A number of medieval church buildings are present in the area of the chapel of San Cerbone in the Gulf of Baratti, which were preceded by late antique structures probably relating to the bishopric of Cerbone dating to the 5th century A.D. In addition, the cathedral stands on the gulf’s coast.

The excavation of the medieval remains exposed the structures of two churches, one 11th century the other 12th century, and other earlier buildings, one dating to the 10th century, the other probably early medieval on the site on which the present chapel of S. Cerbone stands. The excavations also uncovered a large cemetery in continuous use between the 9th and 15th centuries, which to date numbers 450 inhumation burials.

The cemetery area provided important evidence about the intensity of life and settlement in the gulf of Baratti in a historical period that was virtually unknown until now and with significant para-urban characteristics that were unsuspected to date.

In fact, a cemetery of this size presupposes a well-organised settlement and continuous occupation that contrasts with the scattered or nonexistent settlement that history, even recent, has sustained existed here, even in the absence of archaeological evidence. The excavation has changed this point of view based on the almost total silence of the written sources from the beginning of the 9th century to the 14th century, when there is mention of the construction of a new wharf by the maritime Republic of Pisa.

The 11th and 12 century church and adjacent cemetery uncovered by the excavations seem related to the baptismal chapel of S. Maria di Porto Baratti, only attested by the sources in 1298, while the precise location and analysis of what remains of the castle of Baratti below ground, known from archives dating to the end of 1117, has yet to be determined. The entity of commercial and port traffic in relation to external and internal markets and production have also to be defined, in other words the nature of the port itself and of its infrastructures.

This season’s excavations aimed to complete the investigation of the medieval cemetery, in which the crest of a wall was identified. This was probably part of the early medieval church abandoned after the raid by the Orobiti (Greek) pirates in 809 and from which came the fragments of a 7th century ciborium visible in the bell gable and façade of the present chapel of San Cerbone.

The wall in question was built directly on top of a Roman basalt road surface, which will be investigated in coming seasons.