The Pile-dwelling Museum

An important archaeological site on the shore of Lago di Ledro first became the object of serious study in 1929: Thereafter however it suffered decades of abandon during which extensive and continuous pilfering went on, unauthorised amateur excavations causing considerable damage. In the 1960s the site was protected and properly enhanced thanks to the intervention of the Heritage Office in Padua, which was at the time responsible for the Ledro area, together with the efforts of the Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali in Trento .

The museum carried out three major phases of excavations which ended in 1961, 1965 and 1967, and which revealed a substantial amount of material. A museum was opened in the valley to house the finds, and to provide a picture of the cultural, social and economic context for the remains of lake dwellings visible along the shores of Lago di Ledro.
Building work began on the museum in 1968 and was finished in 1972, the entire structure being made of wood with large glassed-in areas, in order to render it one with its environment and to avoid visual barriers between the finds and the sites from which they were extracted.
In the middle of the single hall of the museum is a dugout canoe made of a large fir trunk, measuring 4.5 m. overall with a 0.75 m beam.
On display in the museum are a number of finds in dark ceramic of a brownish to reddish colour, notably including large truncated cone jars for food or jugs and beakers, fortunately often found intact. Terracotta implements include the fascinating so-called ‘enigmatic objects': rectangular segments with dots or lines inscribed prior to baking, the use of which is unclear. A range of finds allow us to reconstruct eating habits, thanks to the plentiful remains of domesticated or wild animals, vegetable leftovers and sediments found in the bases of jars.
There is a also a varied collection of bronze objects: axes, daggers with triangular blades, pins and tiaras. Four of these last were found in all, and on display in the museum is one featuring elegant geometric carving, with outward-curving ‘T' ends. There are also a number of wood, bone and horn implements, as well as a photographic reproduction of an interesting textile find: a linen band, found folded in half and wound, which feature distinctive lozenge-shaped decorations at either end. A large number of amber beads are on display, which were probably linked together to form a necklace.

Other archaeological finds from the Ledro excavations are stored in collections of the Museo del Castello del Buonconsiglio and Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali.
Down on the shore and adjacent to the Museo delle Palafitte - or Lake Dwelling Museum - is a reconstruction of one of the original habitations. There is no scientific certainty that the reconstruction is accurate given that finds to date have not provided information on the layout of dwellings, but it serves as a visual reminder of the importance of this extraordinary archaeological site.

The pile dwelling Museum of lake Ledro