The excavations conducted between 1958 and 1965 near Conelle showed a moat dating back to the neolithic period (third millennium BC). This extraordinary work was done for defensive purposes to protect access to a plateau, limited on the other two sides by the two rivers Fosso delle Grazie and Fosso of Montefortino, and on which probably had to be a prehistoric settlement (many finds from the site are also hosted in the National Archaeological Museum of the Marche Region, in Ancona); its direct traces are perhaps been destroyed forever by agricultural excavations. The ditch, made of a pebbled formation, is long over 100 m. long, about 6 m wide and and 7 m. deep. The work kept the defensive role only at first, after it was used as a dumping ground for the waste materials of the adjacent village. During the excavations, many ceramics and lithic artefacts were brought to light, now in the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Arcevia. They allowed to set a date to the different filling stratigraphic phases of the ditch and to study the main activities (agriculture and hunting) of the human settlement in Conelle.