Excavations continued on the palafitte site D at Lucone di Polpenazze (BS), organised by the Valle Sabbia Archaeological Museum with the financial support of Gavardo town council and the Lombardy Region, and logistical support provided by the town of Polpenazze del Garda.
This season was shorter than previous ones in order to allow the creation of structures aimed at enhancing the archaeological area (new access road, signpost totem pole).

All vertical timber elements in sector 1 were sampled if this had not already been done, in particular during the 2008 campaign. In fact, the vertical timber elements (EV) are sampled following a precise protocol whereby the sample is taken at a depth of 80 cm in the natural levels and two round sections of wood are taken from each pile.
During the sampling operations, involving almost 200 piles, it was of fundamental importance to keep the documentation constantly up to date making continuous reference to the earlier plans. Indeed, it was not unusual to have to resolve rather complex questions involving various wooden elements that were shown to be from the same timber pile and vice versa.

One of the main research objectives at Lucone is to clarify the depositional dynamics of an archaeological site in a wet environment and to compare them with those naturally present in the environment outside the village. Therefore, excavation continued in the c.11 m trench departing from the south-western corner of the main excavation and travelling towards the centre of the basin.
During the 2013 excavations, a large accumulation of dumped material was identified immediately north of the trench, which was only marginally investigated. It was decided to extend the trench along the eastern edge to further investigate this accumulation. In order to do this, a procedure was worked out with the collaboration of geo-archaeologist Dr. C. Nicosia who accompanied the excavations by continuously taking samples of undisturbed material so as to be able to make a detailed reconstruction of the mode of deposition of the complex series of lenses.

This accumulation formed by various intersecting lenses was excavated. Some were constituted by yellowish clay, others by vegetal material or by deposits of ash and charcoal. Once the various layers making up this area of dumped material were removed, an interesting structural element appeared in the northern part of the excavation: a horizontal timber with two quadrangular holes at the ends.

During the final days of the excavation, the timber was removed and immediately taken to a cold storage facility while awaiting conservation. Together with the plinth structures recovered last year, this element seems to revolutionise all previous conjectures regarding construction technique in the phase of the Bronze Age.
Furthermore, the presence of clear traces of xylophagous insects could prove that timber was stored or the use of plinth structures for the walls of the palafitte and rather than as supporting elements.