The 2012 excavation on the deposits of Riparo Tagliente (Stallavena di Grezzana, Verona) worked on both the Epigravettian (Upper Paleolithic) and Musterian (Middle Paleolithic) levels.
The Epigravettian levels were investigated in two areas: – North sector – external area. Work continued on the removal of the base of spit IV of US 356, a concentration of lithic waste materials in a thin matrix. The excavation was carried out in 20 × 20 cm squares in QQ. 21-22, 34-38, 49-50 and 52 in order to expose spit V. Once the latter’s roof was reached in QQ. 20-22 and 36-37 it was cleaned with water and photographs were taken for the first part of the composite photographic plan. Removal of spit V then began, starting from find No. 1, reaching, by the end of the season find No. 1051.

- North sector – transition area between interior and exterior of the shelter (QQ. 38-39, 53-54, 68, 69, 83-84). The excavations concentrated on a surface levelled by the interventions undertaken in the preceding season, aimed at lowering the highest “step” extending across QQ. 38, 53, 68, 83. Diverse partially overlying layers of limited extension were present, corresponding to various events occurring over a more or less restricted period of time. These layers were mainly accumulations of ash and patches of surfaces with an abundance of occupation evidence of various types (flints, macro and micro fauna, ochre), numerous stone and bone implements and ornaments attesting the domestic use of this zone. In general, the layers present in this area can be linked to the cave’s interior stratigraphy. The external stratigraphy where the waste from tool-making and butchery was concentrated, seemed to “link” to the preceding one in correspondence with an accumulation of collapsed boulders situated immediately outside the shelter, more or less along the section line corresponding with the transition between QQ. 52-53.

As regards the Mousterian deposits (Middle Paleolithic), the excavations concentrated on the external trench (QQ. 6-7), investigated in the 1970s, and subsequently extended during the 1997-98 campaigns. Work began on the recovery of faunal remains to be used for C14 dating. As in the 1970s, the excavation was done in 10 cm spits due to the greater thickness of the deposit towards the shelter’s exterior. The finds were collected according to the methodology established in 1998, through the mapping of their coordinates (X, Y, Z).