Archeologia d’alta quota: le fortificazioni basso-medievali di Tor dei Pagà (Vione, BS),

This paper presents the preliminary results from the 13th/14th century fortified structure Tor dei Pagà, located 2,240 m a.s.l. above the village of Vione (upper Valcamonica, Brescia). Five seasons of archaeological excavations (2011-2015) have shown the site to consist of several buildings, including at least two towers, a polygonal wall, internal structures, and a courtyard with fireplace. The site of Tor de Pagà has yielded a significant collection of metal finds, the importance of which was increased by the absence of ceramics. Site chronology is based primarily on the metal and numismatic finds, which strongly suggest a date in the late 13th/14th centuries. The recovery and analysis of a faunal sample in this fortified context provides a unique opportunity not only to document the animal presence but also to reconstruct, in concert with other archaeological data, the life and function of the site.\r\nThe construction and use of fortification appear to be framed in the war events that affected Valcamonica in that historical period and that are reported by the sources.