronotypological point of view. The inferences of the data indicate that certain areas of four caves were used for stabling animals, and that this model of site use may be extended to most of the Karst cave sites for the period from the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |