The excavations were carried out by members of the CNR mission and several students from Naples ‘Orientale’ University. No mechanical means were used during the excavation as there was a very thin layer of soil deposited over the outcropping surface of the tufa bedrock. The object of the investigations was the area close to the votive deposits, continuing the 2015 trench, along the western side of the site. It was seen that the sudden rise in level documented last year continued to the south, creating a clear difference in height inside the sacred area between the monumentalised zone (housing the aedes, altars, wells and other service structures), situated on an upper level, and that apparently only characterised by the presence of the favissae and votive dumps, situated at a lower level.

All across the exposed surface of the tufa bedrock there were ancient traces of quarrying and thin linear incisions associated with post-antique agricultural activity. Such activity, together with illegal excavations, probably contributed to disturbing the stratigraphy, so much so that the finds from various periods were all jumbled together. It was also seen that the entire side of the hill facing the town, like that facing the Manganello torrent, presents deep cracking and substantial splitting away of the rock, which has fallen into the valley bottom, caused by tree roots growing along the edge of the cliff. Therefore, the north and south edges of the sacred area had certainly been cut in recent times by geomorphological instability and root growth, which have partially altered the physiognomy of these places.

Together with the usual votive objects and Hellenistic pottery, the finds included numerous fragments of impasto pottery from the Orientalizing period, attributable to a phase of the site’s occupation that may perhaps pre-date the sanctuary’s foundation. During the survey of the valley floor large quantities of pottery from various periods was collected, in addition to some iron slag and a small bronze coin of Republican date, showing a helmeted head on the obverse and a ship’s prow and the word “ROMA” on the reverse.