The CNR-IDPA of Milan took palinologiocal core samples (VIR3/3bis) from the site with the aim of reconstructing the environment and human impact in the Isolino area between the end of the 6th and the 5th millennium B.C. The samples were taken from trench D, situated on the west bank of the island where in 2007 a stratigraphic sequence was identified which included a late/final Neolithic layer and for which there is an absolute date (3660-3530 B.C.). In October, in occasion of a visit by the ICOMOS inspector the first results were presented on display panels.

Area at the centre of Isola: In the extension to the north of Bertolone’s excavation (1953-59) the following layers were exposed a) US 201, disturbed in antiquity, as was noted in 2009, it contained late/final Bronze Age material as well as Eneolithic and Neolithic finds; b) the underlying cobbled surface US 442, dating to the Bronze Age, but as yet not precisely datable as it is unexcavated; c) the layer of reclamation US 200, that showed signs of earlier anthropological activity, it contained small pottery fragments and lithic elements attributable to the Neolithic/Eneolithic, on the basis of the latest radiometric analyses it seemed to have been formed during the Early Bronze Age: LTL5429A: 3587±45 BP-2130-2090BC; 2050-1860BC; 1850-1770.

The late/final Neolithic occupation layer US 417 associated with a dwelling was identified. It was constituted by a collapse of large flat stones (US 428), already partially visible at the top of US 417, and others used as wedges; a central area with a beaten surface US 429 delimited by US 428, as well as post holes (US 427, 431,433, 435, 437,439). Lagozzian forms and elements were present (kidney-shaped weights, decorated plates, carenated bowls, transverse choppers associated with elements of the Breno type as well as elements that were clearly Eneolithic.

This situation presented very close parallels with the materials from the late Neolithic levels at Monte Covolo. In this part of the island the Neolithic inhabitants established themselves in a natural depression (US 440) created in a layer of alluvial sand which delimited the surface of cobbles and pottery (US 441) below the above mentioned dwelling. A part of this cobble surface, which contained an abundance of pottery fragments, some large, has been left in situ for future viewing by visitors.