in M. CONGIU, C. MICCICHÉ, S. MODEO (a cura di), Viaggio in Sicilia. Racconti, segni e città ritrovate, Atti del X Convegno di Studi Siciliantica (Caltanissetta 10-11 maggio 2013), Caltanissetta-Roma 2014, pp. 159-176., May 2014
"As the archaeological evidence clearly shows, the massive arrival of the Greeks in Sicily and th... more "As the archaeological evidence clearly shows, the massive arrival of the Greeks in Sicily and the widespread diffusion of their culture invested the indigenous world of Sikels and Sikans. The process took place certainly in different ways and times, met minor or major resistance and touched the heart of the Sikan world, as well. The indigenous sanctuary at Polizzello, which arise in the center of Sicily, near to the town of Mussomeli, between the second half of the seventh and the beginning of the fifth century BC, received, as offerings, an increasing amount of pottery of Greek types (Ionic and Corinthian), ornaments in semi-precious ma-terials (amber, ivory, bone and glass) and metal and, in more recent times, Attic and black painted pottery. The association of these artifacts, whose presence is clearly the result of intensive relationships between the Sikan center and the colo- nial world, well known in the main votive contexts of the Greek world, proves that some ideas travelled together with the goods and these gradually influenced the indigenous votive practices.
The provenance of the materials from stratified contexts and their analysis al- low us to read, both in a synchronic perspective or through their diachronic development, phases and effects of the Greek presence in Polizzello. Such evidence allow us, as well, to reconstruct, on the one hand, the stages of the journey that led in the center of Sicily objects produced in distant workshops with techniques unknown to the indigenous population and, on the other hand, the ideological and political way that from the mere acquisition of objects led to the reception of alien cultural elements and finally to the Hellenization of the center."
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Papers by Katia Perna
about m 500 away, is one of the most important funerary contexts in Iron Age Crete. Discovered in 1969 and excavated from that
year until 1978, the necropolis has remained essentially unpublished, except for a few articles and two extensive general reports by
its discoverer, Giovanni Rizza. A few years ago, a project for the study and publication of the necropolis was launched, involving
a group of scholars with different specializations. The aim of this article is to give a preliminary report on the results obtained
during these years of work, a general overview of the different phases, and some in-depth studies related to those areas in which
the work of documentation and study is now at an advanced stage. Among these, it seemed appropriate to devote ample space to
some of the results of the archaeozoological analyses, in view of the fact that the necropolis of Siderospilia is the context that has
so far yielded the greatest number of horse and dog burials. Finally, the ARCHIAS project for the creation and implementation
of a digital archive for the preservation and management of all the paper, drawing and photographic material relating to the necropolis,
which forms the basis of the study and publication project, is presented.
L’esame dei corredi funerari, del resto, ha confermato l’esistenza di una comunicazione fluida non solo tra i centri isolani, nella fattispecie quelli dell’area centro-settentrionale dell’isola, ma anche all’interno dell’area egea. Accanto alla presenza di oggetti importati, infatti, la studio della ceramica ha messo in evidenza la presenza nelle produzioni locali di elementi stilistici e formali riferibili ad ambito egeo che riportano, in particolare, a Cipro. Priniàs, quindi, è pienamente coinvolta in una rete di connessioni cui partecipano anche altri centri isolani e che sembrano avere nell’isola di Cipro un referente comune. Connessioni che determinano incontri culturali dagli esiti molteplici e l’elaborazione di linguaggi comuni, che investono forse anche la sfera dei costumi funerari.
The necropolis of Siderospilia began to be used during the Subminoan period. Two types of tombs were built and two different burial rites were performed: cremations in single graves and multiple inhumations in chamber tombs. Similar funerary customs are attested in other sites of central Crete, in particular in the region between Knossos and the Messara plain. The fluid relationship between the settlements of this area also favoured the adherence to specific models, ideologically significant, shared throughout the Aegean area.
The study of the oldest tombs in the necropolis and of their grave goods, especially pottery, allow us to clarify the synchronic and diachronic relations between the two different burial rites. Furthermore, it allows us to grasp the degree of connectivity between the areas involved in the dynamics of transformation of the central Crete. From a more general perspective, finally, it offers the chance to discuss the interrelations between people of the Aegean area, in the time when some communities arose and grew.
century BC, the encounter with the Greek world gave life to a new ritual language. The religious ceremonies, formerly based on the ritual of a collective nature, are now associated with an aristocratic ideology.
