Andrew Farinholt Ward

Full Citation:

Restelli, Luca, Clemente Marconi, and Andrew Farinholt Ward. 2023. "Lo scavo tra il Tempio A e il Tempio O sull'acropoli di Selinunte (SAS TAO-A, 2022) : rapporto preliminare." Sicilia Archeologica 114: 15-32.



La presente relazione preliminare di scavo riguarda il lavoro sul campo sull’acropoli di Selinunte effettuato nell’estate del 2022 dalla missione dell’Institute of Fine Arts-NYU e dell’Università degli Studi di Milano insieme alla missione dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico, in collaborazione con il locale Parco Archeologico. Questo rapporto si concentra sul SAS TAO-A, aperto tra i templi A e O e i cui ritrovamenti sono molto significativi. Per quanto riguarda la datazione dei templi A e O, individuando i livelli di costruzione e i loro rapporti stratigrafici, lo scavo ha documentato come la costruzione del Tempio O sia iniziata poco dopo la messa in opera delle fondazioni del Tempio A. Reperti provenienti dai livelli di costruzione dei due edifici ne supportano la datazione intorno al 450 a.C. Lo scavo ha consentito inoltre di individuare il livello di cantiere di entrambi i templi, rivelando dati interessanti riguardanti le attività rituali legate alla costruzione. Per quanto riguarda le fasi antecedenti la costruzione dei due templi, il nostro saggio documenta per lo più una serie di riempimenti e livellamenti meglio riconducibili ad avvallamenti provocati dall’estrazione dell’argilla. Da segnalare tuttavia l’abbondanza di frammenti di ceramica fine rinvenuti in diversi livellamenti. Si tratta di una ceramica proveniente presumibilmente da un’area santuariale e databile tra la fine del VII e l’inizio del V secolo a.C. Infine, ci sono state due scoperte impreviste legate alla geomorfologia del sito. Il primo è quello di una vena d’acqua dolce corrispondente alle fondazioni del Tempio A. Resta da accertare la presenza di questa vena d’acqua a questo livello in questa zona dell’acropoli fin dall’antichità. È naturale però mettere in relazione questa presenza di acqua dolce con l’ipotesi di localizzare il primo insediamento greco in questa zona dell’acropoli. La seconda scoperta inattesa è stata quella di una profonda fessura a nord del Tempio O, che penetra fino allo strato geologico, con direzione est-ovest. È più probabile che questa fessura sia dovuta a cause naturali, come un terremoto o un cedimento. Dobbiamo considerare seriamente la possibilità che il mancato completamento del Tempio O sia collegato a questo fenomeno.

This preliminary excavation report concerns the fieldwork on the Acropolis of Selinunte carried out in the summer of 2022 by the mission of the Institute of Fine Arts–NYU and the University of Milan together with the mission of the German Archaeological Institute, in collaboration with the local Archaeological Park. This report focuses on SAS TAO–A, opened between Temples A and O and whose findings are very significant. Concerning the dating of Temples A and O, by identifying the construction levels and their stratigraphic relationships, the excavation documented how the construction of Temple O began shortly after the foundations of Temple A were put in place. Finds from the construction levels of the two buildings support their dating to around 450 BCE. The excavation also made it possible to identify the construction site level of both temples, revealing interesting data regarding ritual activities associated with construction. As for the phases prior to the construction of the two temples, our trench mostly documented a series of fillings and levelings best associated with depressions caused by quarrying clay. However, it is worth mentioning the abundance of fine pottery fragments found in several levelings. This pottery arguably comes from a sanctuary area and dates from the end of the seventh to the beginning of the fifth century. Finally, there were two unanticipated discoveries related to the geomorphology of the site. The first is that of a water vein corresponding to the foundations of Temple A. The presence of water at this level in this area of the Acropolis since ancient times remains to be ascertained. However, it is natural to place this presence of fresh water in relation to the hypothesis of locating the first Greek settlement in this area of the Acropolis. The second unanticipated discovery was that of a deep fissure to the north of Temple O, which penetrates up to the geological layer, with an east-west direction. This fissure is more likely to be a crack due to natural causes, such as an earthquake or landslide. We must seriously consider the possibility that the failure to complete Temple O is connected to this phenomenon.

Full Citation:

Farinholt Ward, A., C. Marconi, and D. Scahill. 2023. "New Evidence for Seventh Century Perishable Building Materials from Selinunte", In C. Previato and J. Bonetto (eds.), Terra, legno e materiali deperibili nell’architettura antica. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi (Padova, 3-5 Giugmo 2021), 321-335, Edizioni Quasar: Rome.


