Il progetto People Woods Passes a Val Fraselle (Lessini, Veneto): ricognizione, scavi, ricostruzione e valorizzazione alle alte quote

This paper presents the results of the archaeological campaigns conducted in 2022 and 2023 in the upper Val Fraselle, in the Lessini Mountains (Western Venetian Prealps, provinces of Verona and Vicenza), within high-altitude pastures above 1500 m a.s.l., as part of the People Woods Passes project. The project aimed to identify traces left in the landscape by pastoral and livestock activities, woodland and timber exploitation, and possible boundary markers. Intensive surface survey in the upper Val Fraselle led to the identification of several structures, shelters, hut bases, and sheepfolds, associated with around one hundred surface finds. These materials span a wide chronological range, from the Copper Age to Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, extending into the Modern period. An extensive survey expanded the investigation to areas accessible from Fraselle, a key crossroads leading to the mountain passes connecting Veneto and Trentino, as well as along the ridgelines linking high pastures with the lower elevations of the Lessini Mountains. These surveys revealed traces connected with exchange networks and with boundary disputes between neighbouring regions. The 2023 excavation campaign investigated two structures (23 and 24) identified during the survey near Malga Fraselle di Sotto. Based on the collected data, a reconstruction of Structure 24 is proposed, also supporting the project’s public archaeology and heritage enhancement goals, including the creation of a historical hiking itinerary linking the archaeological evidence.