Le Colombare di Negrar (Verona): le produzioni litiche degli scavi F. Zorzi come indicatori di fisionomie culturali. Contributo alla conoscenza del popolamento dell'area veneta tra la fine del V ed il III millennio a.C.

'Le Colombare' is located in Colombare di Villa, near Negrar di Valpolicella (Verona). The settelment (1500 mq) takes place in the southern edge of the Parco Naturale Regionale of Lessinia, in a small closed valley on the eastern side of the middle Valpolicella (630-670 m. s.l.m.). The remains of “Le Colombare” show a multi-layered deposit between the end of the 5th millennium and the 2nd millennium B.C. Discovered in 1951 by Giovanni Solinas (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona), the settelment was investigated by Francesco Zorzi (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona) in nine sectors. Only eigth of them have yielded archaeological material, and three structures (sectors 1, 2 and 4) interpreted as hut, composed of irregular stones. The lithic industry includes 11.237 elements. The technological, typometrical and typological studies was conducted keeping a distinction based on Zorzi’s excavation (sectors and layers).Unretouched elements are devided in technological categories; retouched tools follow Georges Laplace’s analytical typology (1964).The raw material analysis indicates that the exploitation of local/circumlocal raw materials is higher than the exogenous raw materials. Local and circumlocal raw material was sourced directly in the valley around the site (between 5 and 30 km away); exogenous raw material was probably found in a supply area (47 km - 53 km ca. away from the site) due to the cortices’ analyses. Le Colombare is considered a potential reference site for the definition of the Recent and Late Neolithic and Copper Age, as suggested by the published data on pottery assamblage (Visentini-Fasani 2002; Visentini 2002, 2018), faunal remains (Riedl 1976) and artefacts (Malerba 2006, 2007). Due to this research, this settlement seems to be a production site; perhaps also a distribution site for finished artefacts and preforms in local and circumlocal flint. Considering its position (near to many supply area) Le Colombare could have had a primary role in controlling all the lithic resources in this area. The study of lithic industries allow us to partially confirm the previous hypotheses about the settlement’s chronology. Infact, three phases are identified: a Late Neolithic phase, only in the western portion of the site; a Early Copper Age phase, documented in all areas; a Copper Age phase with Bell Beaker features, only in the recent layers of the eastern area.