From the summer of 2003 research conducted by the University of Milan’s department of Pre-Roman Archaeology in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintenedency of Tuscany, has concentrated on the site at Populonia known as the “Buche delle Fate”. Situated south-east of the Poggio del Molino, in correspondence with the coast between Cala Buia and Cala San Quirico, the area was occupied by a Hellenistic necropolis with hypogean chambers, already partially investigated in the 1840s.

In 2003 the emerging remains were mapped and geo-referenced, further a first examination of the “panchina” (a type of sandstone) quarry fronts, which opened along an ample tract of the area, attesting extensive and prolonged quarrying activity in antiquity, was undertaken.

The 2004 and 2005 excavations concentrated on a steep section of coast, reached by a footpath which led from the locality of Reciso near the beginning of the Populonia-Piombino road. The path joined the necropolis with the hypogean tombs and the terrace above the sea where the latest excavations have brought to light more burials.

The excavations identified and dug 9 inhumations in earth graves (tombs 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16 19) which were intact or only partially effected by land slippage or collapse, 6 disturbed graves (tombs 10 and 12, 17, 18, 20, 29), and an empty hypogean tomb (4). The varied typology of the structures immediately indicated that the area had been used in several phases, from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period, beginning with levels that cannot be precisely identified, but must have been stratigraphically very close together.

The best preserved tombs dated to the end of the 3rd-first half of the 2nd century B.C. Beside the usual simple earth graves, there were burials which were distinguished either by greater depth, as in the case of tomb 13 had a double covering of horizontal slabs, or by a particular type which can be defined pseudo-chamber covered by a tumulus. The latter is the case of tomb 15 which presented a structure unknown to date at Populonia in a horizon of the late Hellenistic period. In the light of this structure it is thought that, among the remains identified in the area piles of slabs and stones, today almost unrecognisable amid the dense undergrowth covering the hills behind the excavation, may be what is left of similar tombs that had been robbed but also effected by land slippage and the growth of the wood.

Generally, the recovered materials can be ascribed to the first quarter of the 2nd century B.C. The production of the Atelier des petits estampilles continued to be well attested, black glaze Campana A imitating metal prototypes and the first production from Volterra were also present. The dates reflect the well known phase in which trade with Attica had been interrupted and the products from South Etruria, Volterra, Lazio and Campania arrived.

Some interesting evidence came to light regarding funerary rituals which was seen in the composition of the tomb groups and in the constant choice of objects such as the askòs in infant burials and lamps in those of adults.

The archaeological evidence reflects the political climate at the beginning of the 2nd century B.C., when Rome conditioned the trend towards the resumption of public building and Populonia, as a sign of political allegiance, kept its formal independence and saw its economy flourish.