Around the VIII century B.C. the hill overlooking the promontory was home to a village inhabited by the Iapyigians, i.e. the pre-Roman population of Apulia, who emerged as a distinct ethnic group in South Italy since the Iron Age. The village was made of oval-shaped huts, delimited at their base by stones, on which the walls were built with branches and covered with raw earth or clay; the roofs, made of reeds or branches, were supported by poles. The huts, which could reach 10 meters in length, were located relatively far from each other, had kneaded clay floors and hearths both inside and outside.