Paolo Bellintani

PAOLO BELLINTANI, MATEUSZ CWALIŃSKI, IVANA ANGELINI, URSULA THUN HOHENSTEIN

Le ambre di Campestrin e l’origine della decorazione tipo Tirinto

Summary

This work is a synthesis (and expansion) of two pa¬pers presented at the “Frattesina fifty years later. The Po Delta between Europe and the Mediterranean in the centuries around 1000 BC” conference, held in Rovigo in 2018. The orginal presentations dealt with the am¬bers of the processing site of Campestrin di Grignano Polesine (Rovigo - Italy) and the chrono-typological evolution of the amber beads traditionally referred to as of “Tiryns type”.
The settlement of Campestrin was discovered in 2007 and four excavation seasons were conducted there between 2008 and 2011. The site is located in the low plain between the terminal sections of the Adige and Po rivers, close to the right bank of an ancient branch of the Po river known as “Po di Adria” and near its Delta. It seems to have had a relatively short life (Recent Bronze Age 2 and Final Bronze Age 1 - 12th century BC), therefore to have been coeval to the first phase Frattesina di Fratta Polesine, the well-known production and trading centre located about 8 km further on west along the same river course.
The news of the oldest known amber processing site south of the Baltic region has been welcomed by many scholars as proof of the active role of the North Adriatic region in the production and circulation of artifacts made with amber of North European (or “Baltic”) ori¬gin. This hypothesis had already been proposed by some scholars after the discovery, in 1967, of Frattesina, where specific evidence for amber processing was lacking. Processing is well documented in Campestrin, which also has “Tiryns-type” beads among its products. As is well known, the “Tiryns type” is mainly dated between the 13th / 12th and 11th centuries BC (but in Italy also up to the 9th century BC) and attested over a very wide range: from the central Mediterranean to the Aegean, with extremes in Sardinia, the Eastern Mediterranean and Ukraine. It is essentially one of the components of the so-called koiné of the late European and Mediterranean Bronze Age which coexists as a complex of weapons and ornamental elements and goes beyond the crisis of the 12th century BC.
The purpose of this paper is to present the currently identified finished artifacts found at Campestrin, as well as those unfinished finds which can be identified as belonging to the chaîne opèratoire of objects charac¬terized by the presence of a central rib (“Tiryns type”); the artefacts that relate to other chaînes opèratoires are still under study.
We also propose a new typological classification for the (finished and unfinished) specimens of the so-called “Tiryns type”, based on various formal parameters that have made it possible to distinguish several types. In this new proposal the presence of the central rib is seen as a decorative feature defined as “Tiryns-type decoration”.
We also discuss the analysis of traces of processing, in particular of the types with Tiryns-type decoration, and the investigation of the provenance of the raw material, characterized as succinite, the so-called “Baltic amber”.
Ample space is given to artefacts with Tiryns-type decoration: previous studies, distribution, chronology and new hypotheses on the origins and possible process¬ing centres, based on a model created with the Network Analysis. Although it is still too early to propose a precise reconstruction of the development of the Tiryns-type decoration (the chronology of many specimens is impre¬cise), the phases provisionally proposed in this work (phase 1 = RBA1 (?)/2-FBA1 and phase 2 ≥ FBA2), allow some more precise observations than has been made to date.
In the first phase, to which Campestrin is also dated, the “Tiryns type” decorative innovation, applied to different types of biconical, truncated and cylindrical amber beads, seems to be limited to the Adriatic and Ionian basins with a particular concentration in North central-eastern Italy and rarer finds along the coasts, as far as the extreme south of Greece. The first presence of this decoration on the northern Tyrrhenian side of the Italian peninsula should also be attributed to this phase. In these areas, the beads with “Tiryns-type decoration”, especially those of a cylindrical shape, show a certain morphological affinity, an indication of their origin from the production centre of Campestrin, or from other possible processing centres in the North-Ital¬ian area. Furthermore, it is possible to argue that, in the first phase, amber beads decorated with median ribs produced in central-eastern northern Italy reached the Mediterranean Levant, probably Bohemia and perhaps Ukraine. It has not yet been ascertained, however, whether the presumed Sardinian processing centres were already active at this stage.
Subsequently, that is from FBA2, the Tiryns-type decoration seems to have spread further in the areas previously affected by the phenomenon, apparently with more substantial attestations in areas where only single or a few examples were found in the first phase, as in the case of the central Tyrrhenian side and now also the southern Tyrrhenian (Lipari, Piazza Monfalcone). Even in the case of the exceptional complex of Hordeevka (Ukraine) - kurgan 38 it is possible to argue for an origin of the beads with Tiryns (and Allumiere) decorations from workshops in north-eastern Italy, also given that the ambers of Hordeevka are not the only elements that relate to northern Italian production traditions (such as glass beads) or costume (fibulae with raised violin bow) in the North Pontic territory, be¬tween Moldova and Ukraine.
After the end of Campestrin, in the second phase it is possible to hypothesize the birth (or development) of new centres specialized in the processing of amber that adapt the Tiryns-type decorative motif to new forms of bead or even elaborate it in new ways. For example, Frattesina, also in the Polesine area, as well as at least one currently unidentified centre in the Kvarner-Dal¬matia-Lika area, to which may be added, perhaps in a later moment of the BF, the presumed workshops operating in Sardinia. It is also in FBA2 that we can date the frequent association of beads with Tiryns-type dec¬oration with beads decorated in another style appears, with parallel incisions or grooves: the Allumiere-type decoration.
From FBA3, with only the possible exceptions of the Sardinian flattened beads and the presumable keimelia of Osteria dell’Osa, the “Allumiere type” decoration completely replaced the “Tiryns type” in the central Mediterranean, outside of which both types are no longer attested.

