The oldest testimony to the presence of man in the territory of Cantiano is a group of handmade articles tecnica Levallois from the Piana di Sterpeto dating back to Middle Paleolithic. The importance of this find is the age of the artefacts, generally produced in a period of time which spans from 250,000 to 40,000 years ago. The Levallois technique was widespread along the Adriatic coast from Veneto to Puglia. The most consistent group in the Prehistoric Collection of the Cantiano Museum is from the Piana di Sterpeto, populated by groups of Palaeolithic hunters and consists in flint articles, mostly flat edge tools. Also called “flakes” because of their shape, with or without foreshaft, these tools were used as arrow heads for hunting with bow and arrow. A long narrow spearhead and a triangular dagger with a wide peduncolo have also been found. Most of the prehistoric artefacts found in the territory of Cantiano seem to date back to Neolitico finale ed Eneolitico. Only a fragment of a footed pot from San Rocco with an oval shaped body and engraved decoration; it can be dated to the early Neolithic period ealy Nelithic period. There are numerous types of tools conserved in the collection: chisels, graters, scrapers, a subrettangolar tranchet, footed arrow heads and a drilled axe found at Moria, north-east of Cantiana, from the Eneolithic age. Obsidian, the volcanic glass from the Thyrrenean islands, is rare and represented by only two small blades.