The first excavation campaign on the nuragic village of Nuraghe Arvu took place between 1st September and the 15th December. The site stands close to the north-western periphery of the modern town of Cala Gonone, coastal hamlet of Dorgali (Nuoro). The village covers an area of circa 4 hectares and is constituted by a vast agglomerate of huts preserved to a height of circa 1-1.50 m, in some cases reaching over 2.00 m. The diameter of the huts varies between 3-4.00 and 6-7.00 m.

Initially, the aim was to make a fast evaluation of the stratigraphy and topography of a first area of the site, denominated area 100, and to check the potential amount of information to be gained from the village and the relationship between the surface and buried evidence.

Work began with the clearing of vegetation and removal of surface deposits of colluvial and detrital origin, present inside and outside of the huts. The excavations exposed substantial natural colluvial layers overlying deposits constituted by material dumped here during the excavation of hut 1 undertaken by A. Taramelli. The removal of these layers revealed the earliest collapses (prior to the 1920s) present outside of hut 1, which remain to be investigated. The stratigraphic excavation inside hut 1, brought to light a surface which included a zone which had been leveled with a bed of lime. This dated to a period of reuse, presumably attributable to the central decades of the 20th century, when the nuragic hut, having been brought to light by Taramelli, was transformed into a cuile, the traditional pastoral structure of the shepherds of the Supramonte. The excavation of hut 2 identified a series of collapses and two main construction phases, which are at present being studied. The investigations also recovered two basalt basins, one of which almost intact. The excavation of hut 2 was not completed.

A large numbers of pottery fragments were found (baking dishes, cooking pots, bowls, cups, jars, jugs, dolia etc) which provided dating for the occupation and abandonment phases of the context. For the moment, in the absence of other data, the presence of numerous fragments of baking dishes with concave and convex walls, and of sherds with combed decoration suggests the structures were built in the Middle Bronze Age (16th-14th century B.C.). Based on other diagnostic finds, such as decorated fragments of handles from askos-type jugs, it can be suggested that the structures were abandoned during the Iron Age I (9th-8th century B.C.).