Scalo di Furno

To the north of the residential area of Porto Cesareo, is the small village of Scalo di Furno which dates back to the Bronze Age. Discovered by accident in 1963 by Domenico Novembre, a professor at the University of Salento, numerous artifacts have been unearthed in this area such as Mycenaean ceramics, with a Meso-Appennino style, from Cyprus and Rodia, and even locally; Mycenaean and Sub-Mycenaean ceramics from Ithaca, Kefalonia and the western Greek coast; and Japigia proto-geometric ceramics (9th, 10th and 13th century B.C.).

In addition to the pottery, a sacred resting place was discovered, an enclosure that was perhaps devoted to Thana, the Messapic goddess of childbirth, as the decoration of a vase would suggest with remains of wild animal bones, probably offered as a sacrifice to the deity. As well, two hearth-shaped sites, votive statuettes, bronzes, local ceramics and a fragment from a 6th century B.C. vase with the name of the Messanic divinity engraved in it were also found.