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The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age landscape of interior western Sicily

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Michael J. Kolb
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb IL 60115, USA, aloha@niu.edu
Sebastiano Tusa
Affiliation:
Soprintendenza per i Beni Culturali ed Ambientali, Sezione per i Beni Archeologici, Trapani, Italy, sebastia@gestelnet.it

Extract

The archaeology of complex societies in western Sicily has traditionally focused upon Greek and Phoenician colonization rather than the development of the indigenous peoples of the interior. The Salemi regional survey project in western Sicily was conceived as a means to track long-term landscape change of this interior ‘indigenous’ landscape. From 1998 to 2000, this survey has conducted an extensive survey of 150 sq. km of the Salemi region, an intensive survey of 8 sq. km around a nearby Late Bronze Age (LBA) hilltop settlement of Mokarta (Mannino & Spatafora 1995; Spatafora & Mannino 1992; Tusa 1992), and an intensive survey of 25 sq. km around the Early Iron Age (EIA) hilltop settlement of Monte Polizzo (FIGURE 1). Survey work is part ofthe Sicilian–Scandinavian archaeological project (Morris et al. in press; http://dig.anthro.niu.edu/sicily), an international team of scholars who are undertaking large-scale excavations at Monte Polizzo (FIGURE 2). Preliminary survey results reveal that these LBA and EIA peoples relied on an intricate valley hinterland around their hilltop residences. Moreover, marked differences exist between the LBA and EIA valley hinterlands.

Type
News & Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

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References

Mannino, G. & Spatafora, F. 1995. Mokarta. La Necropoli di Cresta di Gallo. Palermo: Regione Sicilana Assessorato dei Beni Culturi e Ambientali e della Pubblica Estruzione. Quaderni del Meseo Archaeologico Regionale ‘Antonio Solinas’1xs.Google Scholar
Morris, I., Jackson, T., Blake, E. & Tusa, S. In press. Preliminary report of Stanford’s excavations on the acropolis of Monte Polizza, 2000. Memoirs of the American Academy at Rome 46.Google Scholar
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