Summary (English)
A total of 2000 m2 of terrain was investigated with the aim of exposing the abandonment phases of the archaic settlement.
In zone G, west of road V, three new large residential structures were identified (buildings G8, G9 and G10), facing on to the road system (roads XVI and XVII) of the ancient quarter. The large road V, on a north-south alignment, excavated in previous years, was excavated down to the earliest paving levels. Above it was a complex structure constituted by a wide sidewalk on the west side and at the centre, a surface-level channel for rainwater drainage. The entrance to one of the houses (G8) opened onto the west side of the road. The entrance, of which part of the threshold was preserved, had a monumental appearance and was framed by two substantial walls with foundations of large limestone blocks. Immediately north of the structure a stone sarcophagus containing an infant’s skeleton was excavated, datable to the end of the 6th century B.C. The skeleton lay on one side in a fetal position, the head resting on a cushion carved into the stone of the sarcophagus itself. The tomb contained a small jug and a cup. At the front of the residential building was a large, partially roofed, area (A), probably used to house animals (area N), and for keeping carts and agricultural implements. The house formed an elongated rectangle. The residential rooms (C and D) were preceded by a porticoed area (B) whose collapsed roof was found perfectly preserved. Two secondary roads (roads XVI and XVII) branched off from the main road onto which other buildings (G9 and G10) faced, however, for the moment their precise planimetry cannot be defined.
Zone I developed to the east of road V. Here, work concentrated on building I1, formed by two rectangular rooms on an east-west alignment. The room to the north was probably a porticoed area forming the entrance to the second, larger room covered by a roof of impreces. The occupation level was found below the collapse. The excavation showed that in the first phase the building did not have the portico on the north side but faced directly onto an open area.The excavation was extended towards the south and north, revealing a new room with walls that were slightly oblique with respect to the western wall of the building’s main room. The perfectly- preserved collapse of the walls was completely excavated. South of the new room was a beaten floor surface of crushed tufa, representing an external occupation level. The deeper excavations to the east of building I1 exposed occupation levels relating to the Iron Age hut village, and the remains of baked clay hearths. In the new room, the removal of the collapsed stones from the walls revealed the collapsed roof tiles and below, the occupation level formed by a floor surface of beaten earth mixed with crushed tufa.
- Corrado Notario - Università del Salento 
Director
- Francesco D'Andria - Università del Salento, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali
Team
- Laura Masiello - Soprintendenza Archeologica 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
- Regione Puglia
- Università degli Studi del Salento - Lecce
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