The Iron Age in the territory

The introduction of iron working and development of the ancient Veneto civilisation are the salient features of the Iron Age in the Veneto Region.
In the province of Vicenza, the oldest evidence can be traced back to occasional visits to the territory: an imported sword from Southern Etruria (9th-8th Century B.C.) placed in the Astico River as part of a ritual and a wood-clearing axe from the 7th Century B.C. from San Quirico-Valdagno.

Later, numerous villages of semi-underground houses were built in the Vicenza and Verona Pre-Alp strip when this area was colonised by the townships on the plains, which reached their maximum intensity between the 5th and 4th Century B.C.
In addition to crop and animal farming, other flourishing activities were the production of wool, pottery and metals and trade with the settlements on the plain and the surrounding Rhaetic and Celtic areas.
Locally produced vases come from the village of Montebello Vicentino, and pottery decorated with red and black stripes comes from the plains.

Locally produced dimple-based cups are from the settlement of Trissino (5th Century B.C.), while the finding of a fragment of torques in Celtic-type silver and of pig knuckle bones with Rhaetic inscriptions used in the art of divination (2nd-1st Century B.C.) has led to identification of an area of cult worship near the village.

Two important engraved tombstones are on display: the stele from Villa Guiccioli, with a dedication to the confinari gods, one of the longest known Venetic inscriptions, and the stele from Isola Vicentina bearing a complicated dedication formula featuring the first epigraphic attestation of the Veneto ethnic term (Venetkens).