Ritual combustion pits at the Campi Neri of Cles sanctuary (Valle di Non – Trentino)

Abstract

The Campi Neri of Cles (Valle di Non - Trentino) sanctuary extending over 7.000 square meters, has enabled the identification of an articulated sequence of ritual practices at all stages characterized by the presence of path routes of sacred nature. The earliest phase corresponds to a structure in a circular structure of about 8.5 meters in diameter dating to a period between the late Copper Age and the so-called formative or initial phase of the Early Bronze Age. Near this structure lighting fires within shallow circular pits filled with stones has been documented from the Early Bronze Age. In these combustion pits are calcined bones and unaltered animal bones. In the entire area that was studied, almost 220 of these circular pits were noted with an average diameter of 95 cm tightly packed in well-defined nuclei. Some oldest pits dated back to the Middle Bronze Age and contained cremated human bones. To the Luco/Laugen culture are related 141 pit structures. The most immediate interpretation seen in these fires is the so-called “Polynesian ovens”: a definition of ethnographic origin that regardless of its “exotic” character, indicates the particular preparation for the cooking of animal meat.