Excavations were completed on the north-eastern side of Cumae, along the edge of the ancient lagoon of Liculi. The geo-environmental investigations ascertained that the latter had fluctuated over the centuries due to alluvial deposits from the river Volturno and the movement of the dunes along its edge, added to which were the effects of the Flegrean volcanic activity.

The new excavations looked at three sectors of the via Domitiana: the first at 50 m outside the town gate, the second at circa 200 m and the third at circa 250 m. These investigations defined the transformation of the environment before and after the construction of the road.

A notable discovery in the first sector was that of two Iron Age earth graves below a thick layer of marshy clay. The first belonged to a female individual, the tomb group comprising a necklace with an amber bead, a simple bronze bow fibula, a spindle whorl and four impasto vases. The second grave was below a tumulus of tufa blocks covered with stones. It belonged to an infant, the tomb group comprising six impasto vases and a simple bronze bow fibula (second half of the 8th century B.C.). It is very likely that the burials were part of a larger necropolis that was partially explored between 1893 and 1903 in the area between the lower town and the zone outside the walls.

The level corresponding to the pre-Hellenistic tombs was covered by a layer of mud (circa 1 m deep), which may correspond to the marsh existing around the lagoon of Liculi between the Iron Age and the late Republican period. Situated at a short distance from the port, it confirms the account by Dionysius of Halicarnassus (VII, 4, 1-2) of the battle of Cumae (524 a.C.), in which the Hellenes, in order to block the barbarians, face them in a narrow gorge, closed between mountains and marshes.