In 2003, rescue excavations at Piazzeta dell'Anfiteatro, Trento, identified an extramural funerary area dated to the 5th c. CE. The necropolis yielded 45 coins (3rd–5th c.), most of which were involuntary losses. Owing to the sound stratigraphy of the site, these coins present a reliable sample of coinage circulating in Tridentum during the 5th c. This study presents a brief synthesis of the transformations undergone by the Late Antique city, so as to understand the dynamics attested in Piazzeta dell'Anfiteatro, a description of the stratigraphic units that contained coins, and a detailed analysis of the coins from several perspectives. The aim is to improve our understanding of the Late Antique monetary history of the city and Trentino's territory.

At the top of Mt. Mottarone a thin level of micaschist, covered by soil, rests on granodioritic rocks. Both rock types underwent weathering with generation of new minerals and variation of the original chemical composition. The weathering produced phyllosilicates and Fe- and Al-hydroxides. Mass balance calculations on the basis of Zr immobility indicate that at least As, Bi, Cd, Mo and Sb were added to the micaschist, whereas the other elements were removed; the soil was also enriched in As, Bi, Cd, Mo and Sb during weathering. Dry and wet pollution was responsible for the addition of the elements listed above. On the other hand, Ca, Na, Mo and Sr were surely removed from the granodiorite during weathering, whereas Bi and Cu were added by percolation from the overlying micaschist. The chemical features of a spring issuing from granodiorite agree well with the element budget as deduced from the rock transformation. This is not the case, however, for a spring issuing from the micaschist.

Despite its global impact on ecosystems, the Triassic/Jurassic boundary event had only a modest effect on the carbonate depositional systems of the Southern Alps, whereas a fundamental reorganization of the same palaeogeographic area took place during the Sinemurian Age. This paper investigates whether or not the well-documented demise of Sinemurian carbonate platforms in the Tethyan region was a response to a global event by examination of carbon-isotope anomalies in successions of different facies that record this interval of time. A chemostratigraphic transect from Lake Garda up to the eastern Italian border is illustrated by four stratigraphic sections; high-resolution (20 cm over key intervals) chemostratigraphic sampling allowed detection of a major negative δ13C anomaly of ~ 1.5‰, preceded by a positive excursion, both in shallow- and deep-water successions, over the stratigraphical range of the ammonite genus Arnioceras. A comparison with sections from the UK suggests that the positive excursion belongs to the turneri Zone and the succeeding negative excursion falls within the obtusum Zone. In the deep-water Belluno Basin, the negative anomaly occurs in a biogenic chert-rich unit recording the onset of mesotrophic conditions in the basin. In the platform-carbonate successions, this major negative carbon-isotope excursion is developed within a calcarenitic unit corresponding to the lowest occurrence of the foraminifer Paleomayncina termieri. This evidence for deepening and transgression across the carbonate platform suggests pre-conditioning for drowning. Hence, rather than tectonic subsidence alone, environmental factors may have aided the demise of Tethyan carbonate platforms during the Early Jurassic Sinemurian Age.

Paleoseismological investigations have been performed at Mt. Baldo and in the Lessini Mts. in order to collect quantitative data on the activity of minor faults showing geomorphic evidence of recent activation. The 4.5-km-long, NNE-SSW trending Naole fault was responsible for the formation of a narrow depression at the top of Mt. Baldo, bordered by a continuous bedrock (carbonate) fault scarp to the west. The extensional activity along this minor fault is probably due to gravitational deformations (lateral spreading) in response to the warping of the Mt. Baldo anticline. A 1.5-km-long graben is instead related to the 2.5-km-long, NNW-SSE trending Orsara fault (Lessini Mts.) which was responsible for the formation of bedrock (carbonate) fault scarps. This minor fault is part of a complex structural framework made of few-km-long faults which show evidence of Quaternary activity. Two trenches have been excavated across the Naole fault which showed the occurrence of displacement events subsequent to 17435-16385 BP (cal. age) and probably prior to 5455-5385/5330-5295 BP (cal. age). Two other trenches have been excavated across the Orsara fault whose analysis indicated that the most recent displacement event occurred between 20630-19795 BP and 765-675 BP (cal. age). The upper chronological limits of the displacements give some indications about the minimum elapsed time since the last fault activation (about 5,300 years for the Naole fault and 5-8 centuries for the Orsara fault). Both 1) the maximum expected magnitude of the earthquakes which may originate along the Mt. Baldo thrust and 2) the identification of a main fault responsible for the displacements along the complex net of minor faults affecting the Lessini Mts. are still open questions. As for point 1 although historical earthquakes with magnitude 4.5-5 may be associated with the Mt. Baldo thrust, the investigations carried out in this area did not clarify whether larger magnitude earthquakes may be expected. As for point 2, the cause of the displacements along the Orsara (Lessini Mts.) fault may be related to the activity of a major blind fault (which, however, has never been identified), responsible for the uplift of the Lessini Mts. More generally, the obtained results demonstrate the limits of traditional paleoseismological analyses in Alpine areas whose erosional/depositional activity has been strongly conditioned by the Late Pleistocene glacial history. The lack of units younger than loess and colluvial sediments related to the Last Glacial Maximum makes it impossible to define narrower chronological constraints for the displacements and to estimate the number and size of the displacement events. Moreover, the rebound following the retreat of the thick glacial cover affecting the Alpine area may have induced stresses responsible for higher deformation rates after the Last Glacial Maximum. Higher surficial deformation rates could imply shorter recurrence intervals for faulting episodes and/or larger magnitude earthquakes. Therefore, paleoseismologically inferred data in Alpine areas may not correctly define the fault behaviour related to the present tectonic regime.