198 “smelting sites”, i.e. areas dedicated to the processing of copper minerals (mixed sulphides mostly with chal¬copyrite) are recorded in eastern Trentino, generally at altitudes between 1000 and 1800 m asl; they are traditionally dated to the later phases of the Bronze Age.
The characteristics of later prehistoric ore exploitation on the southern slopes of the central-eastern Alps emerged clearly for the first time thanks to the discovery, in 1979, of the Acqua Fredda smelting site at the Redebus pass and the subsequent collaborative research project between the Archaeological Heritage Office of the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Bergbau-Museum Bochum in the 1980s and 1990s.
Since the early 2000s, the Trento Archaeological Heritage Office has begun more systematic protection of these particular archaeological deposits, which has entailed excavation, archaeometric analysis and the georeferencing of known sites. In the province of Trento, the main copper ore deposits are found in a large swathe of territory to the east of Trento (Mount Calisio, Pinè plateau, the Mocheni Valley and the Upper Valsugana, Lava¬rone and Luserna plateaux and finally Tesino and Primiero), but there are very few data available on the prehistoric mines or ore beneficiation sites (Vetriolo).
General Features
The smelting sites have many characteristics in common: proximity to the ore deposits (with the important exception of the Lavarone and Luserna plateaux); the presence of water at the site itself or close by; their location on flat areas, natural or artificial, on the slopes. In most cases (84%) the sites were identified thanks to the presence of coarse slags, plate slags were also found at 57% of them, while "slag sand" (ground slags) has been recorded at a significantly lower number of sites (9%). Structures or equipment used in the smelting process have rarely been observed: the remains of pyrotechnological structures, partly attributable to furnaces (9%), lithic tools such as millstones, grinders, anvils and strikers (7%) and technical ceramics (tuyères) (3%).
Structures and processing residues
Furnaces: pyrotechnological structures intended for the processing of ore and/or derived products (matte). In 16 cases these are masonry structures (generally made of porphyr) of a quadrangular form which always and only have three sides (the fourth side must have been removable); there are also 3 structures defined as "pits" (Acqua Fredda), which are probably the outcome of the dismantling of the masonry part of the furnaces so that only the concave base is preserved.
Complex structures and batteries. In several cases (Acqua Fredda, Fierozzo – Val Cava, Luserna – Platz von Motze), complex structures, such as double furnaces and the unique battery at Acqua Fredda phase 2, consisting of 4 conti¬guous furnaces built into a single masonry structure, were found as well as single furnaces.
Hearths: combustion structures that cannot be explained as smelting furnaces. The "hearth" context n. 517 at Tran¬sacqua could have been used to obtain quartz sand from local metamorphic rocks, which would have been useful for the processing of copper sulphides.
Roasting beds: remains of elongated regular-shaped areas, delimited by stones of various sizes, used for the roasting (desulphurisation) of the ore and/or intermediate products of the smelting process.
Wooden structures: pointed poles, planks and large boards presumably relating to structures such as roofs, canopies, fences etc. At Acqua Fredda there are also the remains of the wooden lining of a channel that drew water from the Rio Acqua Fredda for washing smelting products that were to be reprocessed or perhaps even the ore. Other alignments of stakes, or negative structures, may be cages or walls to hold up slag dumps.
Portable equipment: anvils, strikers and millstones. For coarser crushing, there were anvils (from 20 to 60 cm max. width) with cup-shaped depressions on their active surface, caused by percussion. For fine crushing, millstones were used consisting of a fixed lower element, with a slightly concave and ribbed surface, and a mobile upper part with a convex surface.
Types of slags
Five types of slag have been identified: coarse slags (Schlackenkuchen); plate slags (Plattenschlacken, with a thickness between 0.2 and 0.8 cm); plate slags with a thickness between 1 and 1.2 cm; "massive" slags more than 1.8 cm thick; and "slag sand" (grain size 1-3 mm).
The coarse slags are not homogeneous and could be interpreted as partially liquefied materials ("immature slags"); the plate slags (mainly composed of fayalite) derive from a cooling of material processed above a liquid mass (matte/ metal) at a temperature around 1150 - 1200° C; the slag sand is composed of small fragments of slag, and was produ¬ced by crushing the slag in order to separate and collect material to be reprocessed.
Dumps and other concentrations of waste
The dumps were located downslope of the smelting facilities. At Luserna – Platz von Motze, the dump, which has only been partially investigated, seems to consist of a large heap (over two metres thick) of coarse and plate slags. At the better-investigated sites (Acqua Fredda and Segonzano – Peciapian) the lower part, in terms of altitude, of the dump is characterized by the presence of "slag sand", with sequences of layers that, in the case of Acqua Fredda, are over two metres thick.
Form and internal organisation of the sites
The maximum area recorded to date for a smelting site is that of Segonzano – Peciapian - Area A, which is estimated to be around 5200 m², followed by Acqua Fredda and Fierozzo – Val Cava (between 3000 and 2500 m² approx.), Luserna – Platz von Motze (c. 1850 m²) and finally Transacqua – Pezhe Alte and Terrebis (between 1000 and 1500 m² approx.). The size of the area may be connected to whether or not activities were repeated at the same site, that is to whether the facilities were rebuilt (and partially relocated), or to differences of a functional nature (small differences in the production process).
At the best-documented sites (Luserna – Platz von Motze and Acqua Fredda) there are groups of four or five furnaces per phase. At Luserna – Platz von Motze the "work units" seem to consist of a pair of furnaces and a roasting bed, placed opposite each other, as frequently documented in the Austrian mining districts since the Middle Bronze Age. At Acqua Fredda, however, there are individual furnaces (perhaps also in pairs) during the first phase of the site, but a single "battery" of four furnaces embedded in a wall in the second phase. Structural elements that can be attributable to washing facilities are clearly documented only at Acqua Fredda and were used to process ground slag in order to recover material to be resmelted, while it is probable that the mineral was "beneficiated" in the vicinity of the mines (as it is documented at Vetriolo).
Finally, it is not possible to establish, on the basis of the findings of the field research, what the final product of these workshops really was, that is, whether refining took place on site or elsewhere, but, on the basis of investigations of the compositional and textural characteristics of the slag, it has been suggested that unrefined copper was produced.
Problems of Chronology of the second phase of Trentino Metallurgy
In the archaeological literature, the late prehistoric mining activity is traditionally dated to the Recent Bronze Age and phases 1 and 2 of the Final Bronze Age. However, there are currently several indications that it may have begun earlier, such as at the settlement, cult and funerary complex of Gardolo di Mezzo, where different types of smelting slags can also be found in levels dating back to the Early and Middle Bronze Age.
The problem of dating the gap between the two phases of prehistoric smelting in the Trentino-Alto Adige region has also been raised by some of the 46 radiocarbon dates obtained from 18 smelting sites, which seem to confirm that the second phase of smelting began earlier than the Recent Bronze Age. Further confirmation comes from provenance studies on the origin of copper in metal objects typologically dated to all the phases of the Italian (in particular from the Garda region) and European (Scandinavia; Serbia, Bulgaria) Bronze Age, which suggest a Trentino or South-Alpine origin (Trentino - Alto Adige/Veneto) for the raw material.
On the basis of these considerations, it is, therefore, possible that a chronological framework may be proposed for the so-called second phase of prehistoric exploitation of the south-alpine copper deposits, which is closer to that proposed by Stöllner for the transalpine mining districts and in particular for Austria, where the transition to a stable phase of mining dates to between the 18th and 17th century BC (Bz A2/B). The new mining model, which originated around the large chalcopyrite deposits of the Mitterberg, entailed the adoption of new ore treatment facilities, in particular quadrangular masonry furnaces, frequently in pairs.
It is, therefore, possible, even though it is not yet supported by strong archaeological evidence, that smelting sites of the north-alpine type already appeared in the south-alpine area during the Middle Bronze Age. The peak of mining and smelting activity would seem to be between Recent Bronze Age 2 and Final Bronze Age 1/2, i.e. contemporary with the development of the Luco A facies, while it is only on the basis of some radiocarbon dates that the end of prehistoric smelting in the Trentino may be placed around the 9th century BC.

