This was the second 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 against the east side of the walls and clearly visible on aerial and satellite images.

The excavations aimed to understand the settlement type and occupation phases, and to intercept the remains of the curtain walls. The opening of a trench against the dry-stone wall bordering the west side of the plateau documented the characteristics of the fortifications, perhaps built in two successive phases. An imposing structure was exposed, characterised by two faces made of large irregular stone blocks and by am emplecton of calcareous and tufaceous stones, imbrices and pottery fragments. The study of the materials from the levels associated with these structures is still ongoing. However, they seem to attest steady occupation of the area within the archaic and Classical periods, although earlier materials datable to the Bronze and Iron Ages were also present, as was some Hellenistic material.

At the same time an interior area was investigated, where finds were documented – unfortunately in secondary deposition and jumbled – attributable to the presence of burials (blocks of tufa and slabs of Leccese stone and tufa, fragments of vessels from tomb groups). Although the activities of clandestine excavators have permanently damaged this archaeological context, there was some particularly interesting material among the finds, several fragments of imported Attic and Corinthian vases and from vases of colonial production, evidence for the settlement’s commercial contacts, especially between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. These contacts were certainly facilitated by the site’s position, inland but not far from the Ionian coast and dominating a vast territory.