The first two research locations were at Cape of Palla, north from Porta Romana, where a year earlier the construction of an oil depot had revealed (and destroyed) the ruins of a temple. Work was conducted here in two sectors, respectively Cape Palla 1 and Cape Palla 2.
Trial excavation work was undertaken near the oil and chemical storage depots at Cape Palla in order to search for the foundations of the destroyed temple as well as to collect and document evidence. Remains previously collected from the top of the nearby hill, where spoil from the construction site had previously been dumped, comprised of several roof elements, pottery and wall blocks. A further excavation to recover more material took place here as well.
A high density of pottery and limestone porous blocks was discovered on the edge of the site occupied by the new oil depots, which strongly suggests that it was the site of the archaic temple.
Ceramic material and architectural elements recovered from the top of the hill has led to the conclusion that both the Cape Palla and Spitalla temples belong to the same period of construction. In both cases the preliminary study of ceramic and other finds suggests that the temples have been built in the Archaic period, with a continuation into the Hellenistic period, when they underwent a second rebuilding phase. There is no material clearly dateable to the Classical period, although a full analysis of all the material has yet to be carried out.
Over 350 buckets of pottery were collected and examined and all diagnostic tiles, pottery and samples of the limestone blocks were retained for further study. An initial study of the material has established that there were two construction phases of the roof, as is the case of the Spitalla temple.
The architectural elements and antefixes belong to the Late Archaic and Hellenistic periods and some parts of the entablement are still well preserved and show clearly Archaic period colours and motifs. Similar to the temple of Spitalla, the construction materials, tiles in particular, are exact reproductions of those made in Corinthian workshops at that time. However it is possible that these artefacts were locally produced following a metropolitan model.
A few stamped tiles belonging to the Hellenistic period were recovered. One mentions what maybe a prytanios named (EPIFALAKRIONOS). Judging from the typography of the letters this tile would appear to date to the second half of the 3rd century BC. Two other stamped tile fragments carry the (DAMOSION) name, indicative that they originated in state owned workshops.