A watching brief was undertaken on a vast building site on the western outskirts of Flero, a village on the Brescian plain near the city, already known for finds of Roman sites and numerous groups of Lombard burials (and mentioned in 879 as a curtis of the royal monastery of S. Giulia). This lead to the identification and investigation of a settlement context of great interest comprising: a) the seriously damaged remains of a late antique/early medieval settlement with wooden structures; b) traces of a pottery kiln of the 5th-6th century (the only example of this date found so far in a rural context in the Brescia area or the province of Lombardy); c) four inhumation burials; d) indications of the nearby presence of a building of Roman date, almost certainly a villa. The most interesting (and problematic) structures, belonging to the late antique and/or early medieval phase of the site are three sub-rectangular pits. The bottoms of the pits contained a compressed layer of charcoal and ash, mainly constituted by branches, minute vegetable material occasional small logs, covered by a spread of cobbles of varying density. The structural characteristics of the pits and the complete absence on the bottom or within the layers of fill of any type of find or waste product excludes their being used for the fusion of metals, re-melting of broken glass or the distillation of vegetable tar, the structures for which, being quite different, are already known in the area of Brescia from other finds. Whilst awaiting comparisons that will provide a clearer picture it is suggested that the pits were used for the “stifled” cooking of food, a technique which is still used by various primitive populations. (Andrea Breda, Fabio Malaspina)