This work concerns the typological and archaeomet ric topics of the mixed alkali (LMHK Low Magnaiium High Potassium) glass finished products from the pro tohistoric settlement of Frattesina di Fratta Polesine (Veneto region - north eastern Italy) and its necropolises (Narde I and II and Fondo Zanotto). For what concerns the typological analysis, a previ ous preliminary work (BELLINTANI, STEFAN 2009) is here updated with data from the excavations carried out in the settlement (1974-1989) by Anna Maria Bi etti Sestieri, from the II nucleus of the Narde necropolis and from new surface research (years 2014-2016). These data were also discussed in the light of the most recent studies on glassy materials from the Late Bronze Age Europe and Eastern Mediterranean. Currently the number of glass products, mostly com ing from the settlement area, amounts to 3,039 arti facts, of which 3,035 ornamental elements (3,033 beads, 2 anthropomorphic pendants) a small container (alabaston) and some vascular fragments in ceramic decorated with glass on the surface. The most represented category, i.e. beads, is made up, mostly, by the group of monochrome beads and specifically of the ‘annular bead’ type (2,837; i.e. 95.58% of all the beads found). Typologically more diagnostic, but definitely lower in number (199; 4.52%) are the larger beads, of which 137 are decorated with glass of a that of the body.
As regards the chronology of this artisan activity in Frattesina, the initial moment remains not well de fined, perhaps datable to a more or less advanced mo ment of the initial final Bronze Age (FBA1) or of the transition to the central one (FBA2). The moment of maximum development corresponds to FBA2, a period in which all the main types of beads are present. With the start of the FBA3, processing seems to undergo a drastic decline. On the other hand, no artifacts refer to the Early Iron Age (EIA1), the last moment in the life of the protohistoric community. An overview of the main elements of comparison among the 137 beads decorated with glass of a different colour from that of the body, referable to the two large groups of beads with wire decoration (spiral or wavy) or with drops (‘eye’ decoration), is here presented. In particular, we focus on the origin of the types, almost always derived from the eastern Mediterranean and with precedents in the group of the ‘brown glasses’ (HMBG: High Magnesium Brown Glass), probably of North Italian production. The distribution of beads, which by type and com position recall those produced in Frattesina, extends over a very vast area, from the Mediterranean Levant and the Aegean to the North Sea, and concentrates in the regions immediately south and north of the Alpine Arc, along strategic communication routes such as the Adige and Rhein Valleys, probably related to the move ment of other commodities and prestige goods (Baltic amber, copper from the Alps, perhaps tin). Based on all the available literature archaeometric data, the main chemical and mineralogical character istics of the glass from Frattesina and its necropolis, Fondo Zanotto and Narde, are reviewed. A short de scription of the glass compositions, together with the type of raw materials and coloring techniques used are presented. In specific the Frattesina glass are made with sand and a fluxing agent that is of two different types: 1) potash plant ash; and 2) mixed alkali flux, possibly derived from mixed alkali plant ash or a mix of K-rich and Na-rich plant ashes. Blue is the more diffuse color, the wide range of shades are related to the type and quantity of chromophores present in the glass (Cu, Co and Fe). Moreover, whitish-pale green, red, white and green glasses are present. All these different colors are obtained with the use of one or even two (for red and white glasses) specific coloring techniques. In addition, we present a new report of beads, mainly annular, in mixed alkali glass from funerary contexts of the Belozerka culture, widespread in the re gion north of the Black Sea (Ukraine, Moldova) and dating back to the passage from the Bronze to the Iron Age. The presence in Belozerka grave goods of glass beads of a composition similar to that of LMHK glasses from Western Europe, along with raised violin bow fibulae of Italian and/or Aegean type, suggests a possible transmission of artifacts, fashions and technologies along paths that were to connect northern Italy and the central-eastern Alps to Eastern Europe, through the Danubian-Carpathian region. Such an hypothesis could also be supported by the exceptional context of Hordeevka, also in Ukraine, where numerous amber beads of the Tiryns and Allumiere types of probable Italian production are attested. The composition of the glasses from the Belozerka culture has been compared with the chemistry (and mineralogy) of the glass from Frattesina. Interestingly, the ‘recipes’ for the glass productions seem to be very sim ilar: sand and K-rich ashes or mixed alkali flux are use also for the Belozerka glass. On the other side, varia tions in both major and minor elements contents suggest the use of different raw materials. In addition, the col oring techniques used in the two areas show peculiar aspects. All these observations suggest that the glass from Frattesina and from the Belozerka culture are origi nated from different production centers.

Il sito di Zambana el Vato insiste su un conoide detritico a nord di Trento in destra idrografica della Valle dell’Adige e a una quota media di 220 m s.l.m. Indagini archeologiche di pronto intervento condotte tra il 2009 e il 2010 hanno permesso di documentare reiterate fasi insediative (comprese tra VII-VI e V sec. a.C.). Tra i crolli della casa piu antica (fase 1), anch’essa – come le altre – distrutta da incendio, e stata individuata una particolare struttura pirotecnologica: un accumulo localizzato di blocchi regolari di travertino legati tra loro e rivestiti da una stesura di argilla e sabbia concotta e spesso vetrificata dall’esposizione prolungata ad alte temperature. La posizione al piano rilevato dell’abitazione, la scelta di un particolare tipo di pietra (travertino) e le modalita di realizzazione (rivestimento di concotto refrattario) inducono a ravvisare nella struttura di Zambana el Vato un vero e proprio archetipo di “stufa a olle”: una tipologia di costruzione vocata...

