An archaeology of the Great War in the Italian Alps. The shovel, the helmet, the ammunition clips, even the newspapers. Everything came to a halt on the last afternoon of the Great War on the Italian front, November 3, 1918, frozen in the ice of a cave shelter dug at almost 3,000 meters (9,842 ft.) ) on Mount Scorluzzino, guarding the Stelvio Pass (Stilfserjoch in German). The Austro-Hungarians had held the position, one of the highest in the First World War, since May 1915.
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After three and a half years, it was time to leave as quickly as possible. In those hours, an imperial delegation signed the armistice in a room at Villa Giusti, on the outskirts of the Paduan countryside. It was around 3:20 PM, and – by Italian will – fighting would continue for another day in the unstoppable advance of the Regio Esercito, which surged well beyond the Piave River. The worst moment to die in action, be captured, or risk losing one’s life months later due to deprivation and diseases in some distant POW camp.
Thus, the Austro-Hungarian garrison of Scorluzzino, like those nearby, abandoned the lines. Everything deemed useless in the desperate descent towards the Val Venosta was left behind. The very snowy winter, and the following one in 1919, sealed the situation. Over the years, enthusiasts, relic hunters, and curious visitors explored the shelter, but the deepest part, with water penetrating between the solidified rocks into hard ice, managed to resist and preserve valuable information. Artifacts are now emerging, just as rising temperatures in the mountains are jeopardizing the archaeological site. It is an archaeology of the contemporary era, specifically the archaeology of the Great War.
The archaeology of the Great War in the Italian Alps
The concept of a “time capsule,” often overused, has validity where low temperatures have helped preserve materials and keep external factors at bay, not to mention human activities. At Scorluzzino, the concept can be partially applied. We now know that the Austro-Hungarian army, so far from the sea, used straw-filled sacks not with straw but with algae, well-suited for their antiseptic properties. An impressive logistical chain that started in Istria and reached an altitude of 2,995 meters. Moreover, even where La Guerra Bianca (The White War, in the Alps) made military presence sparser, Italian propaganda dropped irredentist newspapers in the trenches.
The ice has preserved newspaper pages, notes, and correspondence. There are chargers for repeating weapons, standard-issue shovels, nails to hang cartridge pouches, and the pouches themselves. Food tins scraped clean due to hunger, with apricot kernels split to eat the contents, a clear sign of starvation. All this in the 12 meters of depth carved into the rock, three meters wide and about two meters high, entirely lined with carefully crafted Val Venosta wood that still proudly fulfills its function, albeit compromised in some places after years.
An archaeological and recovery project
Eventually, the recovery and conservative restoration activities of artifacts at the Austro-Hungarian cave shelter on Monte Scorluzzino, conducted under naturally complex climatic and logistical conditions, were carried out on behalf of the Stelvio National Park – Lombardy by SAP – Società Archeologica. These efforts were overseen by Professor Stefano Morosini of the University of Bergamo.
This project aims to showcase the evidence and recover significant artifacts from the Great War and is conducted under the scientific direction of the Superintendent of Archaeology Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Como, Lecco, Monza-Brianza, Pavia, Sondrio, and Varese (archaeologist officer Stefano Rossi). This attention to the archaeology of the contemporary era (Archaeology of the Great War and Conflict Archaeology) is not a given, as not all Superintendencies are equally focused. In the preceding years (2017-2020), the nearby Scorluzzo shelter, even larger, was highlighted and recovered with the assistance of volunteers from the Museum of the White War in Temù.
Scorluzzino, undoubtedly an impressive feat of military engineering, deserves in-depth study and documentation. Pietro Azzola (University of Bergamo) conducted surveys using an integrated 3D laser scanning and terrestrial photogrammetry method, along with drones to create scientific three-dimensional models of the structure.
Conflict archaeology at the Alamein battlefield (subtitles in English)