Season Director

• AIAC_2374 - Grotta del Col de la Stria - 2010
  The excavation concentrated on two distinct areas, one close to the centre of the cavity and the other in the eastern sector. The first intervention was undertaken in sectors F8-H8, where in H8 digging stopped at a depth of one metre in correspondence with great collapses within unit 1. In F8 and G8 only unit 0 was investigated (about 50 cm thick), constituted by a fan of clayey and organic detritus which had come from the openings along the western wall of the grotto. The finds comprised glazed and decorated wheel-made pottery and two flint flakes. Below the fan a silty deposit (unit 1) with large collapsed stones, appeared. It was disturbed at its roof by pedological activity. In this sector unit 1 produced the remains of bear, marmot, carnivore, bird and fish bones. The second intervention was undertaken in sector H 11, where the base rock was reached at a depth of 2.85 m. H 11 is situated by the east wall, between the two main arches providing access to the grotto. The stratigraphy comprises, from the top to bottom, a disturbed deposit (RIM) situated at the roof of a deposit of hill detritus with a clay matrix, above which a surface with an active organic horizon (unit 0) had developed. The archaeological content of unit 0 was represented by finds of historical date (decorated glazed pottery). Below this was a silty deposit with collapsed material (unit 1a and 1b), with aeolian and thermo-clastic elements, rich in bone fragments and with few archaeological finds represented by a lithic industry datable to the Upper Paleolithic period. The next deposit was mainly sandy (units 2, 2a and 3) presenting corrosive and concretionary phenomena with a mainly thermoclastic and hydraulic contribution. There was no evidence of anthropological activity but the deposit was rich in the skeletal remains of large mammals, above all _Ursus spelaeus_ some still in anatomical connection, _Alces alces_, _Rupicapra rupicapra_, _Megaloceros giganteus_ and _Cervus elaphus_. The deepest units (4, 5, 6 and 6a) constituted an ossiferous breccias with a sandy matrix, partially loosened (in particular at the base) where the matrix is carbonaceous with a doughy consistency. The deposit contained a small number of flint flakes with clear pseudo-retouches dating to the Mousterian period. Also present were a large quantity of large mammal skeletal remains blackened through the absorption of Fe/Mn. These included _Canis lupus_, _Cervus elaphus_, _Bos-Bison_ and _Alces alces_ and _Ursus spealeus_. Where it met the base rock, the breccia, like the roof of the embedding rock, was heavily altered by water corrosion.

Season Team

• AIAC_292 - Grotta del Buso Doppio del Broion - 2006
  The Riparo (refuge) del Broion opens at 135 m a.s.l. in the eastern flank of the Colli Berici, near the Grotta del Broion (locality of Lumignano). The upper part of the deposit below the refuge (US 1) was divided into seven sub-layers: excavations begun in 1998 recovered flint artefacts and other objects that can be attributed to the archaic phase of the late Paleolithic, probably to the Aurignacian culture (sub-layer 1g÷1f, dated to circa 30,000-32,000 years ago), the Gravettian (sub-layer 1e÷1c, dated to circa 26,000 years ago) and the early Epigravettian (sub-layer 1b÷1a, dated to circa 18,000 years ago). In June and July 2006 the ninth excavation campaign took place. The stratigraphy was partially disturbed, sometimes constituted by reworked earth and often with unclear limits between the layers. The only layer that was clearly identifiable was 1g, which contained amongst other things an ogival tipped scraper and three lamellated nuclei. During its occupation in the early Epigravettian period the site was immersed in a typically periglacial environment, as attested by the dominance of the marmot in association with the chamois and ibex. The assemblages from sub-layers 1f and 1g were less homogeneous, with examples that indicate very different environments: together with marmot, hare, chamois, ibex, bison and probable aurochs, are the remains of mainly boar and some deer and roe deer. The presence in all the assemblages of remains of elk, beaver, pike and aquatic birds (wild duck and teal) attest the constant presence of water on the plain below. The lower sub-layers attest more intense occupation than the upper ones and are characterised by the more abundant remains showing clear signs of butchering and some concentration of flakes around a hearth S3. (Alberto Broglio, Marco De Stefani, Fabio Gurioli)
• AIAC_901 - Riparo Tagliente - 2006
  Only the Epigravettian levels of the deposit were investigated. Two separate areas were looked at. In the area outside the shelter the stratigraphic unit which was uncovered in 2001 was removed. This was constituted by a substantial mass of stone objects associated with faunal remains and other types of finds (a fragmentary nodule of hematite, several cobbles used as percussion tools). The stone objects were almost all the by-products of flaking, in particular the waste produced by the shaping, sizing and abandonment of flaked nodules (cores). The second excavation area was in the zone directly below the shelter’s overhang, where the medieval “break in” had destroyed most of the internal deposit. Here, research involved the upper part of the Epigravettian sequence. (MiBAC)