The Greek town of Laos, on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, was founded by Sybaris. Situated on the southern border of the Lucanian territory, the town was gradually annexed and became populated by Italic peoples. The result was the development of a particular type of culture, born of the meeting of worlds, Greek and indigenous.
Discovered in 1929 during the construction of the Naples-Reggio Calabria road, the site has been the object of several excavations directed by E. Galli (1929), P.G. Guzzo (later G.F. La Torre), E. Greco and A. Schnapp (1973-1994). Since 2008, the remains of the Lucanian town and the surrounding area are at the centre of a research programme run by various Italian and French institutions.
As part of larger project for its enhancement/improvement, directed by the Superintendency, new areas were acquired and two excavation campaigns took place.

The investigation involved the extension towards the south of the large road (plateia A) at the crossroads with road 4. In this sector of the town, the remains of a housing block were discovered, bounded to the north by the crossroads of the plateia with road 4, and to the south by a monumental channel, also perpendicular to the plateia, which interrupted it at a distance of about 35 m.

The new building complex (denominated ‘Building with courtyard’) did not present rooms or divisions within its interior, with the exception of rooms A and B. The north and east perimeter walls were abutted at right angles by a series of small, regular dividing walls of equal size (0.80 × 0.50 m), defining a sort of shallow portico. At the centre of the vast atrium there were structures and tanks for clay working. Based on the arrangement of the rooms, it may be proposed that there was an entrance on the south side, where a narrow entrance hall was visible. On either side of the latter were at least two rooms, giving access to another atrium. Over all, this complex appears to cover circa 700 m2 and seems similar in size to other excavated large Lucanian aristocratic residences. The spatial organisation of the building suggests it was functional rather than residential, perhaps used for clay working for economical and productive ends. The stratigraphic sequence provided a date of around the first half of the 3rd century B.C. for the structure’s abandonment.