ARES - Archeologia, Reenacment e Storia (IT) is a cultural non-profit organization, which raises the aim of highlighting the history of their country. What ARES intends to do is to build a Lombard hut (Grubenhaus), using the methodologies of Imitative and Experimental Archaeology.

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This idea comes from a group of archaeologists and people keen on archaeology that created the project Presenze Longobarde, within the not-for-profit association ARES-Archeologia, Reenactment e Storia. The aim of the project is the study of the material culture of the Lombard Piedmont (end of VI – VII century A.D.), on the base of the numerous archaeological evidences. We use Historical Reconstruction and Experimental Archaeology as instruments to develop historical and archaeological researches and to popularize the results.
Our project imagines the construction, with imitative and experimental methods, of a grubenhaus, i.e. a pit-house of the Lombard period (end VI – VII century A.D.). The
structure, quadrangular (approximately 3 meters for side ) was composed of: a framework of wooden poles, walls of daub, and a roof in perishable materials. The floor is the distinctive trait of this type of hut and is situated on a level deeper than the outer ground (approximately 70 cm).
The grubenhaus will be built in the Experimental Area of Massello (Torino, Italy), a space we designed for projects of Experimental Archaeology and Historical Reconstruction; a place where rebuild buildings and craft activities on the base of archaeological evidences of the Early Medieval Piedmont.
At present day we realized: a first open-type structure, part of the wooden palisade and a furnace for the extraction of silver from the argentiferous lead. Aside being a research center, the Experimental Area will be part of the touristic network of Massello (Torino, Italy) and will be open to public on the occasion of experimental tests, specific events, workshops and guided tours.
The project is conduct in collaboration with the municipality of Massello and the LArS (Laboratory of Experimental Archaeology of the University of Siena); furthermore, our association is member of EXARC, the international network of Open Air Museum and projects of Experimental Archaeology.
The donations received will cover the costs of wood, clay and roof material for the structure and the material for the reconstruction of the interior part of the hut.

(In the picture, the grubenhaus built in Hitzacker, Germany)