Cannatello

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Cannatello is the name of an archaeological site on the territory of the eponymous fraction of the Italian municipality of Agrigento in southern Sicily . A fortified settlement from the middle and the beginning of the late Bronze Age of Sicily (14th to 13th / 12th centuries BC) was discovered here, which is considered to be an important center of maritime trade at that time .

Cannatello is about seven kilometers southeast of the center of Agrigento. The settlement is located on a flat hill near the Naro River , about 1.5 kilometers from the coast, near the Church of San Gregorio. An associated port has not yet been discovered.

Research history

Prehistoric huts and eight bronze weapons were discovered by Paolo Orsi and Giulio Emanuele Rizzo towards the end of the 19th century and published by Orsi in 1897. At the beginning of the 20th century, Angelo Mosso undertook excavations during which he exposed parts of the settlement, discovered prehistoric ceramics ( belonging to the Thapsos culture ) as well as a fragment of Mycenaean ceramics . In his excavation report published in 1907, he also mentions prehistoric roads in the area, which could not be found again later. From 1989 to 1996, mostly under the direction of Ernesto de Miro, and in the 2000s under the direction of various archaeologists, systematic research took place, during which parts of the settlement were explored, different construction phases distinguished and - in addition to local finds - also a number of foreign goods different regions of the Mediterranean were discovered. Since March 2017, new excavations have been ongoing in Cannatello.

Archaeological evidence

The settlement was circular with a diameter of about 70 meters. It was protected on all sides by a defensive wall that had two narrow passages in the northeast. So far only the north-eastern part of the settlement has been systematically explored. Inside the settlement existed huts with both a round, mostly circular, and a right-angled floor plan. While the interior development can be divided into three phases, the fortification wall has two construction phases. Due to the occurrence of Mycenaean ceramics from the periods SH III A and III B in the first two settlement phases, these could be carried out in the 14th and 13th centuries BC. To be dated. The period of use of the third and most recent settlement phase cannot yet be determined more precisely, as there are no easily datable eastern Mediterranean imports from this layer. The indigenous finds of the settlement, especially the type and shape of the unpainted Impasto pottery , are typical of the Thapsos culture, which lived in eastern Sicily from approx. 1450 to 1270/50 BC. Is set, but remains formative for the west of the island longer.

The first settlement phase includes three of the previously uncovered huts - two with a round and one with a rectangular floor plan - as well as the double-shell defensive wall. Based on the Mycenaean ceramics of the period SH IIIA that came to light in this find layer, this phase can be traced back to the 14th century BC. To be dated. Traces of fire, including on the inner ring of the defensive walls, could point to an end of this first phase of settlement due to a fire disaster.

In the second settlement phase, the defensive wall was reinforced by two additional outer rings. Inside the settlement, a trapezoidal quarter was separated by a separate wall about 70 centimeters thick. With the exception of one, the previously excavated buildings of this phase were all within this inner walling. Its exact purpose has not yet been clarified. A certain parallel can only be found in the roughly simultaneous settlement of Mokarta near Salemi , although the dividing walls within the settlement here have a curvilinear course. Nothing comparable was discovered in Thapsos . Due to the appearance of Mycenaean ceramics of the SH IIIB period, this settlement phase can be traced back to the 13th century BC. To be dated. The ceramic has not yet been determined more precisely, so it is unclear whether specimens from the period SH IIIB2 (approx. 1250 / 30–1190 BC) also occur. These are absent in Thapsos, which, according to recent findings, was abandoned for a long time around or shortly before the middle of the century, and would mean that this settlement phase of Cannatello lasted longer than the settlement in Thapsos from the Middle Bronze Age.

From the third and final settlement phase, only two huts are known so far, with a rectangular one following a previous building, while a round hut was built over the trapezoidal inner walling, which means that the inner boundary of the quarter no longer existed at that time. Structural changes to the defensive wall could not be determined. When and how long Cannatello was inhabited in this phase cannot be precisely determined, as there is a lack of easily datable imported ceramics. Since no Late Bronze Age ceramics of the Cassabile type have been discovered, it is unlikely that the settlement dates back to the 11th century BC. Existed.

Imports

Special attention is drawn to the finds of foreign goods, especially those from the eastern Mediterranean. They show that Cannatello was a station in the Bronze Age Mediterranean sea trade. A special feature is the discovery of ceramics from the Nuragic culture from Sardinia. Outside of Sardinia, this was found in the context of the 13./12. Century BC BC so far only reliably identified in Kommos on Crete.

