The pile dwelling of Tombola di Cerea (Verona) (1999 excavation)

Abstract

The pile dwelling was discovered in 1955 in the valley of the river Menago, just a few hundred meters south of the settlement of Tombola di Cerea (VR). A first excavation was carried out that very year by Francesco Zorzi, director of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale of Verona; the digging has been resumed in 1999 by the Soprintendenza Archeologica of Veneto. The results of these excavations have ascertained that the prehistoric dwelling site was built in a marshy environment. Only some vertical poles and some horizontal beams were preserved, which leads to the hypothesis that there existed a wooden platform on which the sheds were standing. The structural elements of the palafitte find correspondents in others settlements in moist environment from the Middle Bronze Age. The paleogeographic reconstruction of the immediate hinterland confirm the location of the site at the center of the Menago River Paleovalley, an incision a few hundred meters wide and more than ten meters deep, at the base of a thick layer of peat. Previous studies, related to the origin of the deep incision generated by the homonymous spring-line river, mainly refer to geodynamic factors linked to buried tectonic lines, as main motives for the incisions caused by the diversion of Adige breach-channels captured towards the basin of Great Veronese Valleys, which occurred in the late Lateglacial-Holocene age. The analysis of new lithostratigraphies detected on exposures inside the paleovalley, has led to find the presence of a thick and almost continuous filling of organic-peaty sediments, which mark the accretions and the sedimentations verified starting from the basal levels of the pile-dwelling site, depositions that have lasted until fairly recent dates. A series of detailed comparisons made with the terms of the peat-debris-filling sequences of the basin that developed outside the embankments of the near and coeval Fondo Paviani site, led to verify a similar evolution in the growths that mark the upper reaches of these two important alluvio-organic successions. Ultimately, is claimed that the same incidence, of anthropogenic and climatic factors, is involved as the main contributors to the development of the upper fills of the Menago Paleovalley, in correspondence with the pile-dwelling station of the Tombola di Cerea and the embanked site of Fondo Paviani. A great number of ceramic fragments (ca 620 kg) and a smaller amount of bronze, terracotta and bone-horn artefacts had been found. This paper focus on chrono-typological analysis of the archaeological finds, in particular on ceramic of the medium-fine tipe. The goal is the overall classification artefacts, accompanied by a comparison made from materials found in geographically nearbysites. Dendrochronology and radiocarbon allow to date the wooden structures to the second half of the 15th Century cal BC, or in the first decades of the 14th Century cal BC at the latest; the vertical posts come from oak tree felled down once about every ten years. Archaeobotanical study includes pollen analysis carried out on 18 subsamples taken from a core collected in the pile-dwelling settlement and carpological and xilo-anthacological analysis, from 2 samples taken from layers (stratigraphic units) corresponding to the bottom of the core. The results allows to draw the environmental framework of the settlement. The pollen diagram shows that the landscape was rich of wet environments: ponds, wet grassland and hygrophilous wood. The human activity was suggested by a number of anthropogenic indicators: cereal fields, ruderals and weeds. Seeds/fruits and pollen data testify to the presence in the area of edible fruits from plants such as blackthorn, hazelnut, currant, walnut and grapevine. The finds of Baldellia ranuncoloides – a threatened plants today - underline that the archaeobotanical research provide naturalistic information that allow us to better understand the history of plant species becoming rare today. The faunal assemblage is composed by 1995 bone remains. More than 80% of the faunal remains was identified at species level. Domestic animals are the most frequent. Age at death highlights different breeding strategies focused on meat consumption and secondary products. Hunting was barely practiced on wild ungulates (red deer, roe deer, wild boar). Several anthropic marks were identified on the faunal remains emphasizing the use of lithic and metal tools. During the analysis 18 animal hard material artefacts were identified. The good state of preservation allowed us to identify working traces linked to the reduction sequences of the tools.