The Neolithic Agricultural Regime in the Inner Alps

Our knowledge about inner Alpine, Neolithic husbandry regimes is poor, due to the lack of multidisciplinary archaeobotanical and archaeozoological studies. However, in the course of the studies on the Neolithic Iceman "Ötzi" numerous questions raised concerning his social status. This gave reason to several suggestions amongst which nowadays the assumption, that the Iceman was involved in an early form of transhumance (alpine pasture farming), has gained general acceptance. However, the existence of such a Neolithic transhumance practice in this inner Alpine region bases only on palynological investigations conducted in the vicinity of the discovery site and is not validated by archaeological findings up to now. Additional doubts on the existence of such an animal husbandry practice in the area during the Iceman`s lifetime are posed by new coprolite studies conducted on about hundred caprine (sheep/goat or ibex/chamois) dung pellets recovered from the Iceman`s find spot dated from 5400 to 2000 BC. Their results reveal that none of these dung pellets derives from domestic animals (sheep/goat) but all from game (ibex/chamois). Furthermore, palaeo-ethnobotanical analyses of Neolithic dwelling sites are missing for the Vinschgau and are also rare for the rest of the Südtirol. The recent discovery of a copper aged settlement layers near Latsch in the Vinschgau with well preserved bones, domesticates and other plant material in the cultural layers enables new opportunities to study new data concerning late Neolithic agricultural practices in the area. Therefore this research proposal aims to evaluate the husbandry regime during the late Neolithic period in the area where the Tyrolean Iceman lived. The key questions addressed to this proposal are: 1) Did there exist a local seasonal transhumance (alpine pasture farming) from the valley bottoms in the Vinschgau to the high altitudes north of the main alpine ridge during the time of the Iceman? 2) What kind of crops were grown in this area at the time of the Iceman, and are they in agreement with the crops recovered with the Iceman? In answering these questions this research proposal provides new findings and data concerning late Neolithic agricultural systems in the inner Alpine regions, in particular concerning alpine pastoral systems, where our present knowledge is poor. Besides this a detailed vegetation and settlement history of the area is established, which enables to place the Iceman finding into a bigger setting.

Since the discovery of the Neolithic glacier mummy "Ötzi" on the main Alpine ridge, the onset of alpine pasture is matter of a highly controversial debate both in archaeology and in palaeo-ecology. The implication is that his sojourn in the high-altitudes of the Alps is considered to be connected with pastoral nomadism. Regrettably any archaeological evidence for the existence of such Neolithic alpine pastoral systems is missing up to now and the assumption is based on first pollen data from the backmost Ötz valley only. However, also the pollen record is ambiguous, because pasture indicators in the alpine regions react positive on grazing as well as on fertilization induced by a higher runoff of precipitation. Thus alpine pasture indicators may reflect both grazing and climatic change. Anyhow, alpine pastoral systems are a common practice in Alpine animal husbandry, but such a seasonal vertical transhumance is costly from an economic point of view. There are three main reasons for its practice: i) climatic (aridity or summer drought), ii) economic (population pressure and/or mining activities), and iii) cultural ideology (traditions). In this interdisciplinary study we tested the first two above mentioned reasons on the beginning of pastoral activities in high altitudes in the Ötztal Alps. This is conducted by: 1. archaeobotanical analyses of plant and bone remains from a copper aged settlement near Latsch (Vinschgau), to gain evidence for the inneralpine arable and stock farming, and 2. by pollen analyses of peat deposits situated in the vicinity of the timberline (1600 2400 m a.s.l.) combined with archaeological surveys to evaluate grazing induced vegetation changes. Moreover, these sites are located along a traditional Alpine transhumance route from the Vinschgau to the Iceman discovery site at the main Alpine ridge used since the Mediaeval Times. Main objective of the research was to detect the onset of seasonal vertical transhumance (alpine pasture) by palynological means. For the first time archaeo-botanical and archaeo-zoological analyses performed on soil samples of the copper aged Latsch site document the inneralpine agrarian preconditions. The studies reveal that the husbandry regime based both on tillage and animal farming during the Copper Age and early Bronze Age. In brief the archaeological and palynological results obtained in this study show that grazing-induced vegetation changes in the Ötztal Alps date into the Bronze Age. Earlier (Neolithic) palynological records of pasture indicators are ambiguous and coincide with spells of higher erosion and consequently increased precipitation (climate variabilities). In spite of our comprehensive archaeological survey in the investigation area no further material evidence for alpine pasture could be obtained during the Neolithic so far. Furthermore Neolithic archaeological findings on the valley floor are poor and imply low demographic pressure for both humans and animals making population pressure as a trigger for the onset of alpine pasture unlikely during the Copper Age. The earliest distinct evidence for pasture in high-altitudes is documented in the four pollen diagrams during the early and middle Bronze Age, and corroborated by archaeological findings of contemporaneous offering sites in the vicinity of the mires. In the Late Bronze Age a reduction of grazing activities is recorded in nearly all investigated sites. During the younger Iron Age (Latène) grazing activities are reflected again in the lower located sites (below the timber line). Also this utilization phase is validated by the archaeological finding of an Iron aged alpine cabin in the vicinity of the Schwarzboden mire.