The prehistoric site of Aia del Castellare (Campagnatico –GR) was identified during the 1970s during excavation work for the construction of the Fiora aqueduct. On that occasion finds relating to an interesting lithic industry and numerous faunal remains were recovered. These finds were catalogued in the 1990s and are stored in the Grosseto Museum of Natural History.

A preliminary excavation (May 2008) was undertaken in collaboration between the Archaeological Superintendency for Tuscany (Dr. Gabriella Barbieri) and Dr. Luca Bachechi (Florence University) with the aim of checking the effective presence and substance of the prehistoric settlement. In July-August 2009 a first excavation campaign took place which led to the identification, below the surface humus, of a friable grey-brown sandy-clay sediment, of a depth varying between five and eleven centimetres. The result of an accumulation of materials from the aqueduct excavations, this was a concretionary sediment rich in fauna and evidence of lithic industry.

Part of the excavation presented a stalagmatic formation which in some zones (squares C-1, D-1 and E-1) was very substantial. This stalagmatic formation, necessarily formed in an underground environment, suggested that the area under investigation and now in the open air, must have been formed by a cavity whose morphology and size have yet to be determined. In the squares where the stalagmites were not covered a surface of more or less concretionary sediment was present, containing lithic industry and faunal remains. Unfortunately the time available for the work did not consent stratigraphic excavation of the deposit. However, the lithics within the deposit seemed morphologically similar to those recovered during the removal of the material covering the deposit: artefacts of generally medium-small size, without surface alterations, which typologically seem attributable to an early phase of the middle Palaeolithic period.

Therefore, the 2009 excavations confirmed that the area investigated was occupied in the middle Palaeolithic and was a site where food remains and evidence of lithic industry were preserved in primary deposit. These remains will be the object of future excavation campaigns.