8,000 Year Old Evidence of Human Activity Found in Alps

Fourteen-year-long archaeological excavations in the Parc National des Écrins in the southern Alps have provided evidence of human activity from the Mesolithic to the Post-Medieval period.

Dr Kevin Walsh from the University of York with colleagues unearthed a series of stone animal enclosures and human dwellings considered some of most complex high altitude Bronze Age structures found anywhere in the Alps.

“High altitude landscapes of 2 km and above are considered remote and marginal. Many researchers had assumed that early societies showed little interest in these areas,” said Dr Walsh, who reported the results in a paper published in Quaternary International.