Vollein, Prehistoric necropolis in Quart, Italy

Vollein is a Neolithic necropolis near the village of Vollein in the municipality of Quart, Aosta Valley. It covers a roughly rectangular area of about 20 by 30 metres and contains more than 60 cist graves, each originally formed by four upright slabs covered by a larger overhanging slab. The tombs have no floor and were placed directly on the ground.

The necropolis was discovered in 1968, when the remains of a Neolithic burial ground came to light; it is among the oldest known traces of human settlement in the Aosta Valley. More than 60 cist tombs were found in a roughly rectangular area of about 20 by 30 metres. Nearby rock carvings, probably contemporary, are dated to the 2nd millennium BC, though the dating remains debated. The site shares architectural similarities with the Champrotard necropolis at Arvier.

The site is freely accessible and reached on foot from the village of Vollein, following the regional road for about 300 metres and then a marked trail. The tombs are cists built from four upright slabs topped by a larger overhanging slab, with no floor: the dead were laid directly on the ground. The surrounding rock carvings, probably from the 2nd millennium BC, are not reliably dated.

From Quart follow the Strada Regionale 37 to the village of Vollein, then walk about 300 metres down the road and take the equipped path, which reaches the geosite in a few minutes. The site is freely accessible and the necropolis looks over the central valley.

The site is the most studied trench system in the Aosta Valley: a grid of trenches squares off the ground around a depression about forty metres deep, measured against the standing vertical wall where climbing routes are now traced. The central block still shows the surface smoothed by the Quaternary glacier in its original orientation. The fractured rock mass moves downhill at 4 to 8 mm per year, measured in the industrial tunnels that cross it.