Negrar di Valpolicella (VR). Indagini archeologiche e paleoambientali nel sito delle Colombare di Villa

This paper presents the first results of research conducted in the prehistoric settlement of Colombare di Negrar di Valpolicella (VR) as of 2019. The site is located about 650 m above sea level, on a steep slope facing south, towards the Veronese plain and the lower Garda area. It was discovered and partially explored in the early 1950s by Francesco Zorzi and is characterized by a long continuity of occupation, certainly with solutions that apparently began in the recent Neolithic and ended at the threshold of the Iron Age. The fieldwork included surface reconnaissance and actual surveys aimed, on the one hand, at defining the spatial extent of prehistoric and protohistoric anthropization and, on the other hand, at verifying the stratigraphic sequences and their content in structural, cultural, paleoecological and paleoeconomic terms. The radiocarbon dates available to date relate to the early settlement phases of the recent and Late Neolithic and are inscribed in a chronological interval between about 4300 and 3500 BC in calibrated history. New data are expected for the subsequent exploitation phases of the Copper and Bronze Ages, which are well documented by the rich material culture. From the point of view of settlement strategy, the Colombare di Negrar site documents the occupation of sensitive areas from the point of view of territorial control and traffic. This occupation seems to have been aimed at the exploitation of the glassy flint characteristic of the Lessini, valued not only in northern Italy but also in the areas north of the Alpine watershed. The site was to be a center where the quality of the flints supplied from outside was tested in order to produce semi-finished products for regional and national distribution. The large number of fragmented dagger blades seems to suggest that their production was common at the site. A wide range of pollen and carpological analyses, as well as studies on faecal biomarkers contained in the sediments, open up important palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomic perspectives. The embryonic forms of feeding and care of wild grapevines are in this sense among the most significant data to emerge from the research. Public archaeology, communication and educational activities are programmatically linked to the research project.