Monti Sicani
| Monti Sicani | |
|---|---|
 Sicily with the Monti Sicani |
|
| Highest peak | Rocca Busambra ( 1613 m slm ) |
| location | Metropolitan City of Palermo and Agrigento Free Municipal Consortium , Italy |
| part of | Sicily |
| Coordinates | 37 ° 49 ′ N , 13 ° 10 ′ E |
The Monti Sicani mountain range is a mountain range in Sicily . It is located in the western part of the island in the metropolitan city of Palermo and the Free Municipal Consortium of Agrigento .
The highest point is the 1613 m high Rocca Busambra northeast of Corleone . The Platani , one of the longest rivers in Sicily, has its source in the east near Castronovo di Sicilia . Parts of the Monti Sicani have been placed under nature protection, as rare species of orchids and butterflies are native here.
history
The district of Alto Belice Corleonese in the central part of the massif was extensively investigated archaeologically on a private initiative. The project, which covered an area of around 300 hectares on Strada Statale 188dir / c, financed by the Bona Furtuna Società Agricola , between Corleone and Campofiorito , focused on the area between Contrade Giardinello and Castro and the section at the foot of Monte Barraù (also Monte Barracù).
The results go back to the Protostoria , as early history is called in Italy. A total of 16 sites were examined, which differ from the Copper Age to pastoral structures of recent times extend. Middle of the 3rd century BC The (hypothetical) Via Aurelia, which connected Palermo with Agrigento, crossed the area in the 2nd century BC, and in the imperial period this was the Itinerarium Antonini des cursus publicus . The name of Monte Barraù goes back to the Arabic ra's e ĝabal bū 'r-rahū (Sicily was Arabicized between 827 and 902). The Arabic name has not yet been explained. The name was latinized in Burrachu after the Norman conquest, as it appears in the Norman Jarida di Monreale of 1182. These border descriptions were given by King Wilhelm II to the Abbey of Santa Maria la Nuova of Monreale.
The investigations up to 2016 showed that the earliest settlers established villages on the slopes of Pizzo Castro until the Bronze Age . In ancient Greece, on the other hand, settlement structures emerged along the Giardinello stream. The area was evidently uninhabited in Roman times, but this can hardly have excluded logging or pastoral uses. In addition, it cannot be ruled out that there are Roman remains below the medieval settlement. From the transition period between late antiquity and the Middle Ages , no finds could be substantiated. It was not until the 10th and 12th centuries that settlements emerged again in the transition period between Arab and Norman rule. Water use and ceramic production can be determined in connection with trade contacts with the coastal towns. This applies in particular to sito BF05 , an Arab-Norman town in a location that dominates the valley. From the 18th to the middle of the 20th century, the area was subject to a use called transhumance . Round stone mannari were found , which served to offer the animals a safe place to sleep or to separate them from one another according to certain criteria. Other structures indicate cheese production. Stone structures, the pagghiari , in which the shepherds lived during their mountain stays in the warm season, were built in a similar way.
Remarks
- ↑ Decree of the Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare of December 21, 2015.
- ↑ This and the following according to Angelo Castrorao Barba, Antonio Rotolo, Pasquale Marino, Stefano Vassallo, Giuseppe Bazan: Harvesting Memories project: ricognizioni archeologiche nelle contrade Castro e Giardinello e nell'area di Monte Barraù (Corleone, Palermo) , in: Notiario Archeologico della Soprintendenza di Palermo 13 (2016) 1-36.