4th c. B.C. defensive walls found in southern Italy

"An archaeological investigation before redevelopment of the railway station in Manduria, 20 miles east of Taranto, southeast Italy, has uncovered a large section of a defensive wall built by the pre-Italic Messapian people in the 4th century B.C. The structure is composed of limestone blocks that were precisely worked and laid dry in an alternating pattern. It was built inside a moat that encircled the inner wall of the older Archaic-era defensive walls."

"The Messapians inhabited what is now the region of Apulia (the heel of Italy's boot) from the 9th to the 3rd century B.C. They formed highly developed independent city-states and, fiercely defended that independence against numerous attacks from the Greek colonies of southern Italy. Manduria was one of the most prosperous Messapian cities, and built elaborate defenses to protect itself: a triple ring of megalithic walls constructed between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C."

An archaeological investigation before redevelopment of the railway station in Manduria uncovered a large section of a defensive wall built by the Messapian people in the 4th century B.C. The structure consists of precisely worked limestone blocks laid dry in an alternating pattern and was built inside a moat encircling the inner wall of older Archaic-era defenses. The Messapians inhabited Apulia from the 9th to the 3rd century B.C., forming independent city-states and resisting Greek colonial attacks. Manduria, one of their most prosperous cities, maintained a triple ring of megalithic walls between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C. The discovery expands knowledge of Messapian fortifications and will be preserved in situ with panels linking it to the nearby Archaeological Park.

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