## 5 Conclusions  
This research on Serravuda vitrified rocks initially was conducted to clarify whether human activity or natural events were the driving forces behind their construction. It is an exemplary demonstration of how a multidisciplinary approach can generate hypotheses to solve these ancient mysteries. Observations on the lithological nature and mineralogical and petrographic studies on utilized materials suggest the role of man in constructing a probably old defensive structure. To confirm this hypothesis, the \"Pre-bleached with Blue LED\" TL protocol, originally designed for different purposes, has proven yielding promising results in determining the age of the Serravuda fortified structure. To strengthen these initial hypotheses and support the thesis of ancient activities, thermoluminescence analysis proved to be a valid method of analysis. The dating of glass materials presents intrinsic challenges due to their structural properties; however, the \"Pre-bleached with Blue LED\" protocol has proven adaptable. Many of these samples can be reliably dated to at least 3000 years ago, strongly indicating their origin during a period when signs of settlement in the analyzed area were evident. The obtained data on the Serravuda vitrified rocks not only provided crucial clues to the dating of heating events, but also underline the feasibility of the used TL protocol as a potential tool for dating any kind of glass material, avoiding the challenges often encountered with traditional thermoluminescence. Moreover, it is worth underlining that these results made it possible to cross-reference the obtained data and to reconstruct the relative chronology by defining the occupation period of the settlement of the area. Another noteworthy comment is the remarkable similarity between the construction and vitrification of Serravuda and the vitrified forts found in northern Europe. This similarity extends to several aspects, including the common purpose of defensive fortification, the use of crystalline siliceous rocks as construction materials, and the common cause of vitrification: a heating episode triggered by the burning of timber incorporated during construction. However, dating suggests that Serravuda was probably built by human hands more than a millennium before the construction of defensive structures in northern Europe, where intentional vitrification was used for structural reinforcement. Unlike the deliberate vitrification techniques employed by Northern Iron Age peoples, the vitrification of Serravuda probably occurred inadvertently, as a result of an accidental event. This crucial distinction emphasizes that Serravuda vitrification was not a deliberate construction method similar to those universally adopted in northern European regions. Despite the contrasting origins of the vitrification process and its deliberate use by humans, the significant similarities outlined previously between the Middle Bronze to Early Iron Age structure of Serravuda and Iron Age defensive constructions in northern Europe led us to classify Serravuda as a vitrified proto-fortress. This classification underlines its importance as a unique discovery, as Serravuda represents the only example so far identified not only in southern Italy, but in the entire southern Mediterranean region. At this point, the possibility of the existence of proto-vitrified forts similar to Serravuda also raises intriguing questions about the origin of the vitrified forts of northern Europe. Questions emerge about how and when Northern Iron Age engineers learned the technique of vitrification to build their forts. It is not unreasonable to think that somewhere in northern Europe and at an unspecified time, an event like the one that occurred in Serravuda took place. The accidental destruction by fire of a fortified structure made of fragments of rock and timber and its subsequent vitrification would have become a commonly applied construction technique.