At the end of the 6th century BC, in the sanctuary, now deeply hellenised, the bloody sacrifice continued to be the focus of religious practices, but in spaces, and with an organization of the ritual completely different.
Oggi, il quadro della prima fase di vita dell’abitato è reso più chiaro dall’individuazione dei livelli TM IIIC, messi in luce durante le campagne di scavo del 2003 e del 2005. Contestualmente, l’esame dei materiali rinvenuti nell’anfratto roccioso, che si intende presentare in questa sede, assume un nuovo significato. L’analisi tecnica e tipologica della ceramica ha rivelato, infatti, che a differenza di quanto constatato negli altri gruppi di materiali rinvenuti sulla Patela e sempre caratterizzati da un’alta percentuale di ceramica fine, nell’anfratto roccioso i frammenti del TM IIIC appartengono esclusivamente a vasi di fattura grossolana e a forme tipiche dei contesti di culto del periodo. Ciò consente di mettere meglio a confronto il complesso votivo di Priniàs con gli altri contesti sacri coevi.
Furthermore, the analysis of the topographical features of the find-spots and the comparison with contemporary Cretan shrines allow us to make some assumptions on the social significance of the religious practices performed by the community who lived in the settlement during the first phase of its history.
ABSTRACT – As in the rest of the Aegean Basin, the end of the Bronze Age (12th-11th centuries BC) on Crete was a time of significant territorial reorganization characterized by new types of settlements, the codification of religion and the standardization of handcraft production. This cultural homogeneity has often led to generalizing interpretations of these phenomena which, on the other hand, also require analysis at a regional level. This is particularly true for sites dating to LM III C and to the Subminoan periods. This paper aims to examine the most significant sites of central Crete during the aforementioned periods, beginning with an
analysis of the ceramic findings. This will allow us to demonstrate the relationships between the centers and their connected territories for a region which, in the Archaic period, went on to become home to several sizeable human communities. Particular attention shall be paid to LM III C/Subminoan material uncovered at Prinias, a site which was continually occupied
from around the middle of the LM III C until the Archaic period.
The provenance of the materials from stratified contexts and their analysis al- low us to read, both in a synchronic perspective or through their diachronic development, phases and effects of the Greek presence in Polizzello. Such evidence allow us, as well, to reconstruct, on the one hand, the stages of the journey that led in the center of Sicily objects produced in distant workshops with techniques unknown to the indigenous population and, on the other hand, the ideological and political way that from the mere acquisition of objects led to the reception of alien cultural elements and finally to the Hellenization of the center."
Since many important previous works have considered transformations in burial customs as the result of external influence, I have chosen to explain these changes on an intra-island level. Although I agree that it is import to insert Crete into a wider geographic perspective, especially in a period of great mobility in the Aegean area, this paper focuses on relating the transformations in the mortuary habits to the new political and economic geography of the island.
about m 500 away, is one of the most important funerary contexts in Iron Age Crete. Discovered in 1969 and excavated from that
year until 1978, the necropolis has remained essentially unpublished, except for a few articles and two extensive general reports by
its discoverer, Giovanni Rizza. A few years ago, a project for the study and publication of the necropolis was launched, involving
a group of scholars with different specializations. The aim of this article is to give a preliminary report on the results obtained
during these years of work, a general overview of the different phases, and some in-depth studies related to those areas in which
the work of documentation and study is now at an advanced stage. Among these, it seemed appropriate to devote ample space to
some of the results of the archaeozoological analyses, in view of the fact that the necropolis of Siderospilia is the context that has
so far yielded the greatest number of horse and dog burials. Finally, the ARCHIAS project for the creation and implementation
of a digital archive for the preservation and management of all the paper, drawing and photographic material relating to the necropolis,
which forms the basis of the study and publication project, is presented.
L’esame dei corredi funerari, del resto, ha confermato l’esistenza di una comunicazione fluida non solo tra i centri isolani, nella fattispecie quelli dell’area centro-settentrionale dell’isola, ma anche all’interno dell’area egea. Accanto alla presenza di oggetti importati, infatti, la studio della ceramica ha messo in evidenza la presenza nelle produzioni locali di elementi stilistici e formali riferibili ad ambito egeo che riportano, in particolare, a Cipro. Priniàs, quindi, è pienamente coinvolta in una rete di connessioni cui partecipano anche altri centri isolani e che sembrano avere nell’isola di Cipro un referente comune. Connessioni che determinano incontri culturali dagli esiti molteplici e l’elaborazione di linguaggi comuni, che investono forse anche la sfera dei costumi funerari.
