At the foot of the plateau of San Teodoro, on the north side of the provincial road “Destra Basento”, a group of square oikoi (15 and 19sq.m) have been uncovered. A stone footing, reinforced at the corners with large cobbles, outlines the structure. The walls were probably of mud brick. Two rooms, despite having separate north facing entrances, are associated with each other and have a central wall in common. Inside one of these rooms, amongst the stratified material together with numerous reels, was the lid of a proto-Corinthian pyxis. In a corner of the same room, below a beaten earth surface, was a cooking jar which had been deliberately hidden and protected. Fragments of striped cups indicate an unexpected and hurried abandonment of this complex in the second half of the 7th century B.C., an event which fits perfectly within the historical scenario surrounding the so-called Greek settlement of Incoronata. This discovery can be interpreted as a new area of Greek frequentation, preceding the Achaean foundation of Metaponto, which is scattered across the alluvial plain of the Basento in the proximity of natural water sources.
The river Basento and its wide valley seem to re-affirm their importance in the occupation phases that precede the colony’s foundation. The new settlement presents itself almost as a “trait d’union” between the hypothesized emporium-workshop structure at the river’s delta and the settlement at Incoronata. This form of dispersed settlement, often used to explain the anomaly of Sirtis and its territory, finds interesting confirmation in the evidence from the “Destra Basento”. This type of scenario explains the find of several huts, dating to the 7th century B.C., on the terraces of Lama San Nicola, on the north bank of the river Cavone, in the territory of Pisticci. The construction technique and the limited stratigraphy suggest the existence of an indigenous context which was occupied for a short time. (Maria Luisa Nava)