Archaeologists investigating a submerged prehistoric settlement in Italy have uncovered Late Bronze Age pottery, remarkably preserved ears of spelt and mysterious wooden structures, adding to a series of discoveries beneath the waters of Lake Bolsena.
The finds were made during the 2026 research campaign at Gran Carro di Bolsena, an archaeological site submerged beneath the volcanic lake in central Italy.
They come after researchers announced another exceptional discovery at the site — the first known Iron Age textile fragment recovered there in more than 60 years of investigation.
Together, the discoveries are providing archaeologists with an increasingly detailed picture of communities that occupied the lakeshore during the closing centuries of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.
Pottery pushes settlement deeper into prehistory
Among the most significant discoveries are ceramic vessels identified as belonging to the Late Bronze Age.
Researchers say the pottery provides firm evidence of a Proto-Villanovan phase at Gran Carro, extending the known chronological history of the settlement.
The Proto-Villanovan culture developed in Italy during the final stages of the Bronze Age and preceded the Villanovan culture of the Early Iron Age, which is closely associated with the emergence of Etruscan civilisation.
The newly recovered pottery suggests Gran Carro was not occupied during just one period of Italian prehistory, but developed through several phases.
That makes the submerged settlement particularly valuable for archaeologists attempting to understand how communities in central Italy changed during the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
Ancient spelt survives beneath the lake
Perhaps the most unusual finds came from an enigmatic area of the archaeological complex known as the Aiola.
Researchers discovered intact ears of spelt deposited inside ceramic vessels, preserved for millennia in the waterlogged environment.
The plant remains were found alongside objects bearing similarities to grave goods known from Villanovan burials of the Early Iron Age.
Their presence could offer evidence about far more than prehistoric agriculture.
Researchers hope analysis of the spelt and its archaeological context could shed light on food resources, ritual activity and possible funerary practices, as well as the symbolic importance ancient communities attached to particular crops.
The discovery is particularly valuable because organic materials rarely survive for thousands of years at archaeological sites on land.
Mystery surrounds large wooden structures
The lake has also preserved another material normally vulnerable to decay: wood. Large wooden elements have been identified beneath stones in the lower portion of what has been described as a sacred mound at the site.
Further investigation will be required to establish whether they formed part of a building, platform or another type of prehistoric structure.
Their survival nevertheless gives archaeologists an opportunity to examine construction materials and techniques that would probably have disappeared entirely had the settlement been preserved on dry land.
Other organic discoveries from Gran Carro include woven material, including an artefact thought possibly to have been a rope or hawser.
Rare Iron Age textile among 2026 discoveries
The latest discoveries follow the recovery of the first textile fragment identified at Gran Carro despite more than six decades of archaeological research.
That find, together with other evidence associated with textile production, has opened another window into everyday life at the settlement.
Rather than surviving only through pottery and other durable objects, activities carried out by its inhabitants can potentially be reconstructed through textiles, plants and timber.
It is the unusual preservation conditions beneath Lake Bolsena that have made this possible.
By covering the ancient remains, the lake created conditions in which some organic material survived that would ordinarily have decomposed long ago.
Submerged settlement becomes archive of prehistoric Italy
The 2026 campaign was conducted by the Underwater Archaeology Service of the regional Superintendency as part of a three-year programme overseen by Italy’s Ministry of Culture.
Specialist underwater archaeologists from L’Anfora Srl Archeologia Mare Ambiente participated alongside underwater conservators from CSR Restauro Beni Culturali. Conservation work has also been strengthened through an agreement with Italy’s Central Institute for Restoration.
Although fieldwork for the latest campaign has concluded, investigation of the discoveries is only beginning.
Researchers will now have to conserve and analyse the pottery, textiles, botanical remains and timber before comparing them with material recovered during previous excavations.
The combination of Late Bronze Age ceramics, Early Iron Age parallels, preserved crops and unexplained wooden structures is making Gran Carro increasingly important for understanding the long-term occupation of the Lake Bolsena shoreline.
What was once simply a prehistoric settlement hidden beneath a lake is emerging as an unusually well-preserved record of ancient Italian life — with the water still potentially concealing further discoveries.
Sources : Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Province of Viterbo and for Southern Etruria
