The Vegetation

The palaeobotanical analysis of the carbon fragments from the cremation tombs of the Golasecca people have permitted the individuation of the characteristic vegetation in the area of Sesto Calende during the proto-historic period.

The oak and the ash, used for the funeral pyre must have been very common, similarly the birch, a splendid combustible that also lends itself to multiple uses. The hazel and the berry enriched the thickets beneath the oak-woods, while the presence of the turkey-oak is also attested, plant that today is diffuse primarily in south central Italy, but at this time was also growing on the Po plain.

In the same way the beech, another splendid combustible, and the white fir, today common only above 900 meters, were during this era present also at a much lower altitude.