Anthropogenic deposits from the Bronze Age site of Fondo Paviani (Verona, Italy): Pedochemical and micropedological characteristics

This study focuses on three main lines of research. First, it investigates the cultural and natural mechanisms responsible for the vertical accretion of anthropogenic deposits and for their dark colour. Secondly, it reveals the conversion of a part of the intra-site space to a cultivated area through the establishment of a ridge-and-furrow system in the final Bronze Age, the period in which population density of the site was decreasing. The phenomenon of the conversion of originally inhabited areas to cultivated space in terramare during phases of population change appears to be recurring and requires further investigation. Finally, this study records the occurrence of progressively wetter environmental conditions during and after the abandonment of the site in the final Bronze Age. This is marked by the overflow of muds from the un-managed moat and by the successive deposition of wide alluvial covers related to the reactivation of spring-fed rivers in the Valli Grandi Veronesi area in response to a shift towards wetter climatic conditions.