This article outlines the results of recent research on Remote Sensing (rs) data from the Polesine (Veneto Region- ne Italy): this Po Plain territory is indeed marked by an exceptional rs potentiality which has allowed the implementation of a key sequence of reading and decoding of a thick palimpsest of “signatures” in a highly dynamic and often metastable morphogenetic landscape. The underlying goal was to stimulate a fresh restart of research, on the base of a crucially expanded knowledge base and an extensively updated inferential engine. The presentation implies a contextual critical review of published geoarchaeological data and an up-to date panorama of the demographic and chrono-cultural sequence of the Medium Polesine between Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. At the end of the article we presents a projective scenario that places the punctuated emergence of the so-called ‘Frattesina phenomeno’ in a sensibly wider space/time and functional frame of reference. The archaeological area of Fratta Polesine is itself an optimal domain of application of rs procedures, thanks to the limited alluvial cover and shallow depth of the buried ancient landscape. The proto-historic multi-stratified deposit is well preserved between the Roman buried soil and the sandy-silty layers of alluvial depositions of the ancient Adria po, whose life-cycle seems to have ceased between the eighth and seventh century bc with a climax of increasingly recurrent overflowing. These events are reflected in the stratification of the protohistoric site and its necropolis, with some occasional intermixing with anthropogenic layers at the beginning and an increasing intensification toward the final stage of the settlement. The full perception of the alluvial risk by local decisional actors is marked by the use of a number of mitigation and flood protection facilities. What indeed emerges is a quite peculiar settled landscape, sharply different from the usual models of Bronze Age embanked settlements of the wider Po Plain, normally located on the high-ground of senescent palaeo-ridges, artificially reactivated in order to feed the ditch surrounding the settlement. On the contrary, in the case of Frattesina it is the close proximity to a wide and active fluvial artery, which is neatly targeted with clear implication on bi-directional flow of raw materials and finished products. Our projective reconstruction of the ancient landscape is firstly based on sound sources of evidence derived from already published field-survey and stratigraphic excavations, but obviously it is not undisputable and it calls for further ground-truth support. The operational procedures imply the implementation of a gis containing all the potentially relevant data available. Quite specific image enhancing procedures and algorithms have been selectively applied to the most promising layers in order to discard noise and extract relevant sources of information (objects/patterns). Photo-interpretation has then been performed by classification of each feature according to three basic parameters (geometry, spectral signature, Harris-matrix relationship) followed by a classification into higher order sets. Among the huge number of traced features, the most recent concern Roman centuriation: this network cover the whole area of the protohistoric settlement and of the Zanotto necropolis, acting as a fundamental tool in our discriminant (Harris-like) analysis of the thick temporal palimpsest of identified features. The roman cadastre extends well beyond the protohistoric site and its neighbouring area (near and off-site): it is bordered on the north by the riverbed of the Adria Po and on the south by the Canalbianco/Tartaro river. The agrarian layout fits reasonably well into the canonical measures of Roman centuriation while the orientation appeared to be n 13° w, that is similar but slightly shifted in relation to the neighbouring centuriation at Grignano Polesine-Rovigo (n 24° w). A highly diagnostic (“a posteriori”) feature is given by the overlap of a small portion of the centuriation on a bend of the Adria Po palaeo-ridge. As for the protohistoric traces, the single most striking feature is represented by a long artificial channel, well visible for about one kilometre, which extends across the inhabited area of Frattesina along its main axis and continues outside of it in both directions. On the West it seems quite clearly to head towards the Adria Po riverbed. At least three further ditches are connected and perpendicular to it, one of them of considerable size. The main channel intercepts the area previously interested by archaeological excavations and stratigraphic analysis Was reported that the channel seemed to have been repeatedly dug until a final filling by coarse alluvial sediments (layer i ), during a catastrophic flood event at the transition from stage 2 to stage 3 of settlement life history. By analysing rs evidence it is possible to isolate an area that…

The south-eastern Alpine region is rich in copper ore deposits (mostly mixed copper sulphides, chalcopyrite). Archaeological research shows that they have been exploited intensively throughout prehistory. Evidence of ancient metallurgical activity in Trentino was found in about 200 archaeological sites, mainly dated to the Late/Final Bronze Age. In the last years the research activity of the Archaeological Heritage Office of Trento has been focused on three smelting sites, Segonzano, Transacqua and Luserna, aiming to investigate the archaeological remains of the ancient smelting processes and improve our understanding of the technological aspects of the chaîne opératoire. Furnace remains, fire structures interpreted as roasting beds, slag and “slag sand” heaps have been unearthed. Dendrochronological and palynological analyses have been carried out at the Segonzano smelting site. Preliminary results are presented here. The archaeobotanical research was aimed at investigating the env...

"SUMMARY - “ViTReoUS MATeRiAlS in The iTAliAn PRoTohiSToRY” PRojecT: UPdATing And STATe of Re- SeARch - This paper is a synthesis of the research concerning the project “Vitreous Materials in the italian protohistory”, focusing in particular on the archaeological finds dated from XVii to X c. B.c. The project has been carried out since 2005 by: Archaeological heritage office of the Autonomous Province of Trento (as regards the archaeological aspects); the geology department of Padua University (archaeometric analysis) and the Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria. Early and Middle Bronze Age in northern Italy. new archaeometric research (see: Production Technology, pp. 129-135, Angelini 2011 and bibliography) confirms the hypothesis that the mixed alkali faience technology reached central europe during the iii millennium Bc through the regions north of the Black Sea. in northern italy the biconical and segmented faience beads found in several pile dwellings in the garda lake region and dated to the first phase of the early Bronze Age (2100-1800 Bc) are similar in typology and composition to those from Bohemia and Slovakia. An evolution (or reappearance) of mixed alkali technology in northern italy could be the glassy faience conical buttons with a rectilinear perforation at the base dated to the Middle Bronze Age 1-2 (1650/1600 - 1550/1500 Bc). in the same period a variety with a “V” perforation at the base is present in central italy (Bellintani et alii 2005; 2006, pp. 1500-1; 1524-5; fig. 1.4-5). There are not direct markers of production of faience or glassy faience in northern italy. indirect markers could be the specific typology and composition, in particular for the conical button (Bellintani et alii 2006, p. 1501). Middle and Recent Bonze Age in Southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age vitreous material beads (faience, glassy faience and glass) generally of ordinary forms (discoid, globular, flattened globular) started to appear in southern italy, sometimes associated with Aegean pottery (lipari; Vivara - Punta d’Alaca). The oldest hMg glass beads in italy was found in “Villaggio delle Macine”, a pile dwelling site in the lake of Albano, near Rome, dated to the beginning of the MBA1 (Bellintani et alii 2006, pp. 1503, 1522). from the latest period of MBA large groups (hundreds in several cases) of beads appeared, some of which have a more complex and diagnostic form and decoration. They are comparable for typology and composition with similar elements from Aegean: flattened rhomboidal glassy faience beads with linear engravings from cisternino, Trinitapoli (Apulia) and Plemmirio (Sicily); wheat grain beads from Trinitapoli (Apulia), Thapsos and Plemmirio (Sicily) (Bellintani et alii 2006; Tite et alii 2008a, pp. 140, 141; Tite et alii 2008c, pp. 121-125). Several beads are comparable with typical elements from the Mediterranean levant and egypt: the glass flattened globular beads with single spot eyes and the globular bead with arched lines from grotta Manaccora (Apulia) dated to the middle of the XV c. Bc (Bellintani et alii 2006, pp. 1502-3; fig. 2.7; Bellintani 2010a). They are similar to those from Uluburun which ingram (2005, p. 64) compared to some beads found in lachish (israel). in Sardinia the faience buttons dated to the Recent Bronze Age from the burial of Perda ‘e Accutzai and the nuraghe Antigori (near cagliari) are comparable, from typological point of (1) Soprintendenza per i beni librari archivistici e archeologici della Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Via Aosta 1, 38122 Trento; e-mail: paolo.bellintani@provincia.tn.it 258 P. BellinTAni inTRodUzione Relativamente trascurati fino a pochi anni or sono, i materiali vetrosi protostorici italiani stanno cominciando ad assumere un ruolo sempre meno marginale nel dibattito relativo alle prime forme di scambio che, nell’europa del ii millennio a.c., passarono da sistemi di carattere diffuso e su scala regionale a scambi sistematici anche su lunga distanza. il dibattito sul collegamento tra continente europeo e Mediterraneo orientale attraverso la penisola italiana si è recentemente arricchito di nuovi e specifici dati grazie anche a studi che hanno coniugato il tradiview, with buttons typical of the Ugaritic productions (Bouquillon e Matoïan 2007, fig. 2.1), which were also found in crete (Panagiotaki (2001, p. 111) and at Ulu Burun, (ingram 2005, p. 46, nota 124). Recent Bronze Age in northern Italy. in this period (Xiii c. Bc) the typology and the composition of several faience and glassy faience beads, in particular lentoid radially grooved beads and wheel beads with two hubs found in the necropolis of franzine and in the Terramara of Poviglio, indicate indirect contact between northern italy and Aegean, probably through Apulia (Bellintani et alii 2006, p. 1507, fig. 1.14; Rahmstorf 2005; Tite et alii 2008a, pp. 140, 141; 2008c, pp. 121-125). Moreover, in the second phase of the...

