Studi e ricerche

L’estrazione della pietra ollare a Piuro

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Abstract

This paper describes the research carried out by the author on the soapstone quarries of Piuro, mostly insisting in the small valley of the river Cavrii. This research aimed at gathering evidence on soapstone extraction and to understand their historical significance. Firstly, the methodological approach, mostly based on landscape archaeology and field survey in mountain area, is outlined. Secondly, the quarries and archaeological evidence found during the survey are described and their relation to the written sources of Medieval period is discussed. Following on, the extraction dynamics are analysed through the study of instrument traces. The research was completed by the execution of some small excavations in quarries and quarrying-related structures: one of them provided a remarkable sequence of human presence ranging from Iron Age to recent times, also showing evidence of soapstone working in Roman times. This research provides one of the most detailed analyses of soapstone extraction in the Alpine region, highlighting the complexity of the problems related to the extraction of this resource and the methods.


open access | peer reviewed

Submitted: June 9, 2025 | Accepted: Aug. 5, 2025 | Published March 5, 2026 | Language: it

Keywords Soapstone • Medieval archaeology • Landscape archaeology • Piuro • Quarries

Copyright © 2026 Luca Arioli. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/979-12-5742-002-4/004


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