McCord Centre for Landscape

Projects

UPLanD – Understanding the evolution of Pastoral Landscape in the Dolomiti park (Italian Alps)

Over the past 4 years the UPLanD project has revolutionized our knowledge of the history of the highlands in the Belluno Dolomites Park. Born from preliminary investigations of 2014 within the Busa delle Vette, promoted by the association ARCA, by Piergiorgio Cesco Frare and the Park Authority, the UPLanD project used different research methods:

The integration of these methods has contributed to documenting an archaeological landscape of huge interest. If human attendance seems to start already in prehistoric times (signifant amount of flint debitage was found in the area), the site investigated stratigraphically and the enclosures investigated in 2014 confirm an intense and continuous occupation between Roman and medieval times, probably associated with the development of a specialized Alpine economy, in turn connected with the economic evolution of municipium of Feltria first and then of the Duchy of Ceneda. Archival investigations ed ethnography confirm that pastoral activities within the Busa evolved without solution of continuity up to the modern era, and reveal the boundary function of the area during the Venetian domination. The Busa delle Vette is a perfect case study perfect for investigating human adaptation to the highlands, and how the highlands have been transformed by the human impact.

To answer these questions, the project has now focused on the archaeological investigation of the 'covoli' (rockshelters) of Val di Lamen and on the scientific analysis of the artefacts and ecofacts found during the previous excavation and survey campaigns.