Papers by Paolo Bellintani
West & East Monografie, 5, 2024
This work concerns the five Hoards of the protohistoric settlement of Frattesina di Fratta Polesi... more This work concerns the five Hoards of the protohistoric settlement of Frattesina di Fratta Polesine, site dated between the Recent Bronze Age 2 and the Early Iron Age - phase 1A (12th – 10th/early 9th c. BC). The Hoards, datable to the central phase of the final Bronze Age (FBA2 – ca. 11th c. BC) have been studied (and written about) from the typological,
chronological and functional point of view. In this work, the Hoards are analysed with different approaches, starting from the renewed chrono-typological analysis of the so called ‘tesoretto’, the Hoard composed of bronze, amber, glass, ivory, Ostrich eggshell and stone objects (mainly ornaments) published in 1971.
As regards the so called ‘Founder’s hoards’ (nos. 1-4) formed of ingots and different kinds of object fragments (instruments, weapons, ornaments), the metrological and weigh system aspects are investigated. After weighing each component (included the minimal fragments hitherto unpublished) we compared them with other similar Italian and European ensembles.
Finally, we propose some considerations about the function and the meaning of the Hoards on the base of the review of the materials, the rare and scarce notes on the discovery (unfortunately not in stratigraphic context) and in the light of the research carried out on this site since 2014, aimed at the structural and infrastructural features of the settlement.
On this base, and considering the comparison with hoards coming from both inside and outside the settlements, the paper addresses the issue of whether to attribute to these items a profane or ritual function, and underlines how the boundaries between the two are often blurred, as demonstrated by the analogies between the Hoards nos.1-4 of Frattesina and those from some Apennine peaks, most likely of votive nature.
Overall, we confirm what was expressed by Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri and Luciano Salzani on the Hoards 1-4, namely that they must have been connected with metallurgical workshops, and we propose a possible symbolic and/or sacred value for the ‘tesoretto’.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2014
Der Anschnitt, Beihefte
The exploitation of copper deposits in the mountainous areas of the Alps gained enormous economic... more The exploitation of copper deposits in the mountainous areas of the Alps gained enormous economic importance particularly in the 2nd and 1st millennium B.C., as Alpine copper began to play a central role in the metal supply of Europe. This volume summarises the current state of research on prehistoric Alpine copper exploitation from the western and southern Alps to the gates of Vienna in the eastern Alps. The 23 papers were originally presented as contributions to a conference held in September 2016 at the University of Innsbruck, which covered topics such as mountain landscapes, mining, beneficiation, smelting and the metal trade in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. A particular focus of the present volume is the D-A-CH-funded project on ‘Prehistoric copper production in the Eastern and Central Alps: technical, social and economic dynamics in space and time’, a research collaboration between partners in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The various contributions provide new perspecti...
Il sito della tarda età del Bronzo di Campestrin di Grignano Polesine (Rovigo – Veneto), già noto... more Il sito della tarda età del Bronzo di Campestrin di Grignano Polesine (Rovigo – Veneto), già noto per alcuni interventi di scavo e per le eccezionali testimonianze relative alla lavorazione dell’ambra baltica, è stato oggetto di nuove indagini (ricerche di superficie, carotaggi, analisi sedimentologiche), da parte dell’Università di Ferrara e del Centro Polesano di Studi Storici Archeologici ed etnografici di Rovigo (CPSSAE) allo scopo di definirne i limiti perimetrali e di individuare zone di particolare interesse per lo studio delle attività artigianali. L’insediamento, databile al XII sec. a.C. ca. (BR2/BF1) era ubicato presso la sponda sinistra del Po di Adria 1, lo stesso su cui sorse, 9 km a SO, il centro di Frattesina di Fratta Polesine. Con Frattesina condivide anche: la forma allungata e parallela al corso del fiume e la mancanza di tracce evidenti di un argine perimetrale e corrispettivo fossato (tipo terramara). L’unica sezione continua nel senso dell’asse minore (scolina...
In questo contributo vengono esposte le evidenze per la ripresa della produzione metallurgica nel... more In questo contributo vengono esposte le evidenze per la ripresa della produzione metallurgica nell’attuale Trentino - Alto Adige, verosimilmente databili al XVI, sicuramente al XV secolo a.C. Il rialzamento della datazione al BM della ripresa della coltivazione del rame nell’odierna regione Trentino – Alto Adige/Südtirol confermerebbe l’ipotesi che la formazione della polity delle Valli Grandi Veronesi abbia avuto lo scopo di controllare il flusso del rame; infatti, i dati relativi ai campi isotopici del piombo dei bronzi rinvenuti a Fondo Paviani (Legnago VR) mostrano che il rame ha origine nelle Alpi sud-orientali. Infine, si prende in considerazione l’ipotesi che lo iato nella produzione del rame tra BA e BM sia semplicemente il risultato di un’insufficiente base di dati. Indizi in tal senso sono le scorie di riduzione del rame rinvenute a Gardolo di Mezzo (Trento TN) in strati databili al periodo in cui la produzione sarebbe cessata, nonché i risultati delle indagini sugli isotopi del piombo di manufatti metallici provenienti dalle palafitte dell’area gardesana, datati a tutto il tardo BA e inizio del BM, che indicherebbero un’origine del rame nei giacimenti delle Alpi sud-orientali.
