Woodworking Activities in a Foliate-tools Workshop: Techno-Functional Study of Campignano Tranchets from the Site of Colombare di Villa - Negrar di Valpolicella, VR

The so-called “campignana” technique refers to bifacial foliate Holocene instruments, generally made of chert, and produced through rough knapping. These include a type, often bifacial, with a transverse cutting edge (tranchet). The presence of these tools in Italy is commonly linked to mining areas, including the Lessini Mountains (Veneto). Traditionally, throughout the 20th century, they have been associated with an agricultural or pre-agricultural economy and interpreted as axes used to cut through vegetation, picks for mining, or tools for tilling up soil. In Lessinia, these tools appear from the end of the 4th millennium BCE until the recent Bronze Age, with greater representation during the Eneolithic. This study considers a limited sample of tranchets from the site-workshop of Colombare di Villa (Negrar di Valpolicella, VR), lower Lessini mountains, analysing their technological and functional aspects. The aim is to clarify how these tranchets were used and produced, by selecting a domestic context dated between the end of the Neolithic and the Copper Age. The technological analysis revealed different manufacturing methods, indicating them as tools produced by specialized artisans. The functional analysis reconstructed gestures and worked materials, identifying them as woodworking tools -probably planes used at different stages- thus challenging the historical interpretations. This study has expanded the knowledge regarding the economy of Colombare di Villa site-workshop, where the production of bifacial foliate tools was active at least from the end of the 5th millennium BCE, following chaines opératoires whose origins and spatial distribution warrant further investigation.