Summary (English)
In the south-eastern zone of Fondo Casino a road with a cobbled surface was uncovered for a length of circa 70 m. The structure, on a north-south alignment, was the continuation of another known road which was characterized by a wide channel for rainwater drainage.
The road was flanked to the west by two large enclosures probably were used as animal shelters, of which the foundations of large squared limestone blocks were preserved. The excavation of building G1 was completed. On the western side a small votive deposit was found, comprising a small single-handled black glaze cup, of local production or from Taranto, and an Attic lamp, both datable to between 500 and 480 B.C. The deposition of these objects suggests a ritual that was probably carried out when the building was restructured. The libation vessel (cup) and the lamp (both used in the domestic sphere and in the cult of the female divinities, protectors of fertility) indicate a request for protection for the household. Only the abandonment layers were removed from buildings G2, G3, G4, G5, G6 and G7. The materials recovered confirmed that the entire quarter had been abandoned in around 460 B.C.
As part of the project to enlarge the “Museo Diffuso” at Cavallino excavation continued of the north and south ditches relating to the town’s west gate along the fortifications in the area of Fondo Maratunde. Here the great fortification wall is being reconstructed using collapsed stone from within the ditches themselves.The discovery of the paving of the road leading into the town made it possible to place the gate in its exact position. The large blocks forming the fortification itself were found inside the ditches.
On the bottom of the southern ditch an extraordinary iron pick was found, perfectly preserved, which must have been one of the tools used for quarrying the blocks themselves. A fragment of a full relief sculpture made of local limestone was also found, representing the head of an animal, perhaps a snake or a very stylised bird. A fragment of limestone cippus was recovered from the upper part of the collapse. It bore the same letters, BAL…, as the cippus found in the same area of the excavation in the 1980s.
- Francesco D'Andria - Università del Salento, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali 
- Corrado Notario - Università del Salento 
Director
Team
- Gian Paolo Ciongoli - Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Puglia
Research Body
- Università del Salento, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali
Funding Body
- A.C.R.I. (Associazione delle Casse di Risparmio Italiane)
- Comune di Cavallino
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