RIASSUNTO

Gli scavi nel principale santuario urbano di Selinunte, promossi dall’Institute of Fine Arts della New York University e dall’Università degli Studi di Milano, in collaborazione con il locale Parco Archeologico, hanno portato alla luce testimonianze della prima architettura dell’insediamento.

Negli strati ben conservati, precedenti al Tempio R dell’inizio del VI secolo, che costituisce il primo esempio a Selinunte di struttura monumentale con un alzato interamente in pietra squadrata, sono state trovate tracce di fango, paglia e altri materiali da costruzione deperibili. Grazie alle scoperte effettuate tra il 2009 e il 2019, è possibile attribuire questi resti a due strutture del VII secolo realizzate nell’arco di una generazione a partire dalla fondazione dell’insediamento.

Pur costituendo un’importante testimonianza delle prime pratiche costruttive di Selinunte, la comprensione della funzione di queste strutture e del loro rapporto con il Tempio R richiede ulteriori considerazioni. Un paradigma di lunga data nello studio dell’architettura sacra greca vedrebbe queste strutture come predecessori del Tempio R e come prova della continuità cultuale. Occorre prestare attenzione nell’applicare questo paradigma alle nuove scoperte, da un lato per le specificità del contesto greco occidentale, dall’altro per una più ampia rivalutazione delle strutture considerate “predecessori” nella Grecia continentale.

Dopo una panoramica sulle evidenze archeologiche relative all’uso dei materiali deperibili nel VII secolo all’interno del settore meridionale del principale santuario urbano di Selinunte, proponiamo un approccio olistico all’identificazione delle strutture più antiche nei santuari dei Greci d’Occidente, che unisca lo studio architettonico a un’attenta considerazione delle attività rituali associate. L’identificazione del rituale costituisce infatti il modo più sicuro per collegare i primi santuari costruiti con materiali deperibili con i loro successori monumentali realizzati in pietra.

ABSTRACT

Excavations in the main urban sanctuary of Selinunte, sponsored by the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University and the University of Milan in collaboration with the local Archaeological Park, have uncovered evidence for the settlement’s earliest architecture.

In well-preserved strata predating the early-sixth century Temple R, itself the first example at Selinunte of a monumental structure with an entirely ashlar stone elevation, traces of mud, straw, and other perishable building materials were found. Thanks to discoveries made between 2009 and 2019, we can attribute these remains to two seventh century structures made within a generation of the settlement’s foundation.

While crucial evidence for Selinunte’s early construction practices, understanding the function of these structures and their relationship to Temple R requires further consideration. A longstanding paradigm in the study of Greek sacred architecture would see these structures as predecessors to Temple R and evidence for cultic continuity. Some care must be taken in applying this paradigm to new discoveries, due in part to concerns unique to the Western Greek context, as well as a broader reassessment of “predecessor” structures in mainland Greece.

Following a review of the archaeological evidence for the use of perishable materials in the seventh century within the area of Selinunte’s main urban sanctuary, we argue for a holistic approach to the identification of predecessors structures in western Greek sanctuaries, which weds architectural study with careful consideration of associated ritual activities, the identification of ritual habits being the surest way of linking predecessors built of perishable materials with their monumental stone successors.

Full Citation:

Marconi, Clemente and Farinholt Ward, Andrew: Armi e pratica rituale nel settore meridionale del grande santuario urbano di Selinunte, in: Scarci, Azzurra, Graells i Fabregat, Raimon und Longo, Fausto (Hrsg.): Armi votive in Sicilia: Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi Siracusa Palazzolo Acreide 12-13 Novembre 2021, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2022 (RGZM – Tagungen, Band 48), p. 151-170.
https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.1127.c15484

Temple R, built ca. 570 BCE, is the earliest monumental temple in the main urban sanctuaryof Selinunte, the westernmost Greek settlement on Sicily. The fortunes of this structure have varied significantly in scholarly debate since the nineteenth century: framed at times as a key piece of evidence for the evolution of, and Bronze Age origins of, Greeksacred architecture, its very identification as a temple questioned at other times. Such studies have invariably relied solely on the extant architectural remains. In this sense, the results of recent excavations by the joint mission of the Institute of Fine Arts - NYU and the University of Milan in and around Temple R demonstrate the importance of wedding architectural study with careful archaeological study and stratigraphic analysis.

