Milazzese culture

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The Aeolian Islands

The Milazzese culture is a Middle Bronze Age archaeological culture on the Aeolian Islands that dates from approx. 1450/30 to 1300/1250 BC. Existed. It follows on from the Capo Graziano culture and precedes the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Ausonian culture .

General

It is named after the site of Punta Milazzese on the cape of the same name on the island of Panarea , but traces of the Milazzese culture can be found on almost all of the larger Aeolian islands; It also radiated to Ustica and parts of western Calabria (especially the region around the Poro foothills). While the preceding Capo Graziano culture differed significantly from the simultaneous cultures of Sicily (especially the Castelluccio culture ), the Milazzese culture shows close parallels to the approximately simultaneous Sicilian Thapsos culture (after the place where Thapsos was foundnamed), especially with regard to the characteristic shapes and decorations of clay pots. Therefore, both cultures are sometimes collectively referred to as Thapsos-Milazzese facies . In contrast, the Milazzese culture differs very clearly from the simultaneous Apennine culture (or the Middle Bronze Age III ) of the Italian mainland. The finds come mainly from settlements, so far only one necropolis of the Milazzese culture (on Lipari ) has been discovered. Around 1300 BC Or during the first half of the 13th century BC The Milazzese culture came to an abrupt end: all previously known, then still existing settlements fell victim to fire disasters. While most of the islands were uninhabited for centuries afterwards, the legacies of the following Ausonians on Lipari reveal strong cultural ties to mainland Italy.

Settlements

View of Cape Milazzese (Panarea), with the remains of the Middle Bronze Age settlement

Settlements of the Milazzese culture that have been well researched to date are Punta Milazzese on Panarea, Portella on Salina , and the so-called Acropolis on Lipari. Furthermore, the settlement at Capo Graziano on Filicudi continued to be used in the early phase of the Milazzese culture. Also I Faraglioni on the island of Ustica is at least very strong influences of Milazzese culture. The previous Middle Bronze Age finds on the island of San Pantaleo (municipality of Marsala ) during the ongoing excavations of the pre- Phoenician layers of Mozia also show influences of the Milazzese and Thapsos cultures.

The villages of the Milazzese culture were in naturally well-protected places and consisted of a few dozen huts with different oval layouts. The huts were constructed very similar to those of the Capo-Graziano-Graziano culture: stone plinths that are slightly sunk into the ground, in the Milazzese period mostly a little deeper than in the Capo Graziano culture. In some cases, villages of the Capo Graziano culture continued to be used and the floors of existing buildings were raised. The roofs were made of wood or other perishable materials. In the settlement of Capo Graziano on Filicudi, the majority of buildings from the previous Capo Graziano culture were still used; recognizable by the new higher floors. Sometimes two or more huts were combined into small units by additional outer walls. Such additional walls in the vicinity of the dwellings also occur in individual buildings, creating an anteroom in which animals may have been kept.

Within the settlement of Potella on Salina, which was well protected on the slope of the volcano in the northeast of the island, many remains of large storage vessels were discovered that could hold up to 300 liters of water. The settlement of Punta Milazzese on Panarea was located on Cape Milazzese, which sloped steeply into the sea and is only connected to the rest of the island by a narrow isthmus .

Ceramics

Milazzese ceramics from Panarea

The clay pots of the Milazzese culture differ very clearly from those of the previous Capo Graziano culture and show many parallels to the simultaneous Thapsos culture of Sicily, both in terms of production methods and in terms of shapes and decorations. It is handmade (made without a potter's wheel ), unpainted Impasto ceramic. The vessels are often decorated with incisions. There are also plastic decorations, but almost exclusively in the form of flat, cord-like relief bands . Other forms of plastic ornamentation, which are more common in ceramics of the Thapsos culture, are rare in vessels of the Milazzese culture. The form repertoire is quite wide, but it does not include all shapes / peculiarities of the clay vessels of the Thapsos culture. Most noticeable are bowls on very high, mostly conical feet. There are also various shapes of narrow-necked jugs, pots with two handles, large storage vessels and drinking utensils.

Some vessels have characters similar to writing that were scratched on the clay before the fire. The characters, sometimes referred to as " Lipari script ", have so far been discovered on ceramics from Lipari, Panarea and Salina. They occur sporadically during the Capo Graziano culture, but increase in frequency and precision during the Milazzese culture. Bernabò Brea interpreted it as a pottery mark. A derivation from the Minoan culture Linear A or the Mycenaean Linear B syllabary was considered, but rejected by the majority in research. Hans-Günter Buchholz sees strong parallels in some characters with Bronze Age pottery brands Lycia or Hittite hieroglyphs .

Contacts with other cultures

During the Milazzese culture, the Aeolian islands had trade contacts with the approximately simultaneous Apennine culture of mainland Italy. This is proven by finds of Milazzese ceramics in southern Italy as well as foreign clay pots on the Aeolian Islands, which can be clearly assigned to the Apennine culture. The finds of Mycenaean pottery from the Aegean region, which testify to trade with the eastern Mediterranean, are quite numerous . In the context of finds of the Milazzese culture, Mycenaean ceramics of the Late Helladic III A1 and A2 (approx. 1420/1400 to approx. 1300 BC) occur mainly. These also form an important basis for dating the Milazzese culture and individual layers of settlement of the same.

literature

  • 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, pp. 658-662.
  • Robert Ross Holloway : The Archeology of Ancient Sicily. Routledge, London 2002, pp. 48-54.
  • Robert Leighton: Sicily Before History. An Archaeological Survey from the Palaeolithic to the Iron Age. Cornell University Press, Ithaca - New York 1999, pp. 147-162.
  • Isabella Martelli: I contrassegni ei "segni" Eoliani. In: Maria Clara Martinelli (ed.): Il villagio dell 'età del Bronzo medio di Portella a Salina nelle Isole Eolie. Florence 2005, pp. 311-340.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri : The Bronze Age in Sicily , in: Harry Fokkens, Anthony Harding (ed.), The Oxford Handbook often the European Bronze Age , Oxford University Press 2013, pp. 658f.
  2. ^ 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, p. 340; 350-52.
  3. ↑ Reinhard Jung: ΧΡΟΝΟΛΟΓΙΑ COMPARATA. Comparative chronology of southern Greece and southern Italy from approx. 1700/1600 to 1000 BCE Vienna 2006, p. 81.
  4. ↑ on these especially Luigi Bernabò Brea : Bernabo Brea Segni grafici e contrassegni sulle ceramiche dell'età del Bronzo delle Isole Eolie. Minos 2, 1952, pp. 5-29
  5. ↑ See e.g. B. Hans-Günter Buchholz : Late Bronze Age relations of the Aegean to the west . In Hans-Günter Buchholz (Ed.): Aegean Bronze Age . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1987, p. 247, which puts the designation in quotation marks.
  6. ↑ S. on this already Hans-Günter Buchholz: Late Bronze Age Relations between the Aegean and the West . In Hans-Günter Buchholz (Ed.): Aegean Bronze Age . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1987, p. 247
  7. ↑ Hans-Günter Buchholz: Late Bronze Age Relations between the Aegean and the West . In Hans-Günter Buchholz (Ed.): Aegean Bronze Age . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1987, p. 247
  8. ↑ In detail on the classification of Mycenaean ceramics in layers of the Milazzese culture: Reinhard Jung: ΧΡΟΝΟΛΟΓΙΑ COMPARATA. Comparative chronology of southern Greece and southern Italy from approx. 1700/1600 to 1000 BCE Vienna 2006, pp. 59–87.