Tumulus 9 had been heavily damaged because the hill on which it was located had been used as quarry for gravel. The first operation before starting the excavation was to clean the whole surface of the vegetation. The area was also systematically mapped with a Total Stationt, in order to obtain a three dimensional model of the tumulus and the zone around it. The hill was then divided into four sectors along the cardinal axes. The tumulus was made by 5 stratigraphic layers.
The stratigraphic excavation brought to light 67 graves, 13 ceramic deposits, and a feature difficult to define: it consisted of two parallel rows of mud-bricks thirty centimetres apart, between which there were burned animal bones and fragments of five vessels (this structure was named Grave 62).
The skeletal material has been given a preliminary analysis in order to assess the age at death and the sex of the individuals buried in the tumulus. The analysis of the age includes dividing the sample into general age classes (child, sub adult, adult) and determination of an approximate age.
The tumulus was used for three centuries, from the beginning of the 6th to the end of the 4th century B.C., and then reused much later in the XVII-XIX centuries A.D. Inhumation and cremation were both practiced in the tumulus, but inhumation was the greatly preferred ritual: there are 71 inhumations, but only 8 cremations. The graves had various orientations.
Single burials were most common in Tumulus 9; there are, however, eleven multiple burials, five of which had two individuals, and one had three individuals.
The graves included almost all of the types known from previous excavations in the necropolis: sarcophagi, enchytrismoi, graves built of mud-bricks and bricks, simple pits, and urns. Two graves consisted of pits outlined with wood. a special feature in this tumulus that wasn’t found in the other Apollonia tumuli,. Grave goods consisted mostly of pottery; in addition, some metal objects, including bronze jewellery, bronze and iron strigils, and few iron weapons, also accompanied some individuals. In the graves of children and sub-adults astragaloi were frequent, although their number in individual graves varied from one to 150.
There is one particularity which give Tumulus 9 its own “identity”: the presence of grave goods of native culture mixed with the usual imported ones (Grave 45).