Much research has been carried out on identifying gendered iconography on statue-menhirs. This paper seeks to develop this perspective by considering the broader body concepts. Body concepts are of interest to archaeologists because they are closely connected to issues of sex, gender, and age. By investigating stone sculptures, however, we are looking at an ideological view of the body that was produced by reducing the stone from its natural form into a statue-menhir. The presence of bodily features on the statue-menhirs suggests that it was important to construct a body, and that certain aspects of the body were chosen to be represented, either through the size and shape of the stone or iconography, while others were neglected. We propose this is a significant means by which stones were made into bodies and gendered beings. To investigate body concepts, we pose two questions: how was a statue-menhir body made, and how was it gendered? By following the reduction sequence of the stone as the technique of production, we investigate which bodily features were important in constructing a body and in gendering it. We do this through analysing and comparing three regional examples of anthropomorphic statue-menhirs: (1) The Lunigiana groups A and B in northwestern Tuscany and eastern-most Liguria, (2) the Atesino group in Trentino-Alto Adige, and (3) the Sion Type A in the Swiss Valais and the Aosta Style I in northern Italy. Although there is a shared statue-menhir tradition in the three regions and beyond, the observations in this paper suggest that the bodily gender categories were negotiated regionally.

The significant role of trace elements in human health is well documented. Trace elements are those compounds that need to be present in the human diet to maintain normal physiological functions. However, some microelements may become harmful at high levels of exposure, or, on the other hand, may give rise to malnutrition, when their exposure is too low. The aim of the present study was to provide a reliable estimate of the dietary exposure of twenty-one trace elements in a Northern Italian area. For this purpose, trace element analyses were undertaken on total diet samples collected from a university cafeteria in Pavia, Northern Italy. The average daily exposure for the adult people was calculated on the basis of food consumption frequency, portion size and trace element levels in foodstuffs. The mean exposure values satisfy the Italian RDA for all the essential trace elements, except for Fe exposure in females, and are well below the Provisional Tolerable Daily Intake for all the toxic compounds, showing that the probability of dietary exposure to health risks is overall small. As far as Fe exposure is concerned, a potential risk of anaemia in the female adult population should be considered, then studies aimed at evaluating the Fe nutritional status of adult Italian women should be addressed. In conclusion, while not excluding the possibility that the daily exposure determined in the present study may not be representative of the population as a whole, this study provides a good estimate of the Italian adult consumer exposure to twenty-one trace elements.

Eight brachiopod species in seven genera are described from the Permian–Triassic boundary beds of South China and northern Italy. The brachiopods from northern Italy are described for the first time and include two new species: Orbicoelia dolomitensis Chen and Spirigerella? teseroi Chen. The Permian affinity of these brachiopods and their stratigraphical position above the extinction horizon demonstrate that they are survivors from the end-Permian mass extinction. The surviving brachiopods from South China, which was located at the eastern margin of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean, are considerably abundant and diverse and are dominated by geographically widespread generalist elements adapted to a wide variety of environments. They were mostly limited to the Upper Permian to lowest Griesbachian. In contrast, the survivors in northern Italy, which was situated at the western margin of the Palaeo-Tethys, comprise elements ranging from the Carboniferous to Permian or widespread Tethyan genera. These survivors did not occur in the pre-extinction western Tethyan oceans but migrated into this region after the end-Permian extinction event. Disaster taxon Lingula proliferated slightly earlier in western Tethyan oceans than in eastern Tethyan regions following the event. Survival brachiopods from both regions appear to have a generic affinity, although they do not share any species. Both South Chinese and Italian survival faunas support the view that the survival interval is the duration when survivors are dominated by geographically widespread generalist organisms adapted to a wide variety of ecological conditions.

The paper attempts to integrate the results of chemical analyses, which are seriously underused in archaeological discourse, with other classes of information in order to try to interpret ancient metal working behaviour and knowledge within a semiotic framework, adopting the modernist premise that ancient metalworking was both rational and deliberate. A number of case studies from northern Italy is discussed. In the first it is noted that in the Copper Age Remedello culture arsenical copper was used for halberds and daggers while purer copper was used for flat axes; it is suggested that this distinction reflects deliberate choice and explanations are offered for it. The second case study regards the interpretation of the Pieve Albignola early Bronze Age axe hoard; evidence for the workshop practices of ancient bronzesmiths and for the use of axe preforms as ingots is discussed. The third case study concerns the swords and daggers of the middle and recent Bronze Age; finds context (tombs and wetlands) are discussed and it is suggested that metal analyses may indicate that sometimes these artefacts are not primarily functional.