La ceramica e i fittili non vascolari del Bronzo finale provenienti dall’ustrinum/luogo di culto funerario di Salorno - Dos de la Forca (Cava Girardi) (BZ). Inquadramento cronologico e culturale

The site of Salorno - Dos de La Forca is located just north of the homonymous lock, on the left side of the river Adige, about 30 kilometers south of Bolzano. The locality is known for having given back on several times evidence of prehistoric, protohistoric and Roman frequentation. The site was discovered in 1986 in a quarry cultivated for the extraction of gravel, at the foot of the talus cone that lies on the rocky walls of Monte Alto (Geiersberg, 1083 m). In the following year, the Soprintendenza Provinciale ai Beni Culturali of Bolzano ordered an archaeological excavation to be carried out in an area partially damaged by mechanical means for the excavation of a large pit intended for waste disposal. At the time of the intervention, of the four visible sections, the southern section presented the best preserved stratigraphic sequence with regard to the depositional events of the debris cone. The microenvironmental context of the site is that of an acclive talus that has been deposited at the foot of the imposing rock walls, here practically vertical, that constitute the western side of Monte Alto, and of the easternmost edge of the Adige alluvial plain. within the stratigraphic sequence observable in the section opened by mechanical means above the ustrinum/ mortuary place of worship, at least eight different episodes of deposits were observed, which stratified above the most recent anthropic layer (US 10). They document the progressive degradation of the slope following the abandonment of the site by man. The stratigraphic episodes are substantially similar and almost indistinguishable from each other. These are originally weakly vegetated sediments, originating from the flow of water, with the consequent transport of more or less coarse gravelly material. Above the original sequence, no less than two metres of modern debris linked to the industrial activity of the quarry had been deposited. In the context of the stratigraphic succession, the highest anthropic level (US 10), brought to light on an area of about 150 m², differs from the gravelly growths above for the less intense black color of the earth matrix, and for the almost total absence of remains of material culture. The characteristics and compactness of the US 10 layer, whose inclination was completely different from the levels above and below the ustrinum, lead us to believe that in ancient times it was briefly pedogenized. The layer, of power between 5 and 8 cm, composed of selected and compacted earthy and gravelly material, seems to be the product of an intentional obliteration of the ustrinum. US 10 had a subplane portion that evolved on a slope towards N, w and S. The flat portion of US 10 was therefore interpreted at the time of the excavation as an artificial plane. A sort of podium subject to trampling, covering US 11, a strongly carbonaceous earth layer rich in ceramic remains, minute carbonized bone fragments, glass beads, bronze objects and a deer antler, which could be interpreted as the product of the activity of a funeral pyre and of a related area of funerary worship. Also US 11, like US 10, seems to be set on a sort of tiny terrace of the slope. In plan US 11 has a subcircular shape: towards S and towards w the limits of US 11 were underlined by the clear chromatic difference compared to US 12, gravelly-loamy sediment weakly anthropic, of light colour, covered by US 11. within US 11, two concentrations of ceramic fragments were excavated, powerful up to twenty cm, pertinent to several dozen pots crushed on the ground, called US 14 and US 18. These concentrations were coacerviums of ceramic fragments in almost direct contact with each other, minutely fragmented and repeatedly tram