Rondeneto: A high altitude Mesolithic camp in the Central Italian Alps: Interpreting the Sauveterrian Boreal settlement in the region

The surveys carried out along the Val Camonica-Val Trompia-Val Sabbia watershed in the central Italian Alpine arc, have led to the discovery of many high altitude Mesolithic Sauveterrian sites, a few of which have been excavated. This paper discusses the Boreal Mesolithic peopling of the area. It is based mainly on the evidence provided by the results of the excavations conducted at the small summer camp of Malga Rondeneto in Upper Valcamonica (1780 m). Malga Rondeneto was briefly settled by a group of middle Sauveterrian hunters who produced their microlithic weapons on the spot. The site is located very close to a radiocarbon-dated peat sequence that helps interpret the characteristics of the environment that evolved in the area between the beginning of the Holocene and the Bronze Age. Other high altitude Boreal Mesolithic sites are known not only along the three sides of the watershed discussed in this paper, but also in the Camonica Valley bottom.