Popolamento umano ed evoluzione del paesaggio alle pendici del Mont Fallère (Saint-Pierre, Valle d'Aosta) nell’Olocene Antico e Medio

The present research aims at improving our knowledge on the way of life of prehistoric human groups on the Mont Fallère Massif and characterizing the main steps of the Holocene environmental history in this area. The importance of Men - Environment relationship is here highlighted thanks to a multidisciplinary and diachronic approach, typical of modern archaeology, based on a proper design beginning with an hypothesis and further evolving through subsequent steps of the research (Guidi, 2005). Fieldwork concentrated on the Mont Fallère area (municipality of Saint-Pierre, Aosta Valley) between 2009 - 2013, under the direction of Dip. Soprintendenza per i Beni e le Attività Culturali of Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta and the Ferrara University, which signed a specific agreement and carried out archaeological excavations and survey. Paleobotanical and geological investigations were carried out in the study area, too. Along with already-known sites MF1 to MF3, six new archaeological areas were discovered (named MF4 to MF9), scattered on an area of approximately 0,2 km2. Three sites (MF1, MF3 and MF6) were archaeologically investigated. Techno-economical and typological analysis of the lithic industries discovered at site MF1 was carried out, including experimental tests on methods and techniques used by prehistoric people to process rock crystals (D. Visentin), use-wear analysis on tools (G. Berruti) and the identification of procurement strategies of raw materials (S. Bertola). The CNR-IDPA Lab. of Palynology and Palaeoecology (Milano) carried out paleoecological investigations on the stratigraphic succession preserved at the Crotte Basse mire, located a few hundred meters far from the archeological sites. The collaboration with the Earth Science Dept. of the Torino University and the GDP Consultants - Engineering Geology Group in Aosta enabled geologically- geomorphologically-based researches on landscape evolution and the setting up of geomorphological and geophysical filters for a zonation of the study area with respect to the archeological visibility.