This was the seventh campaign of excavations in Rontana castle. Investigations were undertaken in new sectors uncovering new evidence that improved understanding of the interior organisation of the site and defined the function of several areas. The first trench (Sector 1000) was opened in one of the most important zones of the site of Monte Rontana, on the summit area of the castle. It was largely an extension of a sector excavated during all preceding campaigns. The trench was placed exactly at the centre between two ogival towers linked by a brick wall, that constitute the northern perimeter of the late medieval fortification. On the west side of this same area, the excavation continued of an important funerary area that related to occupation phases pre-dating the building of the fortification. There were two adjacent groups of burials, covered by a large late medieval ossuary. The burials were associated with three walls made of small worked-chalk blocks, positioned up against the chalky bedrock in order to create an even surface. The remains of about 30 individuals were excavated. The reductions overlay several articulated skeletons, only partially identified. The most interesting burial, aligned north-south, was associated with 13 crania. These were aristocratic burials, probably dating to a period when the entire area was used for funerary purposes.

Another trench (sector 2000) was opened north of the late medieval ‘Rocca’ in an open area delimited by thick walls built of chalk blocks. A new area of iron smelting was uncovered together with the remains of stone arches that covered the spaces between the pilasters (already identified on the surface), which allowed the extension of the walkway along the castle’s curtain walls.
Two more sectors (sectors 8000 and 14000) were excavated in the area north of the castle, in the residential zone. Two new houses were discovered, with floor surfaces cut into the chalk bedrock and small domestic hearths, datable to the second half of the 13th century.

The final trench (sector 13000) was opened in the area of the ‘borgo’, south-east of the castle. Here, traces of an apse delimiting a small funerary aedicule were uncovered. Built of chalk blocks, it was situated along the access road leading to the castle from the south side of the Lamone valley. A large stone cistern with several chambers (sector 15000) was identified at the edge of the castle’s eastern plateau. It was situated close to a postern gate through which a small beaten earth road ran. This road bordered the buildings in this sector of the fortified village, until the final decades of the 16th century.