Between 2004 and 2006 a large scalepreventivee excavation was undertaken on an area destined for the construction of Bergamo’s new hospital, in the locality of Trucca at the foot of the hills on the south-western edge of the town.

Following preliminary investigations geological core samples were taken, a surface survey made and a series of trial trenches were put in to test the stratigraphy. These operations led to the identification of the remains of a prehistoric settlement in the north-western zone.

The excavation, begun in 2006, over an area of 5.500 m2 examined the diachronic evolution of the territory. Despite being not particularly appealing from the point of view of situation and environmental conditions, the site was in use and/or occupied, although with long gaps, from the 4th millennium B.C. to the early medieval period and beyond. Moreover, there was significant and extensive occupation in the Copper Age: – the first occupation evidence dates to the Neolithic and comprises several stone tools including retouched blade, found in a charcoal lens; – between the end of the 4th and the 3rd millennium B.C., in the early Copper Age, a settlement stood on the banks of the swamps scattered across the area. Hut bottoms were present of which traces of the palisades, pot holes, floors and hearths associated with abundant pottery remain. Amongst the pottery were vases deliberately broken in situ, associated with evidence for stone tool working which comprised amongst other things a green stone axe, a half-moon and arrowheads with tangs; – following a long period of abandonment the area was again occupied in an episodic fashion, probably for hunting, in the middle Bronze Age, around the 2nd millennium B.C.; winged arrow heads were found for this period; – In the Iron Age, above (?) traces of prehistoric agricultural activity, part of the area seemed to have been used for Celtic burials of the Golasecca culture (G IIIA). Disturbed by agricultural activities this remains to be ascertained; – in the Roman period there were interventions for the regulation of water supply and agricultural activities, attested by a few artefacts, in particular coins; – early medieval occupation, indicated by occasional pottery finds, is supported by the results of archival and toponomastical research which indicate that an ancient road passed here. This is still recognisable along the ditch which runs on the eastern side of the Trucca, and from upper Bergamo, passing via Borgo Canale (where one of the town’s Roman necropoli is situated), goes in the direction of the Serio.