Some of the discovered Mycenaean vessel fragments seem to come from Cyprus, since parallels can only be found at Cypriot sites. Fragments of White Slip II and Base Ring I ceramics (see on these styles Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age ) as well as the remains of an ox skin bar , which is a copper bar in the shape of an ox skin, which come from Cyprus and are certainly Cypriot were important commodities. Fragments of jugs , especially three handle fragments bearing Cypro -Minoan characters , also attracted attention . These transport vessels were made in central and western Crete. Part of it was shipped to Cyprus, where these ironing cans, for. Some of them were labeled and probably also filled and then exported to various regions of the Mediterranean. Fragments of transport jugs were also found in Sardinia, but those with Cypro-Minoan characters have only been discovered in Cannatello in the western Mediterranean.

meaning

In research, Cannatello is seen as an important stop in the Bronze Age Mediterranean trade. Above all, De Miro even assumes a Mycenaean Emporion , which is also viewed critically, since z. B. the settlement structure shows no clear East Aegean features and a large part of the pottery found is indigenous. In any case, Cannatello was in the 14th and 13th centuries BC. At least one important stopover for Eastern Mediterranean merchant ships on their way to more remote regions, such as B. Sardinia, of which there were still others, as demonstrated by Mycenaean and Cypriot finds in the pre-Phoenician, Bronze Age layers of Mozia on San Pantaleo . It remains to be clarified whether Eastern Mediterranean traders also carried out more intensive bartering with the indigenous population of Canatello and which goods were traded in the process.

Finds off the coast of Cannatello

In 2017, a cannon from the 14th century AD was discovered in the sea, about 50 meters from the coast, at a depth of three meters. Subsequent underwater archaeological research in 2017, which will be continued in 2018, discovered anchors from different eras, including from Byzantine times and ceramics.

literature

  • Ernesto de Miro: Archai della Sicilia greca. Presenze egeo-cipriote sulla costa meridionale dell'isola. L'emporio miceneo di Cannatello. In: Actes de la rencontre scientifique en hommage à Georges Vallet organisée par le Center Jean-Bérard, l'École française de Rome, l'Istituto universitario orientale et l'Università degli studi di Napoli «Federico II» (Rome-Naples, 15 -18 November 1995). Rome 1999, pp. 71-81. - online
  • Anthony Russell: In the Middle of the Corrupting Sea. Cultural Encounters in Sicily and Sardinia between 1450-900 BC Dissertation, University of Glasgow, 2011. pp. 127-137.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Paolo Orsi: Nuovi materiali Siculi del territorio di Girgenti. Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana 23, 1997, pp. 1-15.
  2. ↑ Angelo Mosso: Vilaggi preistorici di Caldare e Cannatello presso Girenti. Monumenti Antichi dei Lincei 18, 1907, pp. 573-684.
  3. ↑ Article on the excavations started in 2017 at agrigentonotizie.it from March 17, 2017 (Italian)
  4. ↑ u. a. Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri : The Bronze Age in Sicily . In: Harry Fokkens, Anthony Harding (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook often the European Bronze Age . Oxford University Press, 2013, p. 659.
  5. ↑ Gianmarco Alberti: Minima Thapsiana in detail. Riflessioni sulla cronologia dell'abitato di Thapsos. Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche 57 (2007), pp. 363-376.
  6. ^ Livingston Vance Watrous: Kommos III, The Late Bronze Age Pottery. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1992, ISBN 978-0-691-03607-6 , pp. 163-191, plates 56-57
  7. ↑ On San Pantaleo , indigenous vessels were discovered in the pre-Phoenician, Late Bronze Age layer of Mozia (Motya IIIA, dated by the excavators to approx. see Lorenzo Nigro: Mozia nella preistoria e le rotte levantine: i prodromi della colonizzazione fenicia tra secondo e primo millennio aC nei recenti scavi della Sapienza. Scienze dell 'Antichità 22-2, 2016, p. 353.
  8. ↑ S. on the Cypriot vessel fragments Ernesto de Miro: Archai della Sicilia greca. Presenze egeo-cipriote sulla costa meridionale dell'isola. L'emporio miceneo di Cannatello. In: Actes de la rencontre scientifique en hommage à Georges Vallet organisée par le Center Jean-Bérard, l'École française de Rome, l'Istituto universitario orientale et l'Università degli studi di Napoli «Federico II» (Rome-Naples, 15 -18 November 1995). Rome 1999, p. 77, plate VIII.
  9. ↑ In detail on this Peter M. Day, Louise Joyner: Coarseware Stirrup Jars from Cannatello, Sicily. New Evidence from Petrographic Analysis. Studi Micenei ed Egei-Anatolice 47, 2005, pp. 309-314.
  10. ↑ Russel 2011, p. 132 f.
  11. ↑ On the pre-Phoenician finds on San Pantaeleo: Lorenzo Nigro: Mozia nella Preistoria e le rotte Levantine. I prodromi della colonizzazione fenica tra secondo e primo millennio AC nei receti scavi della Spienza. In: Alberto Cazzella, Alessandro Guidi, Federico Nomi (eds.): Ubi minor… Le isole minori del Mediterraneo centrale dal Neolitico ai primi contatti coloniali. Convegno di Studi in ricordo di Giorgio Buchner, a 100 anni dalla nascita (1914-2014) Anacapri, 27 ottobre - Capri, 28 ottobre - Ischia / Lacco Ameno, 29 ottobre 2014. (= Scienze dell 'Antichità 22-2, 2016) , Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome 2016, pp. 339–365.
  12. ↑ short article at agrigentooggi.it from August 31, 2017 (Italian)
  13. ↑ short article at agrigentooggi.it from August 31, 2017; and on further research in 2018 at agrigentooggi.it from May 30, 2017

Coordinates: 37 ° 15 ′ 25 ″  N , 13 ° 37 ′ 3 ″  E