The site extends over the summit of a hill overlooking the narrow valley of the torrent “Palazzo San Gervasio”. The hill’s steep slope is occupied by a necropolis which dates to between the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. Sixteen tombs have been examined: two inhumations with stone covering, an inhumation with tile covering and thirteen “a cappuccina” tombs. The burials are orientated on a NE-SW axis with the heads to the NE. Seven adults and four young individuals have been identified. Two burials are certainly those of warriors, as attested by the presence of bronze belts. A weapon, an iron sauroter, was also present in one of the latter burials. A female infant burial contained a glass-paste necklace, two miniature bronze fibulae and a black glaze cup placed between the legs.
In the valley, on a strip of land by the river’s edge, a workshop (unfortunately very badly preserved) with a large kiln and several service rooms has been investigated. The oval kiln had a perforated floor supported on a cross-wall and was complete with stoke-hole. Inside, the few objects found below the collapse of the kiln’s vault suggest that it was used for the production of bricks and large containers for food storeage.
The production site, like the necropolis, was abandoned at the end of the 3rd century B.C., perhaps as a consequence of events connected with the Hannibalic wars, although no evidence of violent destruction was noted. A later occupation phase, which to date cannot be connected to the above structures, is attested by the presence of a Trajanic coin. (Maria Luisa Nava)