The Leventina Prehistoric Landscape (Alpine Ticino Valley, Switzerland) - Part I: verschiedene Autor/innen: A Diachronic Study on Settlement, Environment, and Economy - Part II: Eva Carlevaro: Population Dynamics in the South Alpine Area from the End of the Bronze Age until Romanization

This comprehensive volume presents the results of a large interdisciplinary archaeological project realized in the Ticino valley of Switzerland and its adjacent regions between 2006 and 2012. The focus of the manifold surveys, analyses and modelings is on settlement structures, environmental contexts, and ecodynamic processes, from the younger Prehistoric periods to Roman times. The texts are gathered in over a dozen contributions, teaming 25 authors from various disciplines and countries of Alpine Europe.
The main objective of the investigations is the Leventina valley, situated on one of today's major transalpine routes, leading from the Insubrian lakes across St Gotthard pass to the Reuss valley and Central Switzerland. Very few archaeological remains were known from this area before the onset of the project, in particular with regard to the abundant subalpine environments. Archaeological excavations in Airolo-Madrano and surveys on various altitudinal levels of the valley, along with a full set of new sites and radiocarbon dates, as well as archaeobiological, anthracological and palynological research and GIS-based modeling, allow now to draw a realistic image of the valley's societal, environmental and economic situation in Prehistory, with scenarios of early Alpine Economy proposed for the Bronze and Iron Ages. Moreover, a detailed case study in GIS on population and settlement dynamics in a wider region, covering along with canton Ticino the bordering areas of Lombardy and Piemont in Italy, supplements and contextualizes the results gained in the Alpine Ticino valley. This supra-regional investigation is the first of its kind for the south-Alpine area.

List of contents

Part I: A Diachronic Study on Settlement, Environment, and Economy

Philippe Della Casa
Introduction: Framework and Project Design
S. 15 – 18

Philippe Della Casa, Luisa Mosetti, Thomas Reitmaier, Martin Sauerbier
Landscape, Archaeological Map, Database Structure, Data Acquisition
S. 19 – 26

Philippe Della Casa, Thomas Reitmaier, Emanuela Jochum Zimmermann, Thomas Hess, Ivo Dobler, Ariane Ballmer
Field Surveys in the Gotthard Region, Leventina and Ursern Valleys
S. 27 – 70

Philippe Della Casa, Emanuela Jochum Zimmermann, Franziska Jahn, Ursina Zweifel, Jacqueline Studer
Excavations in Airolo-Madrano «In Grop»
S. 71 – 120

Petra Kohler
Results of the 2015 UBC Rescue Exavation in Airolo-Madrano
S. 121 – 132

Philippe Della Casa, Ivo Dobler
Review of Sites in the Leventina Valley: Quinto, Osco, Dalpe
S. 133 – 158

Urs Blumer
Alpine Archives for Climate Reconstruction – a Comparison of Selected Holocene Proxies
S. 159 – 170

Christiane Jacquat
Airolo-Madrano «In Grop»: Archaeobotanical Analysis – Palaeoenvironment and Mountain Economies in the Bronze and Iron Ages
S. 171 – 190

Alexa Dufraisse
Woodland Exploitation and Management in the Montane and Subalpine Zones of the Leventina Valley in the Bronze and Iron Ages
S. 191 – 206

Elisa Vescovi, Ruth Beer, Jacqueline van Leeuwen, Ursula Steinhauser, Stephanie Ziegler, Willy Tinner, Christiane Jacquat, Adrian Gilli, Stefanie B. Wirth, Stephanie Samartin, Gabriele Carraro
Vegetation History of the Upper Leventina Valley from Neolithic to Roman Times, Recorded by Pollen, Spores, Plant Macrofossils and Charcoal
S. 207 – 226

Philippe Della Casa, Martin Sauerbier, Daniela Fasler
GIS-Based Landscape Modeling
S. 226 – 238

Philippe Della Casa
Synthesis: A Diachronic Ecodynamic Scenario of Early Human Presence in the Central Alps
S. 239 – 246

Part II: Population Dynamics in the South Alpine Area from the End of the Bronze Age until Romanization
Eva Carlevaro
Population Dynamics in the South Alpine Area from the End of the Bronze Age until Romanization
S. 273 – 358

Summary

This comprehensive volume presents the results of a large interdisciplinary archaeological project realized in the Ticino valley of Switzerland and its adjacent regions between 2006 and 2012. The focus of the manifold surveys, analyses and modelings is on settlement structures, environmental contexts, and ecodynamic processes, from the younger Prehistoric periods to Roman times. The texts are gathered in over a dozen contributions, teaming 25 authors from various disciplines and countries of Alpine Europe.
The main objective of the investigations is the Leventina valley, situated on one of today’s major transalpine routes, leading from the Insubrian lakes across St Gotthard pass to the Reuss valley and Central Switzerland. Very few archaeological remains were known from this area before the onset of the project, in particular with regard to the abundant subalpine environments. Archaeological excavations in Airolo-Madrano and surveys on various altitudinal levels of the valley, along with a full set of new sites and radiocarbon dates, as well as archaeobiological, anthracological and palynological research and GIS-based modeling, allow now to draw a realistic image of the valley’s societal, environmental and economic situation in Prehistory, with scenarios of early Alpine Economy proposed for the Bronze and Iron Ages. Moreover, a detailed case study in GIS on population and settlement dynamics in a wider region, covering along with canton Ticino the bordering areas of Lombardy and Piemont in Italy, supplements and contextualizes the results gained in the Alpine Ticino valley. This supra-regional investigation is the first of its kind for the south-Alpine area.

Product details

• Assisted by: Philippe Della Casa (Editor)
• Publisher: Chronos Verlag
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.05.2018
• No. of pages: 372
• Dimensions: 210 mm x 297 mm x 27 mm
• Weight: 1595 g
• Series: Zurich Studies in Archaeology; Zurich Studies in Archaeology 12; Zurich Studies in Archaeology
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History > Pre and early history