In 2014 during an emergency excavation, two new pile-dwellings were discovered in the municipality of Oppeano, about 13 miles south of Verona. The sites were separated by a later alluvial ditch so that it is impossible to ascertain the continuity of the settlement. The most ancient dwelling, dated to the Early Bronze Age, was buried under 7 meters of alluvial deposit, while the second, 250 meters west, rose during the Middle Bronze Age and was just under the agricultural level, and consists of 1,50 meters of anthropogenic deposit.
The potential of the area was already known because of the discovery, at the end of the 19th century, of the pile-dwelling of Feniletto di Vallese, the third and later settlement (Late Bronze Age), rose in the ancient swampy (actually reclaimed) along an axis oriented east-west.
The excavation has lasted for eight months and it has been possible to bring to light a complex and a well-preserved site with huts, discharge heaps, an embankment and three different palisades on the west side (Middle Bronze Age) while the limit of the eastern settlement (Early Bronze Age) had only one.
The Middle Bronze Age settlement, on which we will focus, has been excavated in a long trench (70×5 meters) and has returned about 2000 wood piles, all sampled. The sequences could be divided into three macro-units.
In spite of a large amount of pottery, the good condition of organic elements (fruits, grains and some exceptional wooden items, such as a weaver’s sword, sickles, and, possibly, an oar), the limited evidence of fire and the absence of bronze objects let suppose that the village was abandoned conscientiously.

Location

Norcroft Centre, University of Bradford