Claim: Members of the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens conducted excavations in Hephaestia to shed light on the island's Ertusco-Pelasgian civilization, and discovered a 9th century BC necropolis with bronze objects, pots and ossuaries.
Evidence: In August and September 1926, members of the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens conducted trial excavations on the island. The overall purpose of the excavations was to shed light on the island's "Etrusco-Pelasgian" civilization. There, a necropolis (c. 9th–8th centuries BCE) was discovered, revealing bronze objects, pots, and over 130 ossuaries.