This was the fourth excavation campaign in the locality of Li Schiavoni (Nardò – LE), occupied by a small Messapian settlement (covering c. 3 hectares) surrounded by a polygonal wall (about 650 m long) and a ditch on the east side. The investigations concentrated on the south-eastern and southern sectors of the large plateau corresponding with the ancient settlement, within an area of private agricultural land. A trench was opened on the south side of the ancient wall that had not been previously investigated, where part of the inner line of the defensive structure was uncovered. Alongside it, there were numerous large impasto containers, broken in situ and in part crushed one against the other. They probably indicate the presence of a storage structure for dry foodstuffs that abutted the wall itself.

The most interesting find, a short distance from the wall, was a secondary deposition delimited by a sub-quadrangular border of red clayey soil, and covered by a slab of tufaceous stone. In addition to human remains (cranium fragment, molars and incisors), probably those of a young girl, it contained a series of artefacts datable to between the late 6th and the mid 5th century B.C.: a one-handled cup in banded ware, containing a small black glaze olpe, a bronze fibula and fragments of a second one, a simple bronze bracelet, a bronze bead and a glass paste bead.
In an internal area of the settlement, the work begun in 2018 continued in order to gain a better understanding of aspects relating to the organization of the residential spaces. Two lines of rectangular stone blocks emerged, on a north-south alignment, probably the foundations of the walls of a house. The remains of two baked-clay circular hearths were found on the west side of the foundations. They were in a row with the hearth (similar in shape and size) found last year. Next to them, on the west side, lay large pieces of impasto containers, quite well-preserved, and broken in situ (although partly dispersed). The latter’s presence along with the hearths indicates that this was a domestic context dedicated to cooking food and the storage of dry foodstuffs.

The sector immediately north, probably covered by a roof, was also a service area for the house. In fact, here there was a cavity in the bedrock, partially excavated and evened-out by man, which was used as a cistern for water collection.