The 2013 excavations continued in three distinct areas defined in 2012, all situated in the area up against the battery of limekilns to the west of the Risecco torrent (Area 1000): Trench 1 (at the north end of area 1000), Trench 2 (in front of furnaces 2 and 3), and Trench 3 (at the south end of area 1000).

TRENCH 1
An area 10 × 8.5 m was excavated. The upper part of the stratigraphy, relating to the use of the nearby Renaissance limekiln (F1), was removed revealing a series of levelling layers with a sandy matrix that marked a clear break in the activities of the 16th century and earlier kilns. These layers covered a substantial level of large irregular stones, probably a drainage feature that extended across the entire excavation area. The presence of walls dateable to a late medieval phase was indicated by the discovery of a large robber trench probably relating to activities on the late 15th century construction site, and the identification of large accumulations of brick/tile fragments, soil, and mortar.

TRENCH 2
This trench covered an area of 22 × 7 m, between kilns 2 and 3.
This season’s result provided better definition of the phases of use for the Renaissance furnaces and their construction phases. No less important was the excavation of a small productive structure situated inside the praefurnium of furnace 3. The latter (excavation to be completed) comprised a circular chamber about 3 m in diameter built of brick and a splayed praefurnium preserved for a length of 1.5 m. The find of numerous small copper fragments and a small tapping slag suggests that it was used in copper working. The furnace can be dated to within the first half of the 15th century, based on the materials found in the destruction and obliteration layers.

TRENCH 3
The extension of Trench 3 to an area of about 10 m2 made it possible to further the investigation of a structure built in perishable material, already intercepted and described during the 2012 excavations.

The 2013 campaign identified and removed a significant series of floors relating to this structure, made up of extremely compact layers containing abundant charcoal and whitish stones. Below were a series of stratigraphic contexts that had been created in order to extend the area of the plateau, and therefore of the hut itself. The hut’s long period of use was attested by the identification of another series of floors; among the finds were iron and copper fragments and some pottery sherds attributable to a late Etruscan horizon.

The stratigraphy and the pottery show that the hut was used for various purposes and for various periods of time over several centuries. Indeed, it was possible to identify use in the Renaissance and a brief period of use in the medieval period (attested by fragments of zaffera relief and archaic majolica pottery both from beaten layers and from layers of dumped material). The presence of late Etruscan pottery, although found in secondary deposition, and the hut’s construction characteristics suggest that it was originally built in the Etruscan period, although this remains to be investigated further.