Investigations continued in the area of the Roman town of Salapia, on the southern shores of the ancient Lake Salpi, now the saltpans of Margherita di Savoia in Apulia. Research mainly took place in the area of the domus in insula XII, also excavated during the two previous campaigns. As this was the last season of a three-year concession, the aim was to define the chronology and plan of the complex as precisely as possible.

The available evidence relates to only a part of a large house (450 m2 have been excavated), built between the second half of the 1st century A.D. and the early 2nd century A.D. A group of seven rooms was arranged along the south and east sides of a porticoed courtyard, or peristyle, with a with a well. The courtyard was probably a garden area. From the second half of the 2nd century A.D., the domus underwent substantial restructuring. Particular care was taken in the enrichment of the decorative scheme, as attested by the use of bi-chrome and polychrome mosaics with geometric motifs for the floors of the residential or reception rooms. This season a very fine bi-chrome mosaic was found in the walkway around the peristyle.

New and interesting evidence has shed light on the building’s later phases. Firstly, between the late 4th and the end of the 5th century A.D., the domestic space contracted, the unused rooms became middens, and the spaces were divided to create smaller residential units. Then, between the 6th and early 7th century, the structures gradually fell into ruin. An accumulation of rubble layers formed on which huts of perishable materials and associated structures for stabling small animals were built.

Excavations also continued in the sector of insula XVI opposite the tannery connected to the domus. Here, a shop/workshop was built on top of a pre-existing structure that was also probably commercial. The shop had spaces for the storage and sale of dry foodstuffs and for craft-working activities. The shop has two rooms, of equal shape and size, separated by a partition wall built of stones. There was only one entrance, which did not face onto the road, but towards a large open space paved with coarse opus signinum and extending to the south and west of the building.

When, between the late 4th century and the early 5th century A.D., a fire destroyed the shop it contained six amphorae, three African (Keay XXV) and three of eastern production (two were LRA1 types). Over 200 small bronze coins were also buried in the collapse, probably the takings from sales. In the adjacent room, the roof collapse obliterated a hearth abutting a wall and, in the part of the room closest to the door, two sub-circular pits were dug into the beaten floor surface. The pit walls showed clear signs of reddening from contact with heat. In the absence of evidence for what was produced inside near the pits, it may be suggested that the activity was connected with metalworking as a large amount of iron slag was found just outside the shop/workshop, scattered on the exterior paving.