The excavations carried out in the rock-shelter of Arma dell’Aquila by C. Richard in 1938 and 1940 led to the discovery of a thick stratigraphy, the lowermost deposit of which yielded evidence of different periods of Upper Palaeolithic occupation. The recent re-examination of the knapped stone assemblages, and the radiocarbon dating of two Palaeolithic layers, have shown that the site was briefly occupied most probably during the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic and the Early Epigravettian OIS-2 cold stage