The research undertaken at ancient Satricum concentrated on three areas: Poggio dei Cavallari, the area of the presumed agger at the city’s eastern boundary and the acropolis.

The 2006 excavation concentrated on the area of Poggio dei Cavallari, where, in recent years 140m of wall have been discovered. Dating to the end of the 6th-beginning of the 5th century B.C. they can be interpreted as the foundations of the road which led to the acropolis. Graves dating to the 5th century B.C. were documented along the sides of the road.

The investigation identified a road on a north/west-south/east alignment flanked by two structures which made use of the side walls of the road itself. The tile rubble and other material found overlying its presumed surface suggest that the road and the structures went out of use at a certain point. The fact that the rubble was found in combination with a thick upper layer of clean sand, in various places covering the walls themselves, indicates that the sand at least was a raising or levelling of the surface. The rubble seems to be in secondary deposition and not the result of a fall in situ following a fire. The reason behind the raising of the level is unsure due to the absence of the upper surface and of any structures. Some indication of their original purpose is given by the presence of large cobbles across the entire area, which, where in situ were always on a higher level than the archaic walls, an indication that they belong to a later construction phase. The raising of the zone is datable to the post-archaic period, given the presence of several fragments of late archaic tiles amongst the rubble overlying the surface. The later material, which forms part of the surface itself does not date to beyond the archaic period. The connection between this road and the archaic one is yet to be clarified.

There was a group of at least five tombs excavated in the archaic road surface, identified as a family unit. Dated on the basis of the vases they contained to between the 5th-4th century B.C., the period when Satricum was inhabited by the Volsci, the tombs demonstrate that the archaic settlement was not limited to the acropolis, but that there were buildings in the lower part of the city. In the post-archaic period, the restructuring of the archaic road and of the side road show that the settlement was still of an urban nature. This restructuring was not an isolated phenomenon but must have been part of a larger project which included building work within the urban area itself.

It may be suggested that architectural structures were also present along the road side but were not uncovered by the excavations as they were probably obliterated by levelling, an indication of this being the dumps of rubble and sand to raise levels and the presence of numerous cobbles throughout the upper layers. (MiBAC)