Two campaigns were undertaken by the Ecole française de Rome at Megara Hyblea in 2018. The research is divided into study of the materials, topography and trenches excavated in the area east of the large north-western sanctuary.

In spring 2018, the second campaign of excavations took place in the urban area, east of the north-west sanctuary. The 2017 excavations aimed to check the topography in the zone where the geophysical surveys carried out in 2008-2009 and 2011-2013 indicated the presence of a large quarter with a regular layout (“West plateau”), which seemed to be a necropolis perhaps post-dating the primitive quarters of the agora. The three trenches of the first campaign had revealed the presence of 6th century levels below c. 20 cm of agricultural soil. It was possible to document the organisation of the remains of insula 113, between two roads E10 and E11. In 2018, an area of c. 400 m2 was opened in the area of trenches 1 and 3 (2107). Here, an entire house was uncovered (lot 113W4), together with part of the adjacent house (lot 113W3), part of the road E11, and part of a house west of the road (lot 114E4). Three rooms in the house west of the road (lot 114E4) were completely excavated and part of the inner courtyard, revealing three occupation phases for the archaic period, between the first quarter of the 7th century B.C. and the late 6th century B.C. There was also a post-archaic phase, characterised by several robber trenches. A 1.20 m trench was opened in road E11 that revealed the edge of the Neolithic ditch (fig. 1) below the western part of the road, which was not excavated this year. The corner of the house in lot 114E4 appeared to the west of the road, its walls built of orthostats that would seem to indicate a very early date (c. 700 B.C.).