Site formation processes of a Mesolithic rockshelter at Galgenbühel / Dos de la Forca (Adige Valley, South Tyrol, Italy)

Archaeological excavations at the rockshelter Galgenbühel/Dos de la Forca, located in the Adige Valley at Salurn (Bozen/Bolzano, Italy), allowed us to investigate a site occupied from 9.2 to 8.5 ka BP by Mesolithic Sauveterrian groups. The site was used mainly for the exploitation of freshwater fish and other aquatic resources. The aim of the paper is to reconstruct the palaeo-environmental setting, the site formation processes and the stratigraphic architecture. The interdisciplinary approach was carried out through geomorphological, stratigraphic, sedimentological and micromorphological analyses. The site is located under a rockshelter inside a debris talus. The roughly 2.5 m thick stratigraphic sequence is made up of coarse grained debris interfingered with anthropic layers. Hearths and pits are present, usually located in proximity of the overhang. The excavation of these features caused an accumulation of reworked mixed sediments. The site was most probably abandoned when the sedimentation reached the top of the shelter.