Excavation has uncovered not only evidence for the structure's initial construction and many renovations between 570 and 300 BCE, but also evidence for an ac-companying series of complex ritual actions. Rather than a relic of early cultic life, Temple R continued to be an essential locus of cult in the main urban sanctuary of Selinunte.

By tracing the consistency of ritual habits and the use of heirlooms during Temple R’s consecration, various reconsecrations, and ultimate deconsecration, we can come to understand the importance of tradition in Selinuntine religion, and also contextualize this local practice within the broader debate concerning the role of ritual in Greek architectural practice.

Se l’interconnessione tra guerra e società durante i periodi di aperte ostilità è chiara, altrettanto importante è l’influenza pervasiva che il conflitto ha avuto sulla società durante i periodi di pace. Questa constatazione non potrebbe essere più evidente che nei contesti rituali. Gli scavi condotti congiuntamente dall’Institute of Fine Arts (New York University) e dall’Università di Milano nel Tempio R  uno dei primi e più antichi edifici di culto nell’apoikia greco-siciliana di Selinus, situato sull’acropoli della città  hanno restituito centinaia di armi in bronzo e ferro databili tra l’ultima metà del VII secolo e la prima metà del III secolo a.C. provenienti da contesti ben conservati associati alla costruzione e a ripetute ristrutturazioni della struttura nel corso dei secoli. Alcune di queste armi possono essere associate ai depositi di fondazione. Questo elemento ci permette di proporre delle considerazioni sulla natura ‘armata’ del rituale nella Sicilia antica. Allo stesso tempo, la scoperta di scarti di fabbricazione di punte di freccia, prodotte dopo il saccheggio della città nel 409 a.C., fa luce sulla vita nella Selinunte tardo-ellenistica.

The consumption and adaptation of Greek material culture by non-Greek peoples in ancient western Sicily, and the wider Mediterranean, has been an ongoing point of contention in scholarship: do Greek objects influence the peoples that use them, and by their movement and trade are these objects and their figured surfaces active agents of Hellenization? Acknowledging that framing future discussion through postcolonialism only perpetuates the anachronistic
colonialist model, this dissertation applies the materialist theory of transculturality to an understudied class of terracotta objects distributed and adapted through Ancient Sicily: louteria, arulae, and other ritual furniture impressed with cylinder-roll matrices.

This announcement summarizes the results of an interdisciplinary methodology combining technical and iconographic analyses of the stamp series, reconstruction of the then-stamped terracottas’ contexts, and spatial and statistical modelling of their distribution patterns. This holistic approach to material study reveals a highly complex network of exchange, adaptation, and local production in sixth and fifth century Sicily far more dynamic than the simple binary of colonizer and colonized.

In 2019, a bone disc seal was discovered in the main urban sanctuary of Selinunte in western Sicily, during ongoing excavations jointly sponsored by the Institute of Fine Arts-NYU and the Università degli Studi di Milano Statale. The seal, bearing intaglio designs of animals on either side, is of a type well attested in the seventh century at sites like Perachora and the Argive Heraion, but far less common in the Greek West. Found alongside other objects in strata associated with the construction of Temple R ca. 570 BCE, this Selinuntine seal was likely an heirloom by the time of its deposition.

The seal is in fact one of a growing corpus of objects with clear age value, often older than the apoikia itself, that were ritually deposited during the construction of sacred and domestic buildings in Archaic Selinunte. The precision of modern excavations has allowed us to understand when in the construction process such heirlooms were deposited. With several key exceptions, such objects tend to be deposited earlier in the construction process, with rituals closer to completion of a structure emphasizing the contemporary community, thus articulating spatially and temporarily the Selinuntines’ relationship to their past.

While an emphasis on communal longevity has particular value in the colonial context, these discoveries encourage us to reconsider where, and when, heirlooms were incorporated into ritual activity during construction throughout the Archaic Greek world. A review of several key contexts from eastern Sicily, the Greek mainland, and the Aegean suggests a range of regional traditions, and new avenues for study.

The fourteenth campaign on the acropolis of Selinunte took place between June 5th and July 15th of 2022. This campaign was led by the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and the Università degli Studi di Milano, in collaboration with the Archeological Park of Selinunte. Over a two-month season across June and July, after two years of reduced work due to the pandemic, the team members of the archaeological mission in Selinunte of the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University and of the University of Milan, in collaboration with the local archaeological park, returned in full strength to the site’s acropolis in 2022.

