Excavations promoted by CNR-ISMA took place on the northern edge of the urban plateau of Cerveteri, in the Etruscan sanctuary on the Manganello rock. The same institute had already investigated the area in 2007 in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of South Etruria. This research uncovered the architectural structures excavated by Mangarelli in the first half of the 20th century and made a new survey of the site using modern technologies.
The 2014 campaign began with a geophysical survey of the site’s immediate surroundings. In addition to the previously known structures (the so-called temple and wells), the investigation uncovered the phases of the building site set up in antiquity for the construction of the sacred building and related structures.

The excavations took place across all of the vast area occupied by the sanctuary, starting from the known structures in a south-west direction. Another section of the ancient quarry used for extracting building materials was uncovered together with a series of walls built in tufa blocks on a north-west/south-east alignment.

Close to the well that came to light in 2007 a dump of mixed materials was uncovered that included numerous bones of sacrificial animals and fragments of pottery used in the rituals.
A large amount of pottery dating to the Iron Age, Orientalizing, and Archaic periods was found across the excavation indicating the existence of occupation phases that substantially pre-date the monumentalisation of the sanctuary in the 5th-4th century B.C.