The 2017 campaign undertaken by Milan University in collaboration with the local Superintendency, aimed to continue the excavations in the area of the so-called “Complesso Alfa”. In addition, a trench was opened further to the east (East trench) to check the stratigraphy in correspondence with the negative evidence visible in aerial photographs, generally interpreted as the external ditch of a curtain wall.

East Trench

In the northern part of the trench, where aerial photographs suggested the presence of the ditch, two walls were exposed that indicated the continuation of the settlement towards the north-east. Based on the materials found, including fragments of an Apulian figured crater, it is thought that this part of the settlement relates, as does the “Compesso Alfa”, to the final occupation phase in this area (second half of the 4th-early 3rd century B.C.).

Area south of “Complesso Alfa”

This season, the aim was to further define the plan of this complex, which the evidence increasingly seems to suggest had both civic and ritual functions. An extensive layer of collapse suggested the structure continued towards the south, therefore, the excavation was extended across the entire southern sector, exposing numerous walls. The walls formed three distinct buildings, denominated (west to east) L, M, and N, arranged around a large open space, situated in the northern part of the trench. The new elements represented the direct continuation of the structures documented during the previous campaign. The materials recovered from the new rooms dated to between the mid 4th and the early 3rd century B.C. In room M, there was a ritual deposition, with upside down vases protected by limestone slabs. The archaeological record will be completed during the 2018 campaign.