On the Peutingeriana Table (copy of an original Roman military road map) Ocriticum is seven miles from Sulmo and twenty-five from Aufidena on the important route that connected the Peligna Valley with the Sannio Pentro, recognized as the medieval Via Nova still partially passable and recognisable.

The first temple built in the area dates to the end of the 4th century BC; originally it consisted of a single cell with an almost square base, with an entrance facing South-East (where the Sun rises) around which there was a sacred garden delimited by a perimeter wall erected dry.

In the sacred garden, dug into the ground to the west of the building, a votive deposit was found to conserve objects which, due to lack of space, could no longer be housed inside the naos; around 600 votive offerings have been found, datable between the 4th century BC and the 1st century BC, including a bronze statuette of Hercules which lay isolated on the bottom of the deposit: to Hercules, a very widespread divinity in the Peligna area in the late Italic age and Roman, therefore it seems that the temple was dedicated, albeit, probably, not exclusively.

This element, also in relation to the objects conserved in the storeroom (statuettes and clay votive masks) has suggested that the sacellum was dedicated to female divinities and in particular to Ceres, Venus and Proserpina, cults often linked to that of Jupiter.

It is interesting to highlight how the basic activity for the economy of the town of Cansano was for a long time and at least until the last century, the production of lime, according to a less sophisticated system but not dissimilar from that adopted by the inhabitants of Ocriticum: the limestone.