Alpe Borghetto: origins and evolution of a summer farm area in the Italian central Alps based on vegetation history and archaeology, Neolithic to present
2019
Moe, Dagfinn | Fedele, Francesco G.
The origins of Alpe Borghetto, a present-day summer farm complex in Val Febbraro (Italian central Alps), were investigated in 1996–2004 on the basis of five peat mires at 1,895–2,103 m a.s.l. which were analysed palynologically, and five main archaeological sites at 2,015–2,115 m. The area appears to have started to be used in the Neolithic according to environmental evidence at Borghetto Sotto, around 4500–3800 cal BC. Increased human land use during the Copper and/or Bronze Age is indicated by pollen results from the Barch and Lavazzé sites and by archaeological findings at Lavazzé. Some kind of regular summer activity may have taken place at Lavazzé and perhaps in the Barch area along the natural tree line. In the early Iron Age, a substantial reduction of woodland around 800–500 cal BC at Barch probably marks the beginning of traditional dairying-based summer farming in the area, soon followed by a ‘protohistoric’/early Medieval settlement at Barch. A year-round settlement of similar date appeared at lower altitude in the nearby valley of Starleggia, following Bronze Age woodland clearance. A subsequent decrease in charcoal input at Barch can be associated with the period when mountain farmers left the zone and settled lower down at present-day Borghetto, as evidenced from Borghetto Sotto. This resettlement was possibly brought about by a lack of wood for building, fuel and tools, and may have taken place over many centuries during the Middle Ages. Pressures from Iron Age economies within and around the Alps might have influenced the appearance of traditional summer farming in Val Febbraro.
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