Foreword; C. Gamble.
1: The land and the scientists. 1.1. The geography of Italy. 1.2. Outline of the history of archaeological research.
2: The earliest settlement. 2.1. Introduction. 2.2. The time and the way. 2.3. Technological developments. 2.4. Characteristics of the preferred environments. 2.5. Comments.
3: Real colonisation. 3.1. Introduction. 3.2. The emergence of technological complexity. 3.3. Lower Palaeolithic marine crossings? 3.4. Comments.
4: On Neandertals and caves. 4.1. Introduction. 4.2. A changing environment. 4.3. Mousterian variability. 4.4. Comments.
5: Moderns vs. Neandertals. 5.1. Introduction. 5.2. Exploring and exploiting. 5.3. Uluzzian and Aurignacian compared. 5.4. Comments.
6: Fully equipped hunter-gatherers. 6.1. Introduction. 6.2. Archaeological evidence inside and outside the peninsula. 6.3. The approach to a new territory. 6.4. Ritual behaviour and practical constraints.
7: The great shift. 7.1. Introduction. 7.2. Different niches in a changing landscape. 7.3. Local and regional diversification. 7.4. Exchanging and sharing resources and ideas. 7.5. Comments. 7.6. Final remarks.

This book aims to synthesize more than 600,000 years of Italian prehistory, beginning with the Lower Paleolithic and ending with the last hunter-gatherers of the early Holocene. The author treats such issues as the development of social structure, the rise and fall of specific cultural traditions, climatic change, modifications of the landscape, fauna and flora, and environmental adaptation and exploitation and includes detailed descriptions of the most important sites.