This was the first excavation in the locality of Li Schiavoni (Nardò), a large raised plateau, where surface survey identified a fortified Messapian settlement. The ancient walls, whose remains are clearly visible underneath the low dry-stone wall surrounding the plateau, created a sub-elliptical enclosure, up to c. 650m wide and with a surface area of c. three hectares. The defences were reinforced by a ditch created up against the east side of the walls and clearly visible on aerial and satellite images.
The entire area inside the walls presented outcrops of ancient materials, including pottery and tile, worked stone slabs and blocks, relating to buildings or the facing/coverings for tombs.

The excavations were concentrated on an area of privately owned agricultural land, which occupied the south-western part of the ancient settlement. The opening of a trench up against the low dry-stone wall bordering the west side of the plateau revealed the partial collapse of the defensive structure, whose state of preservation appeared compromised by rebuilds and robbing.

A north-west/south-east alignment of large irregular stone blocks emerged at the north-eastern edge of the trench. The last two blocks, which emerged on the northern margin of the trench, differed from the others in morphology and size; one was fixed vertically in the terrain and consolidated on the sides with small supporting stones. The materials recovered from the layers associated with these structures seem to attest constant occupation of the area mainly in the archaic and Classical periods, although a small amount of residual material from a probable proto-historic horizon and later materials from the Hellenistic period were also present.