Structured Deposition in Early Neolithic Northern Italy

Abstract

The paper reviews the interpretations of pits found in early Neolithic settlement sites in the Po valley of northern Italy, with particular attention paid to the concentration of late 6th–early 5th millennium Cal BC sites around Vhò (Piadena, Cremona). It argues that these are unlikely to have been pit-dwellings, despite a long tradition of interpreting them in this way. It suggests that the assemblages and associations found in the fills of some of the pits indicate the practice of structured deposition, and explores the consequences of this finding for our interpretation of sites dating from this period.