The earliest evidence of glass working in Western Europe occurs in Veneto (Italy), in the period XII-X centuries BC. As a matter of fact, despite the wide diffusion of glass materials during the Final Bronze Age (FBA) (Gratuze et al. 1998; Hartmann et al. 1997; Henderson 1988, 1993), Frattesina and the nearby sites represent to date the only archaeological records of glassworking and/or production in Europe (Henderson 1988; Brill 1992; Towle et al. 2001). A few crucibles and a large quantity of glass ingot fragments (Fig. 1a), beads and ornamental objects have been found. The glass invariably belongs to the low-magnesium, high-potassium (LMHK) mixed-alkali glass that is generally considered typical of protohistoric European glass production (Biaviati & Verità 1989; Brill 1992; Santopadre & Verità 2000; Towle et al. 2001; Angelini et al. 2004).

The investigation of glassy materials in Italian proto-history has so far been carried out in much of northern Italy and in some areas of the peninsular. A critical review of the available literature, and the study of recently discovered materials, has enabled precise chrono-typological assessment and the preparation of samples for archaeometric surveying. The results so far indicate 4 main phases for the first ornamental objects: faience, glassy faience and glass. The first faience (segmented beads, biconical beads) appear at the beginning of the EBA in northern Italy, probably derived from the middle Danube area. In the MBA 1-2 phase, glassy faience LMHK (Low Magnesium Low Potassium) appear in northern and central Italy, produced locally (particularly tapered buttons). This phase also includes the first glassy materials in southern Italy, often associated with ceramic materials similar to those of the Aegean. The MBA3-RBA phase is more varied in terms of type and technology, with faience, glassy faience and glass imported from the Aegean and Near East, although some may have been local imitations (HMBG - High Magnesium brown glass - objects which are tipical, for now, of the RBA of northern Italy). Hence, given the absence of the LMHK recipe, currently the hypothesis of a direct derivation of FBA LMHK glass objects from faience and glassy faience in EBA / MBA 1-2 cannot be supported.

ABSTRACT Late Bronze Age glass in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece was made from silica and plant ashes. Around 1200 BC in Europe a new glass type appears of a mixed alkali composition. Although the highest concentration of this glass is found at Frattesina in the Veneto, northern Italy there is no absolute proof that it was fused there from raw materials. A variety of possible alkali raw materials have been suggested but there is still no certainty about its identity. The chemical compositions of these mixed alkali glasses are characterised by a series of mixing lines which suggest that raw materials or glasses were mixed. To address these issues we present here the first set of radiogenic isotope (87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd) results for highly coloured samples of 11th century BC raw and waste glass from Frattesina together with new isotopic results for northern Italian silica and plant samples. Although a relatively small number, the isotopic results suggest that primary production of mixed alkali glass occurred in northern Italy. Moreover, it can be suggested that two of the samples were made from a mixture of different glasses, with contrasting isotopic signatures, one probably deriving from northern Italy and the other from a non-local source. This indicates that there were two production centres for mixed-alkali glass. We have shown that Frattesina glasses were made using isotopically distinct raw materials from those used to make the slightly earlier Late Bronze Age Mesopotamian and Egyptian plant ash glasses. Even though we have tested a small number of samples the isotopic results nevertheless provide significant new evidence for these mixed-alkali glasses being the first European glasses.

Pre- and protohistoric lake-dwellings in the alpine area are certainly one of the most significant fields of prehistoric research, not only in terms of the specialist literature. The potentially enormous amount of information offered by the exceptional state of preservation of these environments, above all in relation to types of settlement methods and the relationship between human beings and the environment, has meant that aspects such as the trading of raw materials and products coming from distant lands have often been pushed into the background. The type of evidence considered to be most persuasive in relation to long distance trading concerns the nature of the raw materials. Whereas there exists a wide range of analytical techniques, above all for stone, pottery, amber and to a certain extent vitreous materials, the question appears more complex as regards metals. Evidence of long distance trade involving the alpine region has been documented at least since the Neolithic. However, it was during the Bronze Age that this network of contacts increased and took on a continental dimension. In this paper we intend to highlight the role of lake-dwellings in the alpine region with regard to some of the most ancient forms of long-distance trading, linking central and northern Europe with the Mediterranean: the “amber roads” and the history of beads in faience, and above all glass, the latter representing “one of the most important aspects of craft or industrial production in the period” (Harding 2000, p.269).

