The prehistoric phase is documented by an eroded ground level which finds date to the Final Bronze Age. The site presented a predominance of mass land movements and erosion that followed the slope of the hill, with the consequent formation of deposits of various depths.
The next occupation phase is attested by a brick kiln of the modern era. The structure is of the vertical type with square plan which is known from the beginning of the 16th century onwards. Interesting similarities have been found with some models described by Piccolpasso in Li tre libri dell’arte del Vasaio.
So far it has only been possible to document the furnace (3.50 × 3.80m). This was preceded to the north-west by the firing chamber and was linked to the latter by three underground vaulted flues, filled with refractory material resulting from the structure’s demolition. The SW, NE and NW walls were faced with bricks whose size varies between 28/27.5 × 12/11.5 × 6/5.5. They were mostly laid on edge and bonded with mortar and were completely baked and vitrified due to the long exposure to fire, as were the upper sections of the walls and the surrounding terrain, which presented evident signs of reddening along the entire perimeter of the structure to a thickness varying between 20 – 60 cm. The back wall of the chamber, dug directly out of the earth, has no strengthening or containing elements. All internal surfaces were plastered with a layer of clay that had been spread more than once, thus attesting that restoration and maintenance had been carried out on several occasions. Along the perimeters and in correspondence to the buttresses of the extradoses, the bottom divided into four brick built benches distanced by the three stoking flues.
On the lateral NE bench, up against the wall, rested a pilaster of refractory bricks to hold up the solea from the kiln’s first phase of use.
In the third phase the combustion chamber was narrowed by the closure of the third praefurnium and the substitution of the pilasters supporting the firing floor with vaulted structures which were found amongst the collapsed material. (Gabrielle Baldelli, Simone Biondi)