Program > By author > Arnetta Gianluca

During the Bronze Age in northern Italy, following the development of an economic strategy mainly centered on agriculture, hunting is significantly reduced in favor of breeding and aimed at exploiting mostly cervids (red deer, roe deer) and wild boar. New data on the exploitation of wild animals during the early Bronze Age come from the site of Oppeano 4C, a pile dwelling settlement discovered in 2015 in Vallese di Oppeano, in the Bussè valley, which represents the oldest pile-dwelling village in the Veronese Po plain dated to the ancient Bronze Age (between the end of EBA 1 and the beginning of EBA 2). From the archaeozoological analysis conducted on the finds from sector 4C, the faunal assemblage is mainly composed of domestic animals with a prevalence of pigs, followed by cattle and goats, but the exploitation, although reduced, of wild animals such as deer and roe deer is also attested, as well as occasional small prey such as beaver, badger and otter for fur recovery. The aim of this paper is therefore to provide these new data in order to analyze the role of hunting in the Early Bronze Age, compared to other contemporary sites of northern Italy.