Belluno, Sovramonte's Muvar opens and dedicates its spaces to the Man of Val Rosna

The Muvar - Museum of Man of Val Rosna, in Sovramonte (Belluno), will be inaugurated on September 19, 2024. Within its spaces will be insights into the first human peopling of the Alps with reconstructions and films, delving into all aspects that have emerged from the discovery of the Upper Paleolithic hunter’ s burial. After Ötzi, theSimilaun Man, Valmo and theMondeval Man, the “family” of prehistoric humans who populated the Alps welcomes theMan of Val Rosna, also known as the Man of Villabruna, dating back as much as 14,000 years to the Epigravettian, the last phase of the Upper Paleolithic. The science center, a civic museum run by Tramedistoria Impresa Sociale, will tell the story of the life of early humans in the Alps in 9 rooms, delving into the aspects and issues brought to light by the discovery of the burial of the Man of Val Rosna. Designed by Venetian architect Marino Baldin, the Muvar offers an educational-disclosing itinerary that makes use of the latest multimedia reconstruction techniques. The “didactic walk” allows visitors to get up close to the very ancient ancestor and his habits: thanks to reconstructions and videos, it is possible to learn how he dressed to face the cold, how he ate his meals, what medicines he used to treat wounds and diseases, including decayed teeth, what the moments in the life of the hunter and his contemporaries were, how burial took place. Accompanying the reconstructions with videos aimed at a diverse audience, curated by director Stefano Zampini, allows visitors to fully immerse themselves in the life and customs of the Upper Paleolithic, without neglecting the cruder practices, such as slaughtering with flint.

The Man of Val Rosna was a hunter between 25 and 30 years old, who lived 14,000 years ago and was found together with his burial in 1987 along the left flank of Val Schenèr: the sensational discovery was made by Aldo Villabruna, a lover and scholar of prehistory, who noticed an accumulation of cone-shaped debris materials during road rectification work. The Man of Val Rosna was laid lying supine in a deep pit with his body reclined to the left, toward the wall of the shelter. On his left forearm were placed a pouch containing a bone point decorated with indentations, a back knife, a flint blade and core, a siltstone pebble, used as a retoucher, and a lump of resinous substance, perhaps putty. The pit was buried and covered with stones, collected from surrounding streams, some of which were painted with red ochre. The hunter’s remains are kept at the University of Ferrara, available to scholars, while the grave goods are at the Archaeological Museum of the Civic Museums of Belluno. His burial and remains are the oldest to date found on the Alpine range: the 14,000-year-old Man of Val Rosna bears witness to the first human peopling of the Alps. The painted stone covering, besides this, represents an exceptional example of funerary art. The painting, visible to those entering, was an actual headstone, indicating the presence of the burial. The same purpose seems to have been served by the six ochre bands, still visible on the walls of the shelter at the tomb. His teeth also reveal the first case of dental care in human history: evidence of the treatment of a cavity on a wisdom tooth was found, removed with razor-sharp flint points and disinfected and sealed with propolis and beeswax.

“They could not have deserved better, the hunter inhumed at Riparo Villabruna, but also Professor Alberto Broglio, the discoverer and scholar of this extraordinary funerary context,” he explains, “whose uniqueness is internationally recognized. The museum itinerary, accompanied by an infopoint located at the archaeological site, represents a key piece in restoring to the community the value of this find, a harbinger of a wealth of knowledge that traces the legacy received from the past in function of our present and our responsibilities toward our heritage,” says science center curator Marco Peresani, an archaeologist, anthropologist and professor at the University of Ferrara, among the foremost experts on the Paleolithic and a student of Professor Alberto Broglio, director of archaeological excavations at Ripari Villabruna.

Belluno, Sovramonte's Muvar opens and dedicates its spaces to the Man of Val Rosna

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