Collis et al./Summer Farms, 8. Going up the mountain! Exploitation of the Trentino highlands as summer farms during the Bronze Age

The Dosso Rotondo site (Storo, Trento) is located in the valley of the River Chiese at 1876 metres a.s.l. Investigations, still underway, began in 1998 and have involved a surface area of more than 50 m2, although the occupied area, estimated using surveys and manual coring, is around 800–1,000 m2. The archaeological deposits brought to light have made it possible to identify a stratigraphic sequence with four separate phases of occupation. In the area investigated it has currently been possible to identify 76 postholes, 70 of which can be related to four residential buildings constructed using load-bearing vertical posts planted in the ground, which can be attributed to three different settlement phases. During the fourth phase of occupation a fifth dwelling was built using a new construction technique with stone foundations, on which the wooden structure rested. Interdisciplinary research at the Storo Dosso Rotondo site has led to the conclusion that it was probably a seasonal settlement linked to mountain pasture activities. On the basis of the pottery and flint artefacts, occupation of the settlement can be dated to the early phase of the Middle Bronze Age.