Fifth exhibition hall This section of the rooms shows the technological progress made thanks to the human discoveries, presenting the tools invented and their function throughout the centuries.
The first display case is devoted to the lithic reduction techniques adopted during Paleolithic; for each technique (direct percussion, direct percussion on an anvil and indirect percussion) there is an explanatory picture and an example of lithic artefact. Here it is possible to see also some materials suitable for lithic reduction. The second display case contains lithic tools, from the most ancient choppers, to the most recent ones, obtained using flakes and blades; they include denticulate tools, scrapers, points, foliate points, geometric forms, backed knives, backed blades, backed points, punches, truncated flakes, scratchers and burins. Going towards the left, it is possible to see the third and fourth display cases, which contain the tools of the Levalloisian stone-flaking technique from the Middle Paleolithic (120,000-36,000 years ago) discovered on the Montello hill and in the area between the Quartier del Piave plain and Monte Grappa. The first one presents Mousterian artefacts produced with the Levallois technique (lateral and transverse scrapers, points) made of flint from Monte Grappa or Monte Cesèn, whereas the second one displays lithic tools (transverse and lateral-transverse scrapers, denticulate tools of the “La Quinà” industry type and flakes) found in Capo di Monte. Between the display cases it is possible to see the reconstruction of a Mousterian hut found in Ukraine.
The exhibition goes on with the fifth display case, which contains the largest amount of lithic tools, which are also more complex and which date back to the Upper Paleolithic (36,000-10,000 years ago): burins, scrapers, truncated flakes, points, backed blades, retouched blades, scraper blades and others. The same display case contains also two copies of the statuettes of the Venus of Willendorf and the Venus of Dolni Vestonice, as well as a graffito depicting a mouflon found in northern Africa, which can be referred to the birth of the prehistoric age. Then there is the picture of the burial of a young prince, which was found in the Arene Candide cave and which can be traced back to the Upper Paleolithic.
The following display case contains extremely small flints of triangular and trapezoidal shape, commonly known as microliths, which were influenced by the technical innovations in the lithic reduction techniques that characterized the Mesolithic Age (10,000-5,000 years ago). The tools (scrapers, burins, truncated flakes, microburins, arrowheads or harpoons for fishing) come from the sites of Capo di Monte (Montebelluna), Santa Mama (Crocetta del Montello) and Sopra Piana (Vidor).
The last display case, before moving to Neolithic, contains arrow- and spearheads from different parts of the world (Egypt, Peru, Bolivia, Morocco, Algeria, Australia).
The second part of this section is devoted to Neolithic (4,500-2,000 B.C.), an important time in human history, as it marked the transition from an economy based on the search for food (hunting and collecting) to the production of consumption goods (farming and stock-breeding) thus leading to inevitable changes in the natural environment and in the tools necessary for survival. The eighth display case contains lithic tools used during Neolithic (foliate and polished stone tools) which include a sickle of the Fiavè type, a polished axe from Falzè di Piave, a small idol, burins, scratchers, truncated flakes, foliate scrapers, foliate points and bifaces, pedunculate points, scrapers, querns and hoes.
Another important discovery accomplished during Neolithic was earthenware, the stylistic and formal evolution of which is well summarized in the ninth display case, which contains different examples of vases arranged in a chronological order: impressed pottery (early Neolithic), pots from Fiorano (middle Neolithic), square mouth vases (middle and recent Neolithic) from Montello and Fimon, pots from the Bocca Lorenza cave (final Neolithic) and bell-shaped vases from Remedello (final Neolithic). Next to these specimens, there is a remarkable amount of ceramic fragments (rims, decorated walls, handles and others), which can be traced back to the Bronze Age.
Moving to the last part of this section, it is possible to see a display case that contains part of the collection belonged to Augusto Krüll, which consists of numerous kinds of European, African and American lithic artefacts produced during the agricultural revolution (which took place at different times in the different continents).
The last part of the exhibition is devoted to the discovery of metallurgy and the beginning of the Bronze age. The first display case contains a huge amount of metal tools, which include different kinds of axes (from Col Fosco, Crocetta del Montello, Ciano del Montello and Susegana), different kinds of swords of the Recent Bronze age (of the “Castions” type from Strada Marano Lagunare, of the “Sauerbrunn Bolu” type from Susegana and of the “Sombor-Smolenice” type from Susegana) and of the Iron Age (of the “Tarquinia” type), ingots and slag from welding found on the shore of the Piave river, as well as different kinds of objects (a situla handle, a ring, pins, a strainer fragment, an axe-shaped pendant and a fibula). The opposite display case contains a few metal objects from the Krüll collection, coming from Luristan (Iran). They include swords, daggers, battle and work axes, points, jugs and bowls, small bells and a wonderful Assyrian helmet. Then there are some cases without captions arranged in a temporary layout, which are also related to the Krüll collection: a display case contains axes and spearheads of the Late roman and Lombard age; one displays numerous examples of (cuneiform and hieroglyphic) inscriptions; two display cases contain vases from Apulia and Magna Graecia and finally there is the exhibition of stone material from the Roman age, which is placed on the landing of Villa Lancillotto. |