EthWAL - Managing fieldwork data

In these months we started working on the archaeological data collected during the summer. The first results are very interesting, and enable inferences to be made on the historical evolution of upland landscapes in the western Alps.
The hut of Sella Brignola, still used by the herder, turned to be more chronologically and functionally complex that expected. It can be considered a reliable example of the complex evolution of upland landscapes in this area (Italian Maritime Alps), triggered by social and economical transformations occurring in the nearby villages and in the lowlands.

Sella Brignola hut during the archaeological excavation

The archaeological investigation of the abandoned hut called Faravel 44 was important to understand the chronology and possible function of this structure and to assume the co-functionality (and contemporaneity) of the huts that surround it. Ethnographic interviews provided further information on these structures, their use and their abandonment.

Faravel 44 hut during the archaeological excavation

The presented data and inferences are still preliminary (further details will be available in January!). Nevertheless they suggest that the historical upland landscapes of the western Alps are the results of long- and short-time processes, that influenced the way human communities interacted with mountain environment and, consequently, the way these communities shaped their seasonal landscapes. This contribute to changing the perception we have of the mountain landscapes as pristine and immutable.