The 2012 season of research and excavation on Poggio Civitate focused on the Civitate A and Civitate B zones of the hill. The Civitate B excavation focused on an area immediately south of a medieval road to that traverses the apex of Poggio Civitate. Excavation demonstrated that a natural bedrock terrace was artificially augmented in antiquity, creating a low retaining wall. Beneath this wall, excavation recovered a high volume of worn ceramic and architectural debris associated with Poggio Civitate’s Archiac phase of architectural development. Beneath this layer of debris, excavators revealed a beaten earth floor surface, perforated by two visible post holes. The overall scope of excavation in this area was not broad enough to determine the shape of any structure associated with the post holes, but future work in this area may reveal additional data associated with the ancient use of this zone.

Immediately above the medieval road, excavation in the Civitate A area revealed traces of a structure defined by relatively robust stone socle foundations. An extremely high volume of debris associated with metalworking was recovered within the area of these foundation walls, including ferric slags (indicative of copper production), crucible and forno fragments as well as terracotta bellows piping. This body of recovered material suggests that the structure that original stood in this area was likely a foundry of some sort, although additional excavation in this area is also needed in order to clarify the nature of the ancient activity that occurred here.