On the western coast of the promontory, about 20 metres above sea level, beyond the Batterie fort, in the area of the alabaster quarry, there is a rock overhang at 45° called the “Riparo Blanc” (Blanc Shelter). It was identified in 1959 by the archaeologist Marcello Zei, who named it in honour of the great scholar Alberto Carlo Blanc. The site was studied by the Italian Institute of Human Palaeontology in Rome from 1960 to 1963, under the direction of Cardini and Taschini.
The fossil finds were abundant: a very large number of molluscs (over 30,000 shells), mostly limpets and top shells, remains of fish and crustaceans (especially crabs), and stone tools including flint awls and denticulates and various obsidian flakes.
At the base of the shelter a first layer dating to the Epipalaeolithic was identified, and a second layer showing a Mesolithic human settlement. A modern interpretation sees the Riparo Blanc as a specialised seasonal site for gathering rock-dwelling sea molluscs; radiocarbon dating has placed the use of the site at about 8,500 years ago, confirming that the remains belong to the Mesolithic.
The site is badly damaged by the many “unauthorised” digs carelessly carried out by curious visitors, but it remains a very evocative place, especially at sunset, when the sky turns a beautiful red.