The necropolis of Siderospilia began to be used during the Subminoan period. Two types of tombs were built and two different burial rites were performed: cremations in single graves and multiple inhumations in chamber tombs. Similar funerary customs are attested in other sites of central Crete, in particular in the region between Knossos and the Messara plain. The fluid relationship between the settlements of this area also favoured the adherence to specific models, ideologically significant, shared throughout the Aegean area.
The study of the oldest tombs in the necropolis and of their grave goods, especially pottery, allow us to clarify the synchronic and diachronic relations between the two different burial rites. Furthermore, it allows us to grasp the degree of connectivity between the areas involved in the dynamics of transformation of the central Crete. From a more general perspective, finally, it offers the chance to discuss the interrelations between people of the Aegean area, in the time when some communities arose and grew.
century BC, the encounter with the Greek world gave life to a new ritual language. The religious ceremonies, formerly based on the ritual of a collective nature, are now associated with an aristocratic ideology.
At the end of the 6th century BC, in the sanctuary, now deeply hellenised, the bloody sacrifice continued to be the focus of religious practices, but in spaces, and with an organization of the ritual completely different.
Oggi, il quadro della prima fase di vita dell’abitato è reso più chiaro dall’individuazione dei livelli TM IIIC, messi in luce durante le campagne di scavo del 2003 e del 2005. Contestualmente, l’esame dei materiali rinvenuti nell’anfratto roccioso, che si intende presentare in questa sede, assume un nuovo significato. L’analisi tecnica e tipologica della ceramica ha rivelato, infatti, che a differenza di quanto constatato negli altri gruppi di materiali rinvenuti sulla Patela e sempre caratterizzati da un’alta percentuale di ceramica fine, nell’anfratto roccioso i frammenti del TM IIIC appartengono esclusivamente a vasi di fattura grossolana e a forme tipiche dei contesti di culto del periodo. Ciò consente di mettere meglio a confronto il complesso votivo di Priniàs con gli altri contesti sacri coevi.
Furthermore, the analysis of the topographical features of the find-spots and the comparison with contemporary Cretan shrines allow us to make some assumptions on the social significance of the religious practices performed by the community who lived in the settlement during the first phase of its history.
ABSTRACT – As in the rest of the Aegean Basin, the end of the Bronze Age (12th-11th centuries BC) on Crete was a time of significant territorial reorganization characterized by new types of settlements, the codification of religion and the standardization of handcraft production. This cultural homogeneity has often led to generalizing interpretations of these phenomena which, on the other hand, also require analysis at a regional level. This is particularly true for sites dating to LM III C and to the Subminoan periods. This paper aims to examine the most significant sites of central Crete during the aforementioned periods, beginning with an
analysis of the ceramic findings. This will allow us to demonstrate the relationships between the centers and their connected territories for a region which, in the Archaic period, went on to become home to several sizeable human communities. Particular attention shall be paid to LM III C/Subminoan material uncovered at Prinias, a site which was continually occupied
from around the middle of the LM III C until the Archaic period.
The provenance of the materials from stratified contexts and their analysis al- low us to read, both in a synchronic perspective or through their diachronic development, phases and effects of the Greek presence in Polizzello. Such evidence allow us, as well, to reconstruct, on the one hand, the stages of the journey that led in the center of Sicily objects produced in distant workshops with techniques unknown to the indigenous population and, on the other hand, the ideological and political way that from the mere acquisition of objects led to the reception of alien cultural elements and finally to the Hellenization of the center."
Since many important previous works have considered transformations in burial customs as the result of external influence, I have chosen to explain these changes on an intra-island level. Although I agree that it is import to insert Crete into a wider geographic perspective, especially in a period of great mobility in the Aegean area, this paper focuses on relating the transformations in the mortuary habits to the new political and economic geography of the island.
From the mid of the seventh through the mid of the next century, a large amount of Greek artefacts (Corinthian and black painted ware, personal ornaments in bronze, amber, bone, ivory and silver and bronze and iron weapons) were dedicated in the sanctuary.
The offering of these objects (all pertinent to the types offered in the main Archaic Greek sanctuaries) testifies a profound change in ritual actions and goods consumption, but also presupposes the establishment of new economic and political relationships.
This change can be understood in the wider context of the expansion of the Greek colonies in central-western Sicily; the presence of colonists in this area, in fact, led to the creation of a complex interaction network and enacted processes of religious syncretism.
This paper aims to analyze Greek artifacts from an economic point of view, as trade goods, but also paying attention to the role that they played in the activation of social strategies - especially during religious performances - and cultural and political transformations.