Tyrol before the Romans . . .

The Romans used the term Terra Incognita to describe the lands beyond their domains to suggest that little of value existed beyond their frontiers. However, the Tyrol Region, extending from German Bavaria in the north to the southern reaches of Lake Garda boasts a proud pre-Roman heritage. As detailed in the previous installment, early Paleolithic settlements of hunter-gatherers wandered the region. Later, these early occupations gave rise to permanent settlement during the Meso- and Neolithic Periods (5000 1500 BCE) such as the palefitti found near Fiave in the Val Giudicarie. Some believe that this elevated architectural motif gave rise to the chalet style found throughout the region with living quarters of houses often suspended above stables, woodpiles, or drying hay bales.
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Reconstruction of the Palefitti

Beginning in the Mesolithic Era (4000 3000 BCE), the archaeological record reveals more than animal-skin clad hunters pursuing the native herds of ibex, chamois, and roebuck of the area. The first sedentary Tyroleans became known for their distinctive square-mouthed pottery produced in the region around Lake Garda. An example of this pottery can be seen below. By the next millennium, ore smelting including iron and bronze, but particularly copper due to native deposits in the area became common. The remains of kilns and casting deposits have been discovered in the Adige Valley near the entrance to the Fersina Valley. The development of metallurgy led to trade with settlements further afield and archaeologists have discovered artifacts ranging from Etruscan civilization to northern Hallstatian civilization in the tombs dating to this period. As one historian notes, these developments in the material culture began to take on a distinctive shape, a process that became even more marked between 1100 and 900 BCE . . . so that the Trentino, Alto Adige, the Engadine, Vorarlberg and East Tyrol constituted a recognizable cultural unit. At first, the Lucan-Melaun cultural zone centered around the upper Tyrol (Alto Adige) and into the region around Innsbruck and lower Bavaria, but in the last century BCE, it was supplanted by the more advanced and extensive Fritzen-Sanzeno (also known as Rhaetian) culture. The locus of this new cultural unit was further to the south, but also extended further into German Bavaria, unifying the whole of the modern Tyrol region. The regions natural copper deposits made it a valuable trading partner with many of the early European and Mediterranean civilizations 

Pottery from the Lucan-Melaun Period

Traditional Pre-Roman Rhaetian Costume

Fritzens-Sanzeno Artifact

Naturally, the region incorporated influences ranging from Greece (through trade through the Adriatic and Danube) and with Etruscan culture located in modern Tuscany. Rhaetian script is thought to be derived from Etruscan. The Rhaetians were mainly of Celtic ethnicity, independent, but open to surrounding cultures. They, among other Celtic tribes of the Alpine regions, resisted the southward Invasion by Hannibal of the Italian peninsula. Over time, the region began to trade increasingly with the rising Roman power to their south. Inscriptions dating before the Roman Wars against the Rhaetians indicate that extensive commercial, legal, and administrative exchanges occurred in the last century BCE. The Po Valley to the south constituted the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul proper and the city of Verona developed as a Roman garrison at its northern frontier. In 16 and 15 BCE, during the reign of Augustus Caesar, the Roman generals Augustus (Caesar), Tiberius (later Emperor), and Drusus (Father of Claudius and grandfather to Emperor Nero), successfully conquered the areas south of the Danube. They divided the area into three major provinces with the northeastern zone united with Austria as Noricum, the northwest with modernday Switzerland as Rhaetia, and the south as a set of four municipalities, including Trento.
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Trento was the center of Roman influence during the early period. Its Veronensis Gate was built during this period over the road leading to the provincial city of Verona to the south. The remains Tabula Clesiana (The Cls Tablet) of several Roman villas can be found around Trento. Medicinal baths such as the one at Comano took advantage of the mineral deposits of the dolomite rock and became popular spas for many elite Romans. The region was also able to establish itself as a prized wine-producing region as inscriptions from the period attest, such as a monument to the vintner Tenatius Essimnus. Its high level of civilization made the area an early candidate for Roman citizenship and in 46 AD, the Emperor Claudius extended citizenship to the regions inhabitants, issuing the famous Tabula Clesiana (the Cls Val di Non Tablet) to this effect. Still, Roman citizenship remained optional to the Tyroleans, not compulsory. The decline of Roman influence came with the waves of Barbarian invasions of the Huns, Longbards, and Goths during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Attila used the Garda region as a launching point for attacks throughout Italy, ranging from the Po Valley to the Brenner Pass. Theodoric, one of the Longobard (Lombard) leaders helped bring some stability to the region and fortified some of the cities, giving the area its first castellani. Christian Brunelli In the next installment, we will discuss the early medieval history of the Tyrol.
Left: Map shows the extent of the LucanMelaun Cultural Area (1100-900 BCE) Right: Map shows the extent of the Fritzens-Sanzeno Cultural areas (500 100 BCE)