This season, the University of Padova’s excavations continued work begun in 2014, concentrating in particular on defining the occupation sequence in sector D. This is the only area being excavated where a micro-stratigraphy is present with an in situ succession of the two occupation phases: Final Bronze Age (with the presence of elements from the Luco culture) and the late Iron Age (sunken house with adjacent threshing floor-terracing), separated by a prolonged gap in occupation. The excavations have not reached the interior floor surface of the sunken structure and therefore it is not yet possible to propose the structure’s function. However, another layer of collapse was identified below US 1109, probably relating to the post-abandonment phase, as the stones in the collapse are contained in an incoherent and very dark matrix with abundant organic material (US 1110 and 1111). The floor surfaces excavated in preceding campaigns in sectors C1, C2 and E1, were cleaned. The area was photographed from the ground and by drone (Phantom 3 with GoPro camera) for the reconstruction of the virtual three dimensional models using Structure from Motion (SfM), starting with a set of about 500 photographs taken at 360° inside, outside and above the sectors. The software used for processing this data (Agisoft PhotoScan Professional) is based on a technique for computer visualisation associated with digital photogrammetry. This makes it possible to create digital elevation models (DEM) for the study of the terrains macro and micro morphologies, which are than implemented with a photographic texture to obtain explorable digital reproductions. Surface, geophysical surveys, together with geo-referencing and GPS, were carried out in the fields around the site of Bostel and in the locality of Castel.
The investigations around the site did not identify any significant spreads of material suggesting the presence of archaeological structures coeval with the village; however, several sporadic finds of some importance were collected, such as small lead ingots and two fragments of aes rude. Remote sensing activities continued (from satellite and plane, also with the aid of radar, and from the historical time series of aerial photographs and new ones, in particular the 1915-1914; 1943-1944; 1986; 2000; 2004; 20108; 2010; 2012; 2014 series), in addition to image processing and photo-interpretation, with various checks on the ground (ground-truth) of various types of anomalies (mainly grass, crop; soil and shadow-marks).