The 2010 excavation identified 20 new burials (three still to be excavated), bringing the number found to date to a total of 60. Of the new burials seventeen belong to the “cemetery 2” phase (T. 39-49, 51, 53, 55-60), datable to the 16th-17th century. This phase saw the reorganisation of the earlier cemetery, the construction of the containing wall delimiting the east side of the cemetery area in correspondence with the apse, the extension of the church facade towards the west. The other three burials (T.50, 52 and 54), datable to the 13th-14th century (“cemetery 1” phase), related to the cemetery’s use in the period when the apse was monumentalised with the use of large worked limestone blocks.

Eighteen of these burials were on a west-east alignment, with the head to the west and, in some cases, a hollow below the cranium, the grave cut reinforced with stones and the arms crossed over the pelvis.

Two burials were distinguished by a different position, the only examples found to date: tomb 53, an adult burial in a very bad state of preservation, was orientated east-west with the head to the east, tomb 55, also that of an adult, was very well-preserved and orientated south-north with the head to the south. The positioning of this burial cut into tomb 44, causing the displacement of the pelvis and right femur.

Seven of the burials excavated this year (T. 43; 46-47; 49; 56-58) were those of infants, none being more than five years of age. As seen in previous campaigns the burials were placed in the empty spaces between the adult depositions, with a larger concentration in the north-western sector of the investigated area, close to the “Lamboglia excavation” (1963).

Again, as in previous years, the almost total absence of grave goods was noted; the little ceramic material found – Archaic Tyrrhenian grafitto, Archaic majolica, 16th-17th century Ligurian glazed wares – confirmed the dating proposed for the two cemetery phases.

In collaboration with the Universities of Genoa and Pisa and the support of Diano Marina Civic Museum, during 2009-2010 the anthropometric study of a number of the excavated burials began. A first sample of 10 burials was examined, 9 of which from the “cemetery 2” phase (16th-17th century), from which it was possible to draw the first conclusions about the population of Diana in that period. This research will be extended to a larger number of examples.