A lake-level record of Lake Ledro (northern Italy) spans the entire Holocene with a chronology derived from 51 radiocarbon dates. It is based on a specific sedimentological approach that combines data from five sediment profiles sampled in distinct locations in the littoral zone. On a millennial scale, the lake-level record shows two successive periods from 11,700 to 4500 cal yr BP and from 4500 cal yr BP to the present, characterized by lower and higher average lake levels, respectively. In addition to key seasonal and inter-hemispherical changes in insolation, the major hydrological change around 4500 cal yr BP may be related to a non-linear response of the climate system to orbitally-driven gradual decrease in insolation. The Ledro record questions the notion of an accentuated summer rain regime in the northern Mediterranean borderlands during the boreal insolation maximum. Moreover, the Ledro record highlights that the Holocene was punctuated by successive centennial-scale highs...

"The project “amber and glassy materials in the protohistory of the Adige valley” was the starting point for a specific research project on ancient glassy materials (bronze Age) in northern Italy, financed by the Archaeological Heritage Office of the Autonomous Province of Trento and promoted by the same office, together with the Department of Earth Science and CNR – Quaternary geology section – of the University of Milan and the National Archaeological Museum in Parma. Those in charge of the research (dr. Paolo Bellintani – TN and prof. Gilberto Artioli – MI) have agreed a programme which foresees description of the chronological and cultural framework of the oldest evidence of faience, glass and other “glassy materials” in the area examined, with extension to the centre and south of the Italian peninsular. A substantial part of the research is dedicated to investigation of the characteristics of the materials in order to identify both their composition and structural characteristics (and their implications as regards technology and manufacturing processes). Currently one of the “powerful” indicators as regards the hypothesis of manufacture and/or local working in the Bronze Age in the central-western Mediterranean and in transalpine Europe is the particular chemical composition of certain types of artefact, known as “mixed alkali” or HKLM glass and practically absent to the east of the Adriatic. In archaeological documentation interest in this category of prestigious object, usually beads of various forms and sizes found in women’s tombs or in settlements, has rarely gone beyond the simple typological aspect (as regards this, the work of Thea Elisabet Haevernick and more recently that of Natalie Venelovà is fundamental). Very few investigations have been conducted on the manufacturing process and on the working of materials, including investigations of an ethnographic or experimental nature. Among these last, as regards the production of glass from materials, the experiment conducted at Tell el Amarna following the finding of a kiln probably destined for the production of glass and also possibly for the working of metals is of considerable interest (probably the only established case in the 2nd millennium BC). As regards the working of beads some experimentation has been carried out in relation to findings at sites for the working of materials, above all in the Roman and early medieval era in northern Europe. Taking these experiences as a starting point, systemic investigation has recently begun of glass-working indicators coming from the site which, from this point of view, offers the greatest wealth of material in Europe from the Bronze Age: Frattesina di Fratta Polesine (RO). This material includes crucibles, fragments of possible ingots (or bars) of glass, glass waste and probable scraps destined for recycling. The experience acquired thanks to the active collaboration with the Museo dei Grandi Fiumi in Rovigo, where the Frattesina material is currently conserved, is still in an early phase and could be defined as a “preliminary” to genuine experimentation. In other words, by using equipment which is partly modern and partly reproduced from the original protohistoric models, we have been able to isolate and evaluate some aspects of the manufacturing process for the beads. Future developments are linked on the one hand to implementation of the studies concerning archaeological indicators of working and on the other to results of analysis of the characteristics, above all as regards production from raw materials."

Copper alloy socketed shovels, often discovered in FBA hoards of central and nothern Italy, have been subject of many debates dedicated to the matter of metal production and circulation about the end of the II millennium BC The aim of this work is to improve the definition of ...

... with the unusual chemical composition, in our view may be indicative of a local production imitatingAegean typologies. ... No HMG production or trade seems to be present. ... In the light of the present evidence, the evolution of glass technology during the entire Bronze Age is rather ...

This article outlines the results of recent research on Remote Sensing (rs) data from the Polesine (Veneto Region- ne Italy): this Po Plain territory is indeed marked by an exceptional rs potentiality which has allowed the implementation of a key sequence of reading and decoding of a thick palimpsest of “signatures” in a highly dynamic and often metastable morphogenetic landscape. The underlying goal was to stimulate a fresh restart of research, on the base of a crucially expanded knowledge base and an extensively updated inferential engine. The presentation implies a contextual critical review of published geoarchaeological data and an up-to date panorama of the demographic and chrono-cultural sequence of the Medium Polesine between Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. At the end of the article we presents a projective scenario that places the punctuated emergence of the so-called ‘Frattesina phenomeno’ in a sensibly wider space/time and functional frame of reference. The archaeolog...

Nella valle di Primiero o del Cismon, all’estremità orientale della provincia di Trento, e più precisamente nel territorio
di Transacqua (comune di Primiero San Martino di Castrozza) sono stati indagati due siti fusori, distanti circa 500
m in linea d’aria uno dall’altro: Pezhe Alte e Acquedotto del Faoro.
Le prime indagini sulla metallurgia preistorica della Valle di Primiero, come di tutto il Trentino orientale, furono
eseguite da Ernst Preuschen che segnalò qui due siti fusori (Pezhe Alte 1 e 2) di cui uno probabilmente corrispondente
al nostro “Pezhe Alte”. Il Primiero non è stato invece preso in esame nelle ricerche realizzate dall’Ufficio Beni
archeologici di Trento, in collaborazione con il Bergbau-Museum di Bochum, tra gli anni ’80 e ’90 del secolo scorso
(Cierny 2008).
Il sito archeometallurgico di Pezhe Alte, databile tra Bronzo recente e Bronzo finale iniziale (ca XIII-XII sec.a.C) sulla
base della tradizionale crono-tipologia dei materiali ceramici, ma con datazioni radiometriche che vanno dalla II metà
del XV e il XIII secolo cal BC, presenta aspetti specifici e caratteristici, rispetto ad altri analoghi contesti trentini.
Dal punto di vista dimensionale (ca 1157 mq.) può definirsi un sito di medie dimensioni, con deposito di scorie,
prevalentemente del tipo piatto, ma anche grossolano, stimato tra 100 e 200 tonnellate, mentre è assente la cosiddetta
"sabbia di scorie”. La presenza di strutture pirotecnologiche dedicate al trattamento diretto del minerale di rame (forni
e letti di arrostimento), è indiziata solo da tracce indirette (concotti in giacitura secondaria alla base della discarica
di scorie). Nell’area sud del settore di scavo, la piccola struttura da fuoco US 517 sembra riferibile ad un “focolare” che, grazie ad analisi effettuate con microscopio petrografico, SEM/EDS e micro-raman, sembrerebbe riferibile al trattamento
termico di locali rocce metamorfiche per la produzione di sabbia a base di quarzo, che potrebbero essere state utilizzate
nel processamento dei solfuri di rame.
Il contesto indagato in loc. Acquedotto del Faoro, datato radiometricamente tra la fine del XIV e l’XI secolo cal. BC.,
sembra riferibile ad un “letto di arrostimento”. Si tratta della parte terminale, larga ca m 2,50, di una piattaforma
quadrangolare allungata, delimitata da pietrame di varie dimensioni e con preparazione del fondo realizzato con
frammenti di scorie piatte. La sequenza stratigrafica sembra riferibile ad almeno due cicli di attività. Nel territorio
sud-alpino, altre due aree indagate con scavi regolari e relativamente estesi hanno restituito strutture confrontabili
con quella in esame: Cortaccia/Kurtatsch (Nothdurfter 1993; Nothdurfter, Hauser 1986) e Luserna – Platz Von Motze
(Bellintani et alii 2010, p.279; Silvestri et alii 2015a, p. 373 fig.10; Nicolis et alii in questo volume).

