P16
The Bronze Age. The control of the territory and of the river communication
routes
During the Bronze Age, we notice the formation of the main cultures and the boundaries of the
ethnic groups in northwest Italy. The Canegrate culture installed in northern piedmont, in a keyzone
for the commerce with the transalpine region, exploiting the rivers Ticino and Agogna. In
southern piedmont, an important concentration of villages along the Tanaro valley characterizes the
Alba-Solero facies. This distribution reflects the future boundaries of the Iron Age between the
Golasecca culture and the Ligures. This distribution constitutes the evidence of the fact that the
formation process of these ethnic groups started in the Intermediate Bronze Age. The large scale
commerce, the research of raw materials (copper, tin and amber) also in very far lands, the
development of the sailing, the strengthening of the agricultural techniques, the diffusion of the
wagon and the livestock of the horses, the growth of the metallurgy and the arise of the elites are the
main features of this period.