Mesolithic settlement and mobility patterns at high altitudes. The site of Staller Sattel STS 4A (South Tyrol, Italy)

This paper presents the results of an ongoing research aimed at reconstructing Early Mesolithic settlement strategies and mobility patterns at high altitudes of Alpine area focusing on the interactions and possible mutual influence between human behavior and the geomorphological and environmental context. Due to the high-altitude environment, research had to face the effects of post-depositional processes on anthropogenic remains. Investigations have been carried out on a terrace in the Ackstall locality, south of the Staller Sattel/Passo Stalle (Italian-Austrian border, Central Eastern Alps), covered by coniferous vegetation since the Preboreal. The terrace, central with respect to the available resources and in a strategic position within a reconstructed route system conjoining different sites and adjacent hunting territories, yielded several lithic findspots. One of these, the excavated open-air site STS 4A lying at 2125 m a.s.l., revealed human site frequentation dating at least between 7370 and 6590 cal. BC. Human occupation was established on a forested soil, subsequently buried, indicated as “paleo-podzol”. Stratigraphy, micromorphology and artifact distribution, this latter showing a ring-shaped pattern, suggest the preparation of the living space by manipulating the existing soil cover. Anthropogenic remains indicate on-site activities as wood carving, exploitation of rock crystal and chert for tool manufacture and the probable consumption of plants originating from lower altitudes. Several features, some of which connected with fire use, have been identified. Fuel was collected in the form of dead wood in the open larch and stone pine forests surrounding the site. The comparison of multiscale data allowed to get insights on the living space of a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer camp. Integrating detailed data from the excavation of a single site with the wider territorial context investigated by surveys allowed to draw a multi-facetted picture of Early Mesolithic lifeways and highlighted the potential of research on the “ephemeral” high altitude sites.