Metaponto, area urbana. Indagini archeologiche nel terzo isolato a S del temenos di Apollo Licio – Rapporto preliminare di scavo (campagne 2021-2023)

The research project “Abitare a Metaponto”, conducted by the University of Basilicata, aims to acquire new knowledge about the residential spaces inside the Achaean apoikia’s urban layout, which have so far remained almost completely unknown. The excavation campaigns carried out between 2021 and 2023 within the third residential block, south of the sanctuary of Apollo Lykios, have brought to light several rooms of a building complex in use from the the 3rd to the beginning of the 1st century BC. Beneath it, an in-depth excavation has also been conducted into a complex archaeological stratigraphy dating back to the end of the 8th century BC, passing through an Archaic phase (end of the 7th - first half of the 6th centuries BC), the latter closely linked to metallurgical production. These findings, presented here for the first time in a preliminary report accompanied by a completely unpublished set of illustrations, represent significant new evidence for reconstructing the broader historical and archaeological framework of the ancient Metaponto.