Shepherds and miners through time in the Veneto Highlands: Ethnoarchaeology and archaeology

The eastern Italian Pre-Alps in the area between Lake Garda and the river Brenta have been exploited from historical times to the present day for many purposes that are typical of a mountain zone. Among the most important activities were mining and stock-raising. Ethnoarchaeological and archaeological projects have been carried out in the study area in order to detect and document the traces of human activities, especially shepherds and sheep farming. To date, it has been possible to locate hundreds of sheep folds, shepherds’ shelters and breeders’ houses in the uplands, to discover that the most ancient traces of organised human exploitation in the uplands go back to the Bronze Age, while during the Iron Age a change in upland economy is evident, possibly connected with the organisation of larger territorial polities and their boundaries.