Preface, Marcel Otte Forward, Masayoshi Yamada Introduction, Akira Ono Part I – General perspectives 1.1 – Rivers as orientation axes for migrations, exchange networks and transmission of cultural traditions in the Upper Palaeolithic of Central Europe, Harald Floss 1.2 – The Contribution of obsidian characterization studies to early prehistoric archaeology, Tristan Carter 1.3 – The mesolithic project Ullafelsen in Tyrol (Austria), Dieter Schäfer 1.4 – Carpathian obsidians: state of art, Katalin T. Biró 1.5 – Paleolithic of Ukraine: The main diachronic and spatial trends of lithic raw materials exploitation, Vadim Stepanchuk Part II – Regional perspectives 2.1 – The raw material variability in the mesolithic site of Ullafelsen (Sellrain, Tyrol, Austria), Stefano Bertola 2.2 – Petroarchaeological research in the Carpathian Basin: methods, results, challenges, Katalin T. Biró 2.3 – Obsidian outcrops in Ukrainian transcarpathians and their use during the Paleolithic time, Sergey Ryzov 2.4 – Small opportunities and big needs: Mira Early Upper Paleolithic case of raw materials exploitation (Dnieper basin, Ukraine), Vadim Stepanchuk 2.5 – Obsidian exploitation and circulation in Late Pleistocene Hokkaido in the northern part of the Japanese Archipelago, Hiroyuki Sato & Miyuki Yakushige 2.6 – Upper Palaeolithic obsidian use in Central Japan: the origin of obsidian source exploitation, Kazutaka Shimada 2.7 – Acquisition and consumption of obsidian in the Upper Palaeolithic on Kyushu, Japan, Kojiro Shiba