The known archaeological site in contrada Santa Barbara, in the territory south of Polignano a Mare, is situated on the second sub-coastal rise (c. 60 m a.s.l.) at 1.5 km from the coast. The archaeological site, already noted in the 1940s for the presence of artificial hypogea, was systematically investigated during the mid 1970s. The archaeological area covers 25 hectares close to the first terrace of Bari’s south-eastern murge.

In 2016, excavations took place in the north-eastern area of the Neolithic hut settlement to investigate an unexplored section of the trench-ditch that seemed to intercept a series of underground structures most of which were reused in the historical period. As well as continuing the investigation of the structures identified during the last campaign, a new underground structure was explored which the first results show was used for funerary purposes until an early phase of the meander-spiral ceramic culture.