The University of Milan has been excavating the “Terramare” site of S. Rosa di Poviglio since 1984, in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Emilia Romagna, Poviglio town council and Coopsette s.r.l. The excavations are multidisciplinary with contributions from experts in the fields of geoarchaeology, archeometry, archeozoology, anthropology, archaeobotany and geochronology. From the beginning of the project, it was decided to explore the “Terramare” settlement using open-area excavation, which during the last thirty years, has uncovered over one hectare of the site out of a total of seven. In addition, a funerary area on the edge of the settlement was identified and investigated. In 2015, work concentrated on a stretch of a large ditch that separated the two groups of dwellings forming the “Terramare” settlement – the Small Village and the Large Village- where the geophysical survey results indicated the existence of a ‘passage’ linking the two villages. The size and central position of this structure appeared to be of importance for the understanding of the site’s urban development. The excavations confirmed the existence of the passage that seemed to have developed over several phases from the late Middle Bronze Age (BM3) until the later part of the Recent Bronze Age (BR2). The rows of large postholes came to light representing the remains of substantial timber structures reinforcing the passageway. In the latest phase, BR2, the posts were abutted by accumulations of soil that connect the edge of the Small Village to the bottom of the ditch. The soil contained a high concentration of bronze fragments indicating the probable proximity of a metalworking area.

The 2016 campaign at the “Terramare” site of Santa Rosa di Poviglio continued the exploration of the ditch separating the two settlements (Large Village and Small Village) and the passageway linking them. A substantial amount of new data was recovered regarding the settlement dynamic and its relationship with the environment’s evolution. The ditch was seen to have already existed during the first phases of the Small Village (BM2) and, at the end of this period was affected by large scale flooding which deposited a thick sandy layer within it. A channel was excavated into this sand, but was soon obliterated by successive floods. The first series of posts for the construction of the walkway was erected on this material, probably at the end of the middle Bronze Age (BM3), when the Large Village was founded. The walkway structure was reinforced during the Recent Bronze Age (BR2) by amassing the terrain from the demolition and removal of the stratigraphy from the Small Village. At the edge of this accumulation more wooden posts were erected, at least four parallel rows of large posts, over an area more than five metres wide and about 20 m long, which abut a structure, perhaps formed by gabions, parallel to the edge of the village. Pottery of a previously unknown type was found in the abandonment layers of this structure, which probably dates to the very late Recent Bronze Age, indicating the possibility that in the area under investigation the stratigraphy from the latest phase is preserved, where elsewhere it had been eroded away. This opens new avenues for the study of the crisis that determined the end of the “Terramare” civilisation.

This season’s excavations at the “Terramare” site of Santa Rosa ( Poviglio, Reggio Emilia) explored the crossing from the Small Village to the Large Village, continuing the investigations undertaken in 2015-2016. A large sector of the “Terramara” ditch was opened which, from the edge of the Small Village, crossed the deepest part of the ditch itself and then reached the Large Village. Across the entire area, the upper layers provided occupation evidence dating to between the late Recent Bronze Age and the early Final Bronze Age, therefore coeval with the collapse of the “Terramare” system. This occupation, characterised by scarce archaeological material scattered in the colluvial deposits and sub-surface stagnant water, seems to indicate a general degradation in the settlement’s structures, by then on the verge of being abandoned. Based on the postholes found this season, together with those found during previous campaigns, the late Recent Bronze Age bridge can be reconstructed as being formed by five rows of postholes 10 m wide and 32 m long, thus very different from the others identified at the southern edge of the Large Village, which were much smaller. Therefore, the bridge linking the two villages was a large structure that required a substantial effort to build, and is coherent with the massive defensive works begun in this period as part of the restructuring of the entire village. The particularly dry weather in 2017 facilitated the exploration of the deepest part of the ditch up against the Small Village, which was hampered by the presence of spring water during previous seasons. It was thus possible to establish the fluvial nature of the deposits, which accumulated here between the late Middle Bronze Age and the late Recent Bronze Age, first carried by a weak water flow and later by large scale flooding. A row of postholes came to light within the first phase deposits, probably relating to the earliest crossing identified last year.

This was the fourth campaign of excavations dedicated to exploring the crossing between the Small Village and the Large Village of the “Terramare” site of Santa Rosa di Poviglio, concentrating on the western edge that had not previously been reached. At the edge of the Small Village, the excavation examined the contexts relating to the latest phases of the stratigraphy. The N-W segment of the bridge and the large postholes that came to light, some place obliquely to reinforce the structure, were of particular interest. The ditch and numerous wells adjacent to the bridge were also fully explored. The data from the 2018 campaign and that from the previous ones, showed that the bridge appeared to originate from a rise reinforced by numerous cobblestones at the foot of the scarp of the Small Village with a complex rectangular structure with reinforced sides. the archaeological material from this context confirmed that the structures belonged to the latest phases of the Late Bronze Age. In crossing the ditch, at least four rows of posts were arranged over an overall width of c. 6 m. On either side of this arrangement, there were two more rows of posts, on a different alignment from the bridge posts. There interpretation is uncertain, but they could constitute panels to protect the bridge. One of the numerous pits in the ditch contained, under a layer of large cobblestones, the complete skeleton of a baby pig. The circumstances of its discovery show that it was certainly a ritual deposition. Indeed, based on the radiocarbon dating it dates to a very late phase of the LB2, on the threshold of the crisis that would determine the abandonment of the settlement of Santa Rosa and more generally the collapse of the “Terramare” civilisation. An evocative interpretation would be to associate the votive offering with the drought that had manifested itself locally with the lowering of the water tables and subsequent excavation of wells in the ditches to try to reach the deeper ones. Lastly, at the end of the campaign, three core samples were taken to then north of the site, in order to make a detailed analysis, based on the palaeo-botany, of the palaeo-environmental context of the “Terramare” site and its relationship with the palaeo-riverbed of the river Po.