"The Magic of the Flute" (available in Italian)

This story is set at Riparo Gaban (Martignano, Trento), a site inhabited almost continuously from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. The story of Lin and Intaro takes place during the transitional time between the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, when traditional hunting and gathering activities were gradually replaced by agriculture and animal husbandry, probably due to the arrival of outside groups with new habits and technologies. The inhabitants of Riparo lived by hunting, fishing, catching birds, gathering wild fruits and freshwater mollusks. The first domestic animals appeared rather late. Many artistic objects come from the site, such as shells, a fish-shaped bone plaque, a deer-head statuette, and a female statuette (Venus), probably related to an agrarian cult. Other finds include a ceramic pintadera (stamp) and a human bone, pierced and decorated with carvings, interpreted as a musical instrument (the famous Gaban flute, a kind of trumpet).

Texts by Giorgia Cappelletti

Illustrations by Erica Patauner

Editorial project MUSE, Science Museuma