During the Copper Age people were already surprisingly mobile. They traded flint as well as copper and exchanged not only goods, but also brought along new knowledge and craftsmanship on their journeys.

People across Europe covered astoundingly large distances on foot, with snowshoes over the mountains, or with dugout canoes across the water. The copper for Ötzi’s axe came from what is now known as Tuscany, while some of his flint tools came from the area around Lake Garda. Just like today, people in the Copper Age were looking for a better life. They settled in new areas, encountered other groups of people, and some of the first armed conflicts took place over arable land, natural resources, and places to settle. New cultural groups were formed, religious beliefs spread quickly.

On the trail of mobility

DNA analyses help us to trace migration movements, pottery tells us about the exchange of knowledge, and raw materials allow us to determine their place of origin through scientific analyses. The special exhibition aims to retrace the routes and trade relations in the 4th and 3rd millennia BC with the aid of significant finds from the Alpine region.

VIDEO

https://youtu.be/CZi7M8shdlc 

FOTO

© South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology / Silbersalz