Genti di Montagna. Valle Camonica e Prealpi lombarde nella prima età del Ferro

In 1990s, thanks to the studies of Raffaele de Marinis on its typical pottery mugs, a fully developed cultural group, the so-called “Breno/Dos dell’Arca” or “Camunian” Group, was identified across the alpine valleys of Lombardy and partly of Trentino, spanning from the beginning of 5th century BCE until the 1st century BCE. But what came before? Are we able to gain a better understanding of the cultural features in this area for the centuries before the 5th? Thanks to the most recent findings, and to the new study of old, unpublished archaeological assemblages, it has been possible to isolate a recurrent association of two very precise types of vases, a carinated cup with short neck and an occasional “turban-like” decoration, and a pot, usually decorated with thick textures of vertical streaks, distributed across the whole area that later belonged to the “Camunian” cultural group. Our formal analysis and study of comparisons date these two particular vases to the end of the 7th and the whole 6th century, showing an impressive record throughout the area and establishing a clear link with the Swiss area of the Rhine valley, namely the typical productions of the Taminserkeramik. It is our opinion that these artefacts could be the first evidence of an early, growing, coherence in specific traits of the material culture, that eventually led to the more consistent and layered cultural features of the Camunian culture in the 5th century BCE.