The tenth campaign of the excavations on the necropolis of the Macchiabate in Francavilla Marittima led to the discovery and excavation of two burials situated in the Area Est and two more in the new area called “Collina”.

Two graves from the 8th century BC were found in the Area Est. The tomb Est 12 contained the burial of a young woman with a garb made out of bronze jewelry and the usual grave goods of an olla and an attingitoio made out of clay. Besides that, the tomb contained a high number of spindle whorls and at least three loom weights. It is obvious that the buried woman somehow had a connection to the textile production.
The tomb Est 13 lies between the tombs Est 11 and Est 12. It contained an olla, three small bronze rings and a piece of iron, presumably from a knife. The little anthropological remains define the buried person as a child between 9 and 12 years of age.

In the new Area “Collina” a surface of 12 × 6.5 m was opened and investigated in order to find tomb structures. A lot of vases and sherds – both made of different clays – were found among the many stones without a recognizable grave structure that they could have belonged to. Two burials with ceramic grave goods, both dating to the 6th and 7th century BC, were found in-between.

The investigations in the Area “Collina” have confirmed the presence of tombs from the colonial period in that part of the necropolis. For the first time after nearly 50 years, archaic tombs have been found in the Macchiabate-necropolis. Although only two tombs were clearly identified, the high number of ceramic shards spread over nearly the whole surface show an intensive frequentation of this zone in the archaic era. Many tombs seem to have been victims of the pluvial erosion and the post-ancient frequentation of animals and humans.
The most commonly found vase so far in the Area “Collina” is the aryballos of the globular type. The other vases can mostly be classified as drinking vessels, e.g. cups and skyphoi.