In 2011, the “Prehistoric pile-dwellings of the Alps” were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The serial site includes the individual location of Ledro, in the Trentino region, from where most of the findings displayed here have come. Dating from the Bronze Age (2200-1550 BC), the village was built both on the banks of Lake Ledro and, with recourse to the technique of piling, over the water.
Thanks to their extraordinary state of preservation in the soil — predominantly a peat-bog — many artefacts have come to light in exceptionally good condition: in addition to the wooden piles needed to support the dwellings, these included utensils, animal remains, tools of all kinds, fabrics (linen) and pieces of bread.
The objects tell us much about how these people lived: they farmed the land and bred animals, as well as exploiting the natural resources of the woods around the village. They did not live simply to survive: their lives were organised and structured, in many ways similar to the kind of existence familiar to us in recent decades or centuries.
