The research areas are situated on the summits of Monte della Croce (639 m a.s.l.) and Monte della Guardia (665.5 m a.s.l.), which are linked by a wide saddle. The summits form a single morphological context (and are thus commonly known as Monte Croce-Guardia), delimited on all sides by steep slopes, with a maximum difference in height of over 350 m, south of Monte Guardia (the side facing onto the Fosso dell’Acquasanta valley). Monte della Croce has a vast summit plateau, while Monte Guardia is characterised by a much smaller flat summit area. Monte della Guardia can be seen from the Adriatic coast to the east and the Apennine Umbrian-Marche watershed to the west. Its visibility to the south and north is limited by the presence of higher peaks. The site of Monte Croce-Guardia has been known since the early 1960s when Delia Lollini excavated there. The only published research relates to the 1961 excavations although the Superintendency dug on the site in 1963, 1968, 1973-74 and 1995. Recent research has gathered together all the available archaeological documentation and a preliminary study of the finds indicates the site was occupied between a late period of the Recent Bronze Age and the end of the Final Bronze Age.

The 2015 excavations explored a structure that was partially investigated in 1995. It is situated on the Monte Croce plateau, at c. 110 m south-west of the “Lo Scoiattolo” kiosk and immediately south of the old sports ground (fig. 1). There were two reasons for choosing to work in this area: firstly, the necessity to complete the 1995 excavations, secondly, the great interest in the structural remains uncovered in 1995, which suggested the existence of a large rectangular structure.

Completion of the excavation identified the foundation channels and post-holes relating to a large building (c. 85 m2). Structural features in the bedrock provided important details of the construction and supporting elements, which indicated that the building had internal transverse divisions and probably outbuildings indicated by other channels, postholes and large storage pits (figs. 2-3). This is the first completely excavated and accurately surveyed Final Bronze Age building in the middle Adriatic area.

A preliminary examination of the archaeological materials, overall very fragmentary and in a bad state of preservation, confirmed the dating of the context to a full phase of the final Bronze Age (9th – early 10th century B.C.). The pottery finds mainly comprised carenated cups or necked cups with oblique ribs on the carination or shoulder, several handle fragments attributable to vertical double handles and a raised handle with truncated horns. Other important finds included the fragments of a Frattesina type comb in hard animal material, datable to a full Final Bronze Age horizon, a blue glass paste bead, an intact large bronze pin with a ‘curled’ head and an extremely fragmentary barrel-shaped amber bead. However, there are also some finds dating to the earliest phase of the Final Bronze Age (and perhaps to the latest phase of the Recent Bronze Age), while there are very few finds attributable to a later period. Lastly, worthy of note was the presence at the base of the fill in a perimeter foundation channel, of a bi-faced white flint arrowhead with tang and wings, and a fragment of a smoothed stone hammer axe found in the fill of a large circular storage pit, both probably dating to the Copper Age.