The research campaign on the flint mining site of Cruci, in the territory of Peschici, produced interesting results with regard to the understanding of the working of raw materials close to the mining area. The work concentrated on one of the most extensive spreads of worked flint (CR4), present in the area of Cruci, situated on the upper part of the slope at whose base mines 1 and 2 lie, the latter investigated at the beginning of the 1930s by Ugo Rellini. The area, on which a substantial quantity of worked flint appears, covers about 250 m2 and is at present an olive grove. In the past implements of various types have been found here, including mining tools but mainly burins (over 1000). This is an exceptional quantity for any surface site, and in particular for an Eneolithic workshop connected with mining activity. It was decided to put in a series of trenches in order to identify the horizon from which this material came. A first trench (2) in the lower part of the area, where the amount of worked flint on the surface was the most abundant, unfortunately produced a negative result. The bedrock appeared below only about 20 cm of surface soil mixed with gravel and worked siliceous material, certainly in secondary deposition. The material had certainly slipped downwards, indicating that its primary deposit must have been higher up the slope. Following a re-examination of the surface concentrations of material and their typology, a second trench (3) was opened in the highest part of the scatter, where a large amount of flakes resulting from actual débitage appeared. The excavation (1 x 1 m) was situated at about 20 m from the smallest entrance to mine no. 2 and produced a different stratigraphy from that documented in trench 2. A very recent surface layer of about 10 cm (US 1) was constituted by light brown soil and gravel with very abundant retouched and non-retouched lithic industry, including numerous burins. Below was a second layer, about 15 cm deep, removed as two sub-units (US 1A and US 1B), with the same sedimentological characteristics and abundant lithic industry, above all in US 1 A, less abundant in US 1B. Some of the artefacts presented lime concretions on the surfaces, probably the result of the original contact with gravel from the mine. Like US 1, this second layer is to be considered in secondary deposit, probably not recent, formed by material from a deep archaeological level, situated a little higher up the slope. This hypothesis appeared to be confirmed by the levels underlying US 1: a layer of completely sterile, white limestone mine gravel (US 2), about 20 cm deep, overlying a layer of brown soil (US 3) with lithic industry emerging at the roof. Unfortunately, the excavation stopped here. The material present throughout US 1 probably came from this level which continued uphill from the trench and whose formation probably occurred over a long time period. The extension of the trench uphill may confirm this hypothesis. In the area surrounding the trench, still within scatter CR4, numerous implements were collected, in particular over 50 burins, confirming what was documented by earlier research.

This short campaign on the flint-mining site of Cruci, situated in the territory of Peschici (FG), was undertaken in order to check the hypothesis formed during the 2011 excavations regarding the working of flint in the proximity of the mine site. Work concentrated on one of the areas with the largest scatters (identified as CR4), situated on the upper part of the slope, at the base of which mine n. 2 opened (investigated by Rellini in the 1930s). A vast amount of worked flint lay over this surface (of about 250 m2), both in the form of un-retouched flakes and nuclei and retouched artefacts, in particular Campignani tranchets, but mainly very high quality burins. The latter are usually a marginal presence in Eneolithic complexes on the Gargano peninsula. The 2011 excavation, which aimed to identify the level from which these artefacts came, had uncovered a brown layer with lithic industry _in situ_ (US3) below a layer of mine gravel, also in primary deposition (US2). Continuation of work in this trench was intended to explore this context down to the bedrock. It was constituted by a brown lumpy sediment with some gravel spread throughout. Probably dumped material, it contained very little lithic industry none of which diagnostic. The only element of some interest was a charcoal fragment, whose radiocarbon dating, will provide a _terminus post quem_ for the overlying mine gravel. The bedrock was exposed after between 10 and 15 cm of US3 had been removed. Its surface was covered by a calcareous crust a few centimetres thick, with some slight terrigenous infiltrations (US4), containing occasional fragments of worked flint. The part directly in contact with the bedrock was very concretionary and so was only partially removed. At this stage in the excavation, the archaeological horizon, which produced the vast amount of worked flint present on the surface around the trench is still unknown. It should probably to be sought further up the hill slope, which incidentally showed an interesting change in morphology a few metres away. The surface around the trench produced other worked flint, in particular burins, but also tranchets and tranchet flakes.