Morgantina (Enna province, Sicily)

 

This is the site of a Final Bronze - Early Iron Age settlement (10^th-8^th centuries BC), represented by a series of dwellings on different parts of the Cittadella hill. The subsequent Archaic period (6^th-5^th centuries BC) was one of substantial urban growth and expansion, accompanied by changes in the design and layout of buildings. The site is well known for the light it sheds on the transition from the late prehistoric to early historical period in Sicily, on Iron Age chronology, urbanisation and interaction between indigenous peoples and Greek colonists.

 

The Hellenistic city extends for several hectares across the adjacent Serra Orlando ridge, overlooking the Gornalunga river.

 

Fig.1: Agora view eastward to the Cittadella hill	Fig.2: Cittadella upper platform view eastward to Etna

 

The Iron Age contexts revealed in excavations carried out on the Cittadella hill by the Universities of Princeton and Illinois (1955-72), which include several ‘long-houses’ and rock-cut chamber tombs, have been published (Leighton 1993). The most complete building in trench 31 is notable for a series of large storage jars, an oven, hearths made of broken potsherds and cooking installations. Radiocarbon dates from structural timbers of this building ranged mainly within the 10th and 9th centuries cal.BC.

 

Fig.3: Iron Age dwelling	Fig.4: Plumed amphora	Fig.5: Trench 31, interior reconstruction

 

More recent excavations in trench 16West (campaigns in 1989, 1999, 2003, 2004), revealed deposits forming part of an unusually large Iron Age dwelling (about 23 x 5m), consisting of a level rock-cut floor with a central row of post-holes. The internal wall of the building on one side consists of a vertical cut in the limestone bedrock (against the slope) buttressed by courses of stone, preserving occasional traces of clay wall plaster, with vertical slots for the insertion of upright timber posts. Among the new finds are cooking stands (terracotta stoves), hearths, and a rich assemblage of pottery (hand made and wheel made), bronze, stone and bone items. Samples of floral remains, shell and charcoal were retrieved by flotation and sieving. 

 

Fig.6 Morgantina Archaeological Survey Area	Fig.7 Morgantina Survey Transects

   

The Morgantina Archaeological Survey directed by Dr. Stephen M. Thompson identified considerable numbers of prehistoric and later sites in the surrounding territory (Thompson 1999). The survey provided a 25% sample of a 150-km2 region, systematically explored with half-kilometre wide survey transects oriented to cross-cut the prevailing east-west strike of the local topography.

 

Related publications

• Antonaccio, C. 1997. Urbanism at Archaic Morgantina. In Andersen, H.D., Horsnaes, H.W., Houby-Nielsen, S. and Rathje, A. (eds), Urbanization in the Mediterranean in the 9th to 6th centuries BC. Acta Hyperborea, 7: 167-93. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press

• Leighton, R. 1984. Mycenaean pottery at Morgantina. American Journal of Archaeology 88, 389-91 (NB: Contrary to some preliminary erroneous reports, no Mycenaean pottery has been found at the site!)

• Leighton, R. 1989. Ground stone tools from Serra Orlando (Morgantina) and stone axe studies in Sicily and Southern Italy. (With contributions by J.E. Dixon and A.M. Duncan). Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 55, 135-59

• Leighton, R. 1993. The protohistoric settlement on the Cittadella. Morgantina Studies Volume 4. Princeton: Princeton University Press

• Leighton, R. 2000. Indigenous society between the 9th and 6th centuries BC: territorial, urban and social evolution. In Smith, C.J. and Serrati, J. (eds), Sicily from Aeneas to Augustus. New approaches in archaeology and history: 15-40. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

• Lyons, C. 1996. The Archaic cemeteries. Morgantina Studies Volume 5. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

• Thompson, S. 1999. A central Sicilian landscape: settlement and society in the territory of ancient Morgantina (5000 BC - AD 50). Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Virginia (Charlottesville). 

Participants (trench 16 West)

Dr Carla Antonaccio (Duke University)

Dr Laszlo Bartosiewicz (University of Edinburgh)

Dr Marina Ciaraldi (Birmingham)

Dr Sara Levi (Università di Modena)

Dr Catriona Pickard (University of Edinburgh)

 

Sources of funding and support

British Academy, Grant (SG-41994)

Dept. of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University

University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Soprintendenza Beni Culturali ed Ambientali, Enna.

 

last edited 08/11/2006