Fieldwork focused on three different areas, two within the main urban sanctuary, and a third to the south in the area of Temple A and O. With an eye towards completing the archaeological study of Temple R in the coming years, two incomplete trenches were reopened and completed - 2012’s Trench O, and 2018-2019’s Trench R. The new work to the south of the main urban sanctuary marks a major new collaboration between our project and the German Archaeological Institute in Rome’s mission in Selinunte, directed by Ortwin Dally and supervised by Melanie Jonasch.

While foreign to modern practice, in Greek antiquity the practical aspects of building a structure were inseparable from a complex series of ritual activities. Particularly, but not exclusively, associated with temples and other sacred structures, archaeologists have identified deposits containing the remains of sacrificial victims, votive offerings, purificatory actions, and commensal activities.  These deposits are often problematically referred to as “foundation deposits,” borrowing a term from Near Eastern and Egyptian studies that describes a process with some similarities, but certain crucial differences.

Using the evidence from the Sicilian Greek city of Selinus as a starting point, this paper outlines how Greek construction rituals emphasized actions that articulated the identities of the builders and the broader community. The construction rituals of individual buildings tend to be studied in isolation, and a comparison of construction rituals across sacred, domestic, and civic contexts in Selinous reveal shared characteristics that suggest the evolution of a specific Selinuntine tradition. Similar patterns can be identified in other communities across Archaic and Classical Sicily, as well as across the broader Greek dispora, whether in the Western Mediterranean, the Aegean islands, or along the Ionian coast. Considered synthetically, the construction rituals evidenced across these communities allows us to understand not only the variability within ancient construction ritual, but also how these actions helped communities to define themselves as part of, yet distinct within, broader regional and pan-Mediterranean identities.

Founded on a series of hills overlooking the sea along the southwestern coast of Sicily, the early history of the Greek apoikia of Selinus (modern Selinunte) has sparked interest and controversy.  The date of the city’s foundation—628 BCE by Thucydides and 650 BCE by Diodorus—has played a major role in the absolute dating of Corinthian vase painting, while the scanty evidence of early habitation discovered in various parts of the settlement has been used to argue for both antagonistic and peaceful interactions between the Greek settlers and the indigenous populations in the hinterland.

Excavations in the southern area of Selinunte’s main urban sanctuary, sponsored by the Institute of Fine Arts–New York University and the Università degli Studi di Milano, and in collaboration with the local Archaeological Park, have unearthed a wealth of new evidence for the settlement’s foundation phase in the seventh century. Particularly significant, in this regard, has been the work  of the Summer 2019, which is the main focus of this presentation. The architectural remains of at least two structures were discovered beneath the sanctuary’s sixth century stone temples.  While the utilization of mudbrick or rammed-earth (pisé) and other construction techniques provide new insight into early Greek architecture in Sicily, several distinct ritual depositions associated with these structures are as, if not more, striking.  Ranging from spears driven into the soil of the newly settled colony, to an entire deer antler deposited as part of a seventh century foundation deposit, these discoveries allow us to nuance our understanding of how the first generations of Selinus initiated cultic practice in an area that would see continuous (largely ritual) use until the abandonment of the city around 250 BCE. 

Considered alongside recent discoveries from several other Greek and Phoenician settlements in Sicily, the evidence for early colonial religion at Selinus can be understood not only as an assertion of local identity, but also as a very intentional situating of a nascent community within the wider transcultural cultic landscape of seventh century western Sicily.

Founded on the southwestern coast of Sicily by settlers from Megara and Megara Hyblaea, the Greek apoikia of Selinus (modern Selinunte) rapidly became a wealthy city, famed even in antiquity for its many temples spanning the Archaic and Classical periods.  The 2018 excavation season marked the twelfth year of investigation of the main urban sanctuary on the acropolis of Selinunte by the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and the first year that the mission is sponsored jointly by the Institute and the Università degli Studi di Milano. 

The results from excavations this season and last year mark a breakthrough in understanding both the architectural history of temples R and C, as well as the rituals and other activities that took place in the sanctuary during, after, and prior to the monumentalization of the area.

Within and to the south of the nonperipteral Temple R, now securely dated to the beginning of the sixth century by foundation deposits, a nearly three-and-a-half-meter stratigraphic column was found, preserving floor surfaces and extensive votive depositions associated with the original construction phase, as well as at least three later renovations stretching into the Hellenistic period.  Below, provocative evidence was found for ritual activity from the first generation after the city’s foundation, and at the lowest levels prehistoric material dating from the Bronze Age to Mesolithic periods. We also present new evidence for early monumental construction techniques related to Temple R.

