In 2009 the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archelogici della Basilicata planned a small excavation on the plateau of San Salvatore, which had been investigated repeatedly between the seventies and the nineties, in an area where remains of a relatively well preserved building were still visible. The new excavation allowed us to verify the presence of a stratigraphic sequence consistent with the one previously found in the whole area of Timmari. The most ancient phase refers to a Neolithic and Eneolithic settlement, as attested by ceramic fragments of impasto and a fragment of a bowl with a zoomorphic handle belonging to the facies Serra d’Alto. There are no layers belonging to this stage or to the Bronze Age, but only residual materials. Some pavement layers can be dated to the Iron Age. These consist of patches of pebbled- or earthen-flooring, and probably postholes belonging to huts. An important chronological clue to date this phase is given by pottery fragments from a levelling layer, belonging to a impasto vessel, a fragment with floral decoration and especially a fragment of a Greek cup with sigma pattern.
In the southern area of the trench, where accurate investigation was possible, were found remains of huts of the archaic phase, consisting of patches of packed dirt- and earthen-floors, and some pits for burials that were found plundered. These remains were obliterated by a layer containing finds of the second half of the 6th century BC, which constitutes the terminus ante quem for this phase.

After a long break spanning from the end of the archaic age to the mid 4th century BC, with significant reduction of archaeological evidence, there is an utter transformation of the previous settlement pattern. Data from the excavations in 2009 have substantially confirmed and integrated the results of previous research carried out in the area. A building consisting of several rooms underwent several transformations from 350 BC to the end of the 3rd century such as the raising of the floor level and the blocking of a doorway. Among the finds of this phase there are the fragment of a tile with incomplete Grecian stamp and a silver coin of the mint of Rome.

Between the end of the 3rd and the 2nd century BC there was a huge restructuring of the settlement with a sequence of land levelling actions and the demolition of portions of the previous structures in order to build new brick buildings. These are badly preserved due to the shallow cover of soil and intensive ploughing. The interpretation of this latter phase, that possibly never extended to the whole plateau, is highly complex. In the 2009 excavation this phase was visible only in rooms 3 and 4, and in the northern area where there is a pavement made of fragments of tiles set in a mortar bed.