At Platz von Motze, in the municipality of Luserna (Trento, Northern Italy), a large area has been investigated between
2005 and 2016 in order to evaluate the interference of the construction of a new building; the site is known since
the last century as a smelting site dating to Late Prehistory.
The area is located at an altitude of about 1300 m asl, and is characterized by a flat basin limited to the east by a local
road and to the west by a hill overlooking the underlying Valle dell'Astico.-
The research carried out extensively allowed to recognize the actual stratigraphy of the site, identifying relevant
smelting structures of the recent/final Bronze Age.
The structures 140, 76, 74, 77, 150 are particularly important: they show strong analogies from a structural point
of view, as well as a precise spatial relationship, being all arranged at the foot of a weak slope and aligned in battery
along an N - S axis. The strong traces of combustion activity both inside and outside the structures, lead to interpret
them as smelting structures aligned along a working front. For some of them (140, 76 and 150) a probable prolonged
use over time has also been envisaged, highlighting several phases of use which, given the environmental conditions
of the site, could have had a seasonal basis.
Immediately east of the melting furnaces, on a flat ground, the structures 134, 50, 170, 177 are of particular interest.
They are very similar to each other, aligned along an N - S axis and arranged downstream of the melting structures.
Their characteristics suggest interpreting them as "roasting beds" or at least as structures in some way related to the structures arranged further upstream.
The dating materials associated with the structures are relatively few, as usual in the smelting sites of the southern
slope of the central-eastern Alps, but they are all dating to the Luco A culture, around the 12th century BC. On the
other hand, the chronological framework obtained by three radiocarbon datings (15th - early 12th century BC) is
wider and considerably earlier.

Tra i mesi di giugno e ottobre 2012, è stata eseguita una campagna di indagini archeologiche su un piccolo
pianoro del versante occidentale della Valcava, tributaria della Valle del Fersina (o Valle dei Mocheni/
Bernstol) , a circa 1600 metri di quota sul livello del mare, all'interno del territorio comunale di Fierozzo
(TN) (Fig.1).
Val Cava era già stata segnalata da Preuschen in relazione ad antiche coltivazioni minerarie, tuttavia solo
l'intervento del 2012 ha permesso di portare in luce e documentare i depositi di abbandono di un sito per
la riduzione del rame pertinente all'età del bronzo recente - finale.
La stratigrafia relativa ai livelli d'uso degli apparati fusori non è stata asportata, ma esclusivamente messa
in luce e documentata a seguito dello scavo dei livelli di abbandono. L'area interessata da strutture piro-
tecnologiche, strati carboniosi, piani d'uso e fosse in fase con le strutture descritte, occupa una superficie
pari a circa 900 mq, mentre l’area che ha restituito le tracce di forni (sondaggi 1-3) si estende per circa 200
mq. Apparentemente i 3 forni individuati (di cui due in coppia) sembrano far parte di una batteria. Indizio
di ciò è il comune orientamento NW-SE, con lato privo di muratura a NE ossia verso valle, e l’accertata
appartenenza alla stessa fase dei forni 1 e 2 (Fig.12), mentre non è possibile affermarlo con sicurezza per
il forno 3.
L’area dei forni 1 e 2 è quella meglio esplorata e per la quale è possibile proporre una sequenza stratigrafica
che, a partire dai depositi più antichi, può essere così sintetizzata:
- deposito naturale ghiaioso misto a sabbia, blocchi e ciottoli (US 36);
- livello di frequentazione sul quale si impostano le strutture, costituito da ghiaia mista a sabbia e limo con
ciottoli e blocchi sparsi, al cui interno sono evidenti tracce, anche in concentrazione, di residui carboniosi
(US 35);
- fase di attività delle strutture fusorie 1 e 2. In fase con questi forni sono anche lo strato di terreno rubefatto
immediatamente a valle degli stessi (US 26), esito delle lavorazioni, e le piccole buche a monte (UUSS 17
e 20) e le più profonde buche di palo a valle (UUSS 7 e 22) di cui si può ipotizzare la funzione di sostegno
per una copertura all'area di lavoro;
- fase di abbandono dei forni 1 e 2 (collasso delle strutture)
- fase post-abbandono dei forni 1 e 2 segnata dal dislocamento delle strutture produttive in altra zona,
(deposito di sabbia di scorie US 2).

This paper examines our evidence for the date of the beginning of the second phase of copper production in the south-eastern
Alps. Lead isotope analysis evidence for artefacts from North Germany and Scandinavia shows the presence
in that area of objects made of south-east Alpine copper already in the 16th and in great numbers from the 15th century
cal BC. This fits well with the available radiocarbon evidence that copper production in the south-eastern Alps
recommences in the 15th, perhaps the 16th century cal BC. Typological evidence from the smelting site of Favogna/
Fennhals (Cortaccia/Kurtatsch BZ) also seems to indicate smelting in the 15th century cal BC. Crucibles from the
south-west Trentino lake dwellings at Ledro (EBA or MBA) and Fiavé (MBA), and the presence of MBA and RBA
artefacts made of south-east Alpine copper in the lake dwellings of the Lake Garda area provide a context and a proxy
for copper production. We also suggest that the renewed copper production in the Trentino – Alto Adige/Südtirol
region fits with the hypothesis that the Valli Grandi Veronesi polity was established in order to control the flow of
copper; indeed lead isotope data available in the literature shows that the metal used at Fondo Paviani (Legnago VR)
was south-east Alpine. Finally, we examine the hypothesis that the apparent hiatus in metal production between the
EBA and MBA is simply a product of insufficient archaeological data – this can be argued based on the finding of
copper smelting slag at the site of Gardolo di Mezzo (Trento TN) in levels dated to the period when production was
apparently paused and on the fact that metalwork from the Lake Garda lake dwellings made of copper of south-east
Alpine origin is found throughout the late EBA and early MBA.