"Frattesina - phase 3: archaeology and archaeometry of the ceram... more "Frattesina - phase 3: archaeology and archaeometry of the ceramic production Key-words: Bronze age, Ceramics, Archaeometry, Grog The important settlement of Frattesina (Rovigo, north-eastern Italy) has been investigated through systematic surveys and stratigraphic excavation during the period 1966-1989. According to the excavation data and to the pottery typological study, we can reliably assume that the settlement was inhabitated since the end of LBA (Phase 1st) till the beginning of IA (Phase 3rd). During this las phase the local ceramic production is characterized by the use of different ceramic pastes, as identified by macroscopic visual estimation. The need to substantiate the empyrical classification on physico-chemical ground hab prompted an archaeometric study by OM and by XRPD analysis. The pastes of archaeological relevance have been divided into 5 classes (A-F), recongnized through the typological analysis of 46 pottery sherds, 4 pieces of "concotti" (daub) and 1 distinct wheel-made sherd. All the investigated pottery samples were made mixing local carbonatic clays with different tempers, mostly grog, but also sand-shell mixture (paste B), vegetables and straw, and in one case, a very peculiar sand of metamorphic origin (paste C). Grog is present in pastes having different grain-size, the size of the temper inclusions being related to the thickness of the pot walls. The firing was carried out in variable atmosphere conditions and/or different times, the colour of the sherds being related to the final degree of oxidation of the pase. The maximum temperature of firing was in the range 600-800°C. There seems to be a correlation between paste type and pot shape."
PAOLO BELLINTANI, MATEUSZ CWALIŃSKI, IVANA ANGELINI, URSULA THUN HOHENSTEIN
Le ambre di Campestr... more 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.
FARE RAME La metallurgia primaria della tarda età del Bronzo in Trentino: nuovi scavi e stato dell’arte della ricerca sul campo, 2021
198 “smelting sites”, i.e. areas dedicated to the processing of copper minerals (mixed sulphides ... more 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.
Comano Terme-Fiav\ue8 dal 13 al 15 settembre 2001)
… di preistoria e …, 2006
PADUSA, 2020
This work concerns the typological and archaeomet ric topics of the mixed alkali (LMHK Low Magnai... more 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.
IpoTESI di Preistoria, 2019
Il sito di Zambana el Vato insiste su un conoide detritico a nord di Trento in destra idrografica... more 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...
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Papers by Paolo Bellintani
chronological and functional point of view. In this work, the Hoards are analysed with different approaches, starting from the renewed chrono-typological analysis of the so called ‘tesoretto’, the Hoard composed of bronze, amber, glass, ivory, Ostrich eggshell and stone objects (mainly ornaments) published in 1971.
As regards the so called ‘Founder’s hoards’ (nos. 1-4) formed of ingots and different kinds of object fragments (instruments, weapons, ornaments), the metrological and weigh system aspects are investigated. After weighing each component (included the minimal fragments hitherto unpublished) we compared them with other similar Italian and European ensembles.
Finally, we propose some considerations about the function and the meaning of the Hoards on the base of the review of the materials, the rare and scarce notes on the discovery (unfortunately not in stratigraphic context) and in the light of the research carried out on this site since 2014, aimed at the structural and infrastructural features of the settlement.
On this base, and considering the comparison with hoards coming from both inside and outside the settlements, the paper addresses the issue of whether to attribute to these items a profane or ritual function, and underlines how the boundaries between the two are often blurred, as demonstrated by the analogies between the Hoards nos.1-4 of Frattesina and those from some Apennine peaks, most likely of votive nature.
Overall, we confirm what was expressed by Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri and Luciano Salzani on the Hoards 1-4, namely that they must have been connected with metallurgical workshops, and we propose a possible symbolic and/or sacred value for the ‘tesoretto’.
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.
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.
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.
chronological and functional point of view. In this work, the Hoards are analysed with different approaches, starting from the renewed chrono-typological analysis of the so called ‘tesoretto’, the Hoard composed of bronze, amber, glass, ivory, Ostrich eggshell and stone objects (mainly ornaments) published in 1971.
As regards the so called ‘Founder’s hoards’ (nos. 1-4) formed of ingots and different kinds of object fragments (instruments, weapons, ornaments), the metrological and weigh system aspects are investigated. After weighing each component (included the minimal fragments hitherto unpublished) we compared them with other similar Italian and European ensembles.
Finally, we propose some considerations about the function and the meaning of the Hoards on the base of the review of the materials, the rare and scarce notes on the discovery (unfortunately not in stratigraphic context) and in the light of the research carried out on this site since 2014, aimed at the structural and infrastructural features of the settlement.
On this base, and considering the comparison with hoards coming from both inside and outside the settlements, the paper addresses the issue of whether to attribute to these items a profane or ritual function, and underlines how the boundaries between the two are often blurred, as demonstrated by the analogies between the Hoards nos.1-4 of Frattesina and those from some Apennine peaks, most likely of votive nature.
Overall, we confirm what was expressed by Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri and Luciano Salzani on the Hoards 1-4, namely that they must have been connected with metallurgical workshops, and we propose a possible symbolic and/or sacred value for the ‘tesoretto’.
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.
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.
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.
Nel video risalta la grande quantità di tracce impresse nella vegetazione e la variazione della loro visibilità durante la maturazione delle colture.
Si nota soprattutto un lungo elemento lineare che attraversa in senso E-W tutto l'abitato, si tratta del fossato principale di una rete ortogonale di grandi fossati che caratterizzava il nucleo centrale dell'abitato.
Oltre a questa particolare infrastruttura, ben visibili sono le tracce della partizione agraria di epoca romana, degli elementi paleoidrografici associati all'attività dell'antico corso del Po di Adria e degli scavi archeologici diretti da Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri.
Andrea Cardarelli presenta il volume: Frattesina: un centro internazionale di produzione e di scambio nella tarda età del Bronzo del Veneto
a cura di: Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri, Paolo Bellintani, Claudio Giardino