During 2002 the excavation of the market area of the ancient settlement of Musarna brought to light a space in whose south-west corner there were two pits connected by small channels which allowed their contents to be drained into a sewer. This feature dates to the earliest occupation phase of the space and attests its original use as a courtyard or storage area. A hearth built of tile fragments, visible below a corner of the tank situated north-west of the area, can be dated to a later phase.

Two trenches were dug in the area of the south-east gate: the first inside the gate uncovered a level dating to the 4th century B.C., immediately preceding the gate’s construction, cart tracks along the north side of the cut and various make ups for roads of later date which remained in use until the late antique period. The second trench was dug outside the gate in order to look at the road network. It brought to light the road exit which made it possible to move along the area between the two defensive walls, along the eastern side of the site. Also uncovered were the northern end of the defensive system and a votive deposit, comprising a layer of earth rich in anatomical votives, statues of ornated, coins and late antique pottery.

The votives found outside the gate are not in situ, but a long way from their primary deposit which must have been on the summit of the agger, south of the south gate, near a large building which was probably a temple dating to the city’s foundation.

Investigations undertaken in the Imperial necropolis provided a clearer picture of the cemetery’s topography. Divided into two sectors by a central road it housed burials in earthen graves and “a cappuccina” tombs. (MiBAC)