La località “Peciapian” di Segonzano, in Val di Cembra (Trentino orientale), già segnalata nel 1991, è stata
oggetto di 4 campagne di scavo (2007, 2008, 2011, 2013) a seguito di lavori di allargamento della strada
forestale che attraversa il sito. Il pianoro interessato dalle presenze archeologiche (ca 1300 m slmm), attualmente
ricoperto da un bosco di conifere e nel recente passato da un prato/pascolo, si caratterizza per
il costante affioramento della falda idrica che crea un’area umida nella parte a meridione. La disponibilità
di acqua fu certamente uno dei fattori determinanti per la scelta del sito in cui praticare l’attività fusoria,
mentre non vi sono elementi al momento per poter ipotizzare da quali giacimenti provenisse il minerale
cuprifero qui processato (tra quelli noti, i più vicini si collocano nella Valle dei Mocheni e nell’Altopiano
di Pinè, a circa 10 km di distanza).
Delle tre aree caratterizzate dalla dispersione di scorie derivanti da processi metallurgici primari, quella
di maggiori dimensioni è l’area A (ca 5200 mq), esplorata con 48 piccoli sondaggi (di delimitazione) e 5
saggi di scavo (da 2 a 52 mq di estensione per una potenza stratigrafica ad oggi rilevata da 30 a 90 cm) che
tuttavia non hanno raggiunto la base del deposito archeologico.
L’Area A è stata inoltre distinta in “zone”, parzialmente sovrapposte, sulla base delle caratteristiche macroscopiche
dei depositi, presumibilmente corrispondenti al tipo di attività svolte: la zona verde, con scorie
di fusione piatte e grossolane (ca. 3.600 mq) che si ritiene la zona più plausibile per la localizzazione di
strutture fusorie (tuttavia non ancora identificate), la zona gialla (ca. 2.000 mq) indagata con il sondaggio
1, che presenta accumuli di sabbia di scorie con funzione di probabile arginatura del bacino idrico meridionale,
ed infine la zona marrone (ca. 2300 mq), indagata con il sondaggio 4 (32 mq) che si presenta come
un’area umida ricca di sfasciumi vegetali, carboni, schegge di legno, con depositi di sabbia di scorie, probabilmente
destinata ad operazioni di lavaggio e di scarico di residui delle lavorazioni.
Lo scavo del Settore 1 (area A – zona gialla) ha permesso di rilevare 5 fasi di attività in quest’area:
Fase 1, alternanza di livelli organici ricchi di macroresti vegetali intercalati a piani di calpestio composti da
sabbia di scorie, con numerosi elementi lignei verticali (paletti) e orizzontali (pali o travi);
Fase 2. Strati planari di sabbia di scorie probabili superfici di calpestio in prossimità della sponda del bacino
idrico;
Fase 3. potente accumulo di “sabbia di scorie” (ca. 80 cm di potenza massima) contenuto da strutture lignee
(gabbioni o semplici pareti di barriera mento);
Fase 4. accumulo di scorie piatte e grossolane immerse in una scarsa matrice sabbiosa.
L’accumulo di sabbia di scorie (fase 3) è stato sottoposto anche a indagini microstratigrafiche e micromorfologiche,
con sezioni sottili analizzate tramite microscopia ottica a luce polarizzata (POM) e spettroscopia
micro-Raman.
Nel complesso il sedimento ha una tessitura variabile dal limo alla ghiaia fine; una frazione minore è
rappresentata da residui vegetali.
Sono state identificate diverse modalità di trasporto dei depositi (decantazione, trasporto in massa, trasporto
trattivo) che si ripetono ciclicamente e che si possono ragionevolmente collegare ad attività quali
la frantumazione e la macinatura delle scorie grossolane e il successivo lavaggio e vaglio della sabbia di
scorie per separarne la frazione utile a successive fasi di ri-processamento termico.
Per quanto riguarda i pochi reperti mobili, a Segonzano sono stati rinvenuti, oltre ad alcuni manufatti
litici connessi alle lavorazioni (incudini e percussori), 26 frammenti ceramici tipologicamente
diagnostici: si tratta di fogge vascolari troncoconiche con orlo a tesa, riferibili alla facies Luco A.
Sulla base delle analisi archeobotaniche è possibile stabilire che, nella fase preinsediamento, il sito risultava
ricoperto da una fitta foresta di conifere. L’instaurarsi dell’attività fusoria determinò un forte calo del
tasso di afforestamento che scese al disotto del 50% con una netta prevalenza delle conifere. Sono testimoniate
numerose piante tipiche di zone umide, compatibili con la presenza di una fonte di acqua permanente
che alimentava un piccolo bacino. L’attività fusoria è registrata anche dalla presenza di micro-carboni di
dimensioni maggiori di 250 μm che testimoniano una diffusa presenza di attività di combustione locale.
Particolarmente interessante risulta l’abbondante presenza di pollini cereali (23%) nell’US 38 del saggio 1
il cui alto valore indica probabilmente il fenomeno di accumulo di cariossidi (non presenti nei campioni esaminati) portate nel sito per l’alimentazione.
Tra gli elementi lignei conservatesi in ambiente saturo d’acqua al di sotto dell’accumulo di sabbia di scorie
rinvenuto nel Settore 1, un campione (trave orizzontale squadrata - US 16), determinato come abete rosso
(Picea abies Karst.) è stato sottoposto a indagine dendrocronologica. Nonostante la disponibilità, presso il
laboratorio IVALSA di San Michele all’Adige, di serie provenienti da legni subfossili delle Alpi orientali
che risalgono anche alla protostoria, i tentativi di datazione assoluta condotti non hanno fornito alcun
risultato definitivo.
Delle cinque datazioni radiocarboniche eseguite su campioni provenienti dal sito, costituiti sia da resti arborei
imbibiti (un elemento ligneo orizzontale e uno strobilo) sia da carboni, quattro sono riferibili alla fase
di frequentazione più antica (Fase 1) ed uno alla Fase 4. Con i dati disponibili è stato possibile applicare la
statistica Bayesiana per la creazione di un semplice modello Phase relativo a 3 delle 4 date disponibili per
la Fase 1. Gli estremi degli intervalli modellizzati indicano la pertinenza a un periodo compreso fra la fine
del XIII e l’ultimo quarto dell’XI secolo cal BC.
Considerando che tutti i materiali ceramici datanti sono pertinenti alla facies culturale “Luco A” e, forse,
ad un suo momento iniziale parallelo alle fasi evolute del Bronzo recente e al passaggio al Bronzo finale
dell’area planiziaria padano-veneta (ca XII sec. a.C.), le tradizionali datazioni basate sulla tipologia e quelle
radiometriche sono, nel complesso, coerenti.