At Doss di Pigui

<p>A fortified settlement dating back to the second Iron Age, 1000 years BC, permanently inhabited for centuries, whose artifacts testify that the Ladin valleys were not virgin and isolated territory.</p>

<p>Karl Felix Wolf, the great anthropologist and essayist who brought to light the Dolomite sagas, despite all, lived with the belief, due to his genius&#039; intuition, that the Ladin valleys were colonized from the Iron Age by forest peoples. Only a few years after his death were his assumptions verified. The occasion was the discovery near Mazzin of the Doss di Pigui site. A stone perimeter buried by centuries of vegetation and clay deposited by time, which saw the start of excavations in summer 1979. Five hearths emerged, imposing terrace constructions, and two stone mills, one granite and one porphyry, material imported by populations who came here from outside since it is nonexistent in Val di Fassa. Ceramics and terracotta finds were uncovered, bowls, uniformly decorated plates. This led to thoughts of even production workshops. The artifacts are kept at the Ladin Museum of Fassa and reveal to us a territory already anciently crossed by a stable network of communication routes.</p>