In 2010 the thirty-sixth consecutive excavation campaign was undertaken on the Final Bronze Age settlement of Sorgenti della Nova (Farnese, VT).

Following general cleaning of the area and the visitor routes, the excavations concentrated on two sectors. The first, Vb, has been the object of investigations for some time and the second, sector XII, was only opened last year.

Sector Vb, situated at the base of south slope of the rock, was reopened in 2007 at a distance of some years, in order to renew the investigation of one of the settlement’s most interesting structures, only partially explored in the 1990s due to its vast extension. This is a “ditch-dwelling”, about 4 m wide and 2.50 m deep, brought to light for a length of 30 m, but which certainly extends beyond the eastern edge of the sector. A stretch of only 4 m had been completely explored but this was enough to reveal its residential function and to show that it had already been deliberately filled in the Final Bronze Age.

In the same sector work continued on a second front, at the opposite end of the ditch-dwelling, on either side of the steps leading to the upper terraces of the rock. Here the old trench edge was extended, revealing the continuation of the ditch edge for about 3 m. However, the most interesting data came from the exploration of the terrace below this, which had not been damaged by agricultural work, contrary to the rest of the sector. On this terrace it was seen that the bed-rock surface along the edge of the structure had been lowered, perhaps in relation to the presence of another entrance to the dwelling.

On the opposite side of the steps work continued on the excavation front opened in 2008, on the hypothetical continuation of the “ditch” structure, at about 12 m from the old eastern edge of the sector (sector Vb, eastern area). Last year a rather articulated and interesting situation was documented here, with at least two different occupation phases of the terracing, both within the Final Bronze Age. Moreover, on the uphill edge of the excavation, precisely on the edge of the section, there was a cut in the rock which seemed to indicate another sunken structure. Given the results of the preceding campaigns it was decided to examine, where possible, all of the area between the previous trench and the steps, in order to gain a better understanding of the terracing layout and of the structures present. Unfortunately, the surface of the rock was badly damaged and to date no new structures have be found in this area.

Sector XII situated in the central part of the rock, was identified during the last few days of the 2008 campaign. In fact, at a point not far from sector VIII, south-east of the medieval tower, the unusual presence of numerous fragments of impasto pottery was noted on the ground surface. At the time it was only possible to undertake surface cleaning of a limited area, but that was enough to show the presence of a cut in the rock completely filled with collapsed material, which produced almost exclusively proto-historic material. The beginning of excavations last year with the enlargement of the explored area and the beginning of the removal of the humus and layers of collapsed material better defined the rock-cut structure, which is either a large hut with sunken base or the base of a grotto.

This year the enlargement of the excavation, both uphill and towards the east, and the continued removal of the layers of collapse almost completely revealed the perimeter of the structure. This work also completely exposed the short stretch of terracing in front of the structure that had been spared from erosion and from the medieval structures cutting the rock just down hill. Here a small curved channel was identified, perhaps the foundation of a dwelling with an elliptical plan, together with a niche of unknown function on its uphill parapet.

Prior to enlarging the excavation and clarifying the layout of the terracing, the situation appears to present the usual layout, elliptical dwellings, grottoes, structures with sunken bases, warehouses, service structures, characterising the “proto-urban” modules into which the Final Bronze Age settlement was organised and which were very clearly observed in sector IX.