Summary
- The archaeological investigation of the Versilian side of the Apuan Alps in northwestern Tuscany, coordinated by the MAPPA Lab at the University of Pisa, started in 2020. The study aims at an archeo-anthropological exploration of the "middle mountain," considering it a socially constructed space with a dynamic ecological-relational dimension shaped by human and non-human interactions. The first phase, completed in October 2022, focused on surface surveys within the municipalities of Camaiore, Seravezza, and Stazzema. The methodology involves siteless surveying, documenting archaeological and environmental traces, and collecting oral histories. The ongoing second phase concentrates on the environmental archaeological framing of collected data to understand mountain landscape transformations over the past two centuries. Results reveal 467 topographic units emphasizing the modern and contemporary periods. The discussion explores the interconnectedness of these elements, highlighting the multifaceted landscape of the middle mountain, particularly in the contemporary era. Notable features include high pasture practices, agricultural terraces, charcoal-related activities, and the impact of the Gothic Line during World War II. The archaeological record vividly illustrates human abandonment, subsequent vegetation resurgence, and the rapid transformation of structures over time. ................................................................................................................................... Please cite this Record as: Anichini F., Basile S., Gattiglia G., Giovannetti C., Paperini E., Sciuto C., Voccia R. 2024. Archeologia della Montagna di Mezzo. Ricognizioni di superficie nella Versilia montana 2020-22 [data-set]. Fasti Online Survey [distributor]. Permalink: https://www.fastionline.org/survey/site/AIAC_529
Project Dates
- 2020 - present
Periods
- No period data has been added yet
- 4300 BC
- 3000 BC
- 2024 AD
- 2000 AD
Survey Method
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- The surface survey was carried out extensively in areas between 500m and 1300m elevation and aimed to collect settlement and environmental data from prehistory to the present day. An 'artefact level' or 'non-site or siteless survey' model was used, in which artefacts are collected per surface unit (topographic unit), understood as the minimum spatial unit of identifiable anthropic traces into which the area can be divided. Such an approach makes it possible to overcome the distinction between on-site and off-site materials, thus allowing the recording of 'all' human activities that have taken place on the territory, and not only settlement activities. This approach is essential as it allows the documentation of traces such as those related to grazing, hunting, agricultural and forestry activities, which identify sites of human activity. The material present in each UT was catalogued and then quantified. Since the 2022 campaign, in addition to the topographical units (UTs), environmental traces (TAs) have also been documented, understood as a record of current vegetation evidence. The set of UTs and TAs thus forms a continuum of traces, describing the set of relationships between humans and the environment over time. The study area covers about 33 km2 in the municipalities of Stazzema, Seravezza and Camaiore, in an area characterised by extensive woods and dense undergrowth, alternating with meadows and rocky slopes. In total, about 150 km were covered on foot, mainly following marked paths and only going off the beaten track to check already known signs or information gathered through oral documentation.
Research Focus
Other Comments
- Field Directors: Francesca Anichini (Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, Università di Pisa), Salvatore Basile (salvatore.basile@cfs.unipi.it, Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, Università di Pisa), Claudia Sciuto (Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, Università di Pisa); Other team members: Chiara Giovannetti (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”), Elisa Paperini (Università di Pisa), Raffaele Voccia (Università di Pisa)
- The project envisages an archaeo-anthropological study of the abandonment of the middle mountain, understood as a socially constructed space of human activity, a landscape of interrelated activities in which different agents interact in a set of daily practices that orient the relationships between individuals and the environment in an ecological-relational dimension; an environment that is constantly 'shaped' by actions, practices and purposes that put the human and the non-human in a continuous relationship; a place that is neither really hilly nor high, characterised by the constant dialectic and renegotiation between natural and cultural mountainousness, where the habitable space is both a mediation between humans, animals and the environment, and a set of dependencies in which individual agencies are constantly trapped. The mountain in the middle is also the result of a succession of abandonments that have censured its economic and social marginality: the abandonment of houses and land; the abandonment of agro-sylvo-pastoral and productive practices; the loss of memories; the loss of ecological niches linked to the forms of the disappeared landscape; the reconquest by pioneer species of previously anthropised areas. The general objective of the project is to revitalise what has been neglected, with a view to the remains of the past that goes beyond the classical idea of patrimonialisation: abandonment as an element that characterises spaces that go from being private to being shared, in order to explore alternative projects; abandonment as a revival, a resource, a collective good that can give rise to experiences of conservation, the creation of new maps and local and supra-local projects. In this context, the aim of the first phase of the work was the diachronic collection of new archaeological data, with a particular focus on traces from the contemporary period and those related to the Second World War, for which there is almost no archaeological documentation.
Funding Body
- Regione Toscana; REACT EU – Programma Operativo Nazionale Ricerca e Innovazione 2014-2020
Research Institution
- Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, Università di Pisa
Director
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Director
- Gabriele Gattiglia - Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, Università di Pisa