In addition, excavations between Temple R and the peripteral Temple C has also provided a wealth of new information regarding the relationship of Temple R and C.  In particular, a series of fills were found that we hypothesize show an ingenious ramping system for the placement of foundations for Temple C. This has implications for mid-sixth century construction techniques in Selinunte and, by comparison, the wider Greek world. Moreover, we discuss the possible implications of an adjustment discovered in the foundations of Temple C, as well as reevaluations of the “later” additions to Temple R, which have implications not only for Sicilian, but also Greek, sacred architecture generally.

The consumption and adaptation of “Greek” material culture by “non-Greek” peoples has been an ongoing point of contention in scholarship: are objects active agents, and by their movement and trade are these objects and their figured surfaces active agents of Hellenization?  This question is particularly appropriate for western Sicily, where Greek apoikiai were founded in close proximity to Phoenician, Elymian, and Sikan settlements and territories.  Since Paolo Orsi’s seminal works at the turn of the twentieth century, interaction between these communities has been framed largely through the colonial or postcolonial perspectives, and in no place is this clearer than religion.  Sicilian ritual was presented as hybrid practice of indigenous traditions and Hellenic innovation and visual expression, with the Greek colonial centers influencing peripheral practices through the distribution of Greek ritual materials.

However, ancient identity is far more fluid than previous scholarship allows, and the growing evidence for sub-elite multiethnic communities in western Sicily makes terms such as Greek and Phoenician more tenuous.  Hybridity relies on an implicit preceding homogeneity, and the recent theory of transculturality provides a better model for understanding the “colonial” context.  Using an understudied class of religious material culture – terracotta furniture including lustral basins, altars, and trapeza – this paper presents for the first time models the distribution and adaptation patterns that characterize the western Sicilian ritual economy between 650 BCE and the establishment of the Punic and Syracusean eparchiai.  As these terracottas were commonly impressed with cylinder stamp decoration, this paper utilizes published and new evidence to track the creation, distribution, and copying of stamp series.  The resultant model suggests integrated regional exchange networks rather than a simplistic binary relationship between the Greek apoikia and its “non-Greek” hinterland.  Selinuntine production is found well into Akragentine territory, while louteria found at Monte Saraceno and Gibil-Gabib indicate interaction between Greek sub-colonies and indigenous centers divorced from their mother cities.  Distinctly indigenous adaptations of originally Greek iconographies were distributed among closed networks in the island’s highlands into the fifth century, and Motya began serial production unparalleled in the wider Phoenician diaspora.

A reexamination of the contextual record indicates that these ritual terracottas were readily adapted into local contexts, transformed through integration into traditional cultic and domestic assemblages across Greek, indigenous, and Phoenician sites.  This dynamic network of exchange and translation and its dissolution in the fifth century has profound implications for our understanding of the role of foreign objects in religious expression in archaic and classical Sicily.  Rather than being markers of Hellenization, the use of formally similar objects for different functions marks the creation of a truly transcultural regional style that used a common ritual material culture to articulate – instead of masking – local identity.

Western Sicily holds a curious place in the historical tradition.  The region, roughly corresponding to the modern Sicilian provinces of Palermo, Trapani, and Agrigento, is divided from the eastern portion of the island by the Imera Meridionale and Imera Settentrionale rivers.  Traditionally, this area has been considered a unity, on account of its geographical, historical, and cultural differences from the rest of the island.

This is particularly true for the Archaic period, traditionally associated with the period between the foundation of Himera in the mid-seventh century and the Battle of Himera which allegedly occurred on the same day as Salamis.  During this period, the region was notable for its varied populations, which led to a balance of power between Greek, Phoenician, and what me might term – cognizant of the epistemological issues – indigenous, or native, communities.  Generally, Greek communities clustered on the coast, with the main centers being Himera on the northern, and Selinus and Acragas on the southern coast.  Three major Phoenician communities covered the coastline between, namely Panormus and Soloeis on the north coast, and Motya near the western cusp.  Finally, two native populations were distinguished by the Greeks as residing in the hinterland, identified by the Greeks with the Sicans to the east of the Monti Sicani, and the Elymians in the rolling hills to the west, with settlement clusters throughout the river valleys.

The consumption of Greek material culture by non-Greek peoples in ancient western Sicily and the wider ancient world has been an ongoing point of contention in scholarship – do Greek objects influence the peoples that consumed them, and by their movement and trade are these objects and their figured surfaces active agents of hellenization?  Acknowledging that framing future discussion of the ancient Mediterranean through postcolonialism only perpetuates