Excavations continued in the small town and bishop’s see of Tertiveri, directed by this Superintendency in collaboration with the German Historical Institute, Rome, and the Universities of Trevir and Magonza. Following the first intervention in 2011, this office decided to take over the direction of the excavations in order to protect the site, a unique archaeological site in the province of Foggia.

The archaeological research in the small town of Tertiveri is part of the German Historical Institute’s wider project involving the reconstruction of the medieval landscape and settlements in the territory of the Captaincy. In fact, this site is characterised by the settlement of a group of Muslims here at the end of the 13th century. In 1296, the Muslim knight Abd al-Aziz (_Abdelasius_ or variants) de -Luceria, was granted in feudal form, as an annuity for military services rendered to Charles II, the tenimentum of Tertiveri with the concession that no Christians could live in the area or be settled there.

To date, excavations have investigated the southeastern corner of the cathedral, at the point in which a defensive wall, with a semicircular at about 50 m along it, was built. A later annex was discovered at the side of the church, at the centre of which was a burial pit. Two metres long, 0.60 m wide and 1 m deep, it contained five primary depositions placed one on top of the other, as well as the remains of at least 13 adult individuals in secondary deposition (9 males, 4 females, and six infants).

The earliest burial was that of a 70-80 year old male and the presence of a pastoral staff suggests he may be identified as a bishop. The iron tip of the staff together with a simple spiral curl in the form of a dragon, and the knot, finely decorated with circles and dots, both in ivory and attributable to Sicilian-Arabic artisans survived. The artefact is datable to between the mid 12th and early 13th centuries. Three other burial pits were found on the same alignment as the first. These less carefully constructed pits contained multiple burials, but no grave goods were present. The type of deposition (position, placing of the limbs and alignment) suggests that at least one of the individuals could have been of Islamic faith.

Trench 2 was opened along the defensive wall US 100, in correspondence with a semicircular tower that was identified by the geophysical survey. A structure was identified and partially excavated, US154, which abutted the exterior of the wall. The presence of iron slag and many iron objects and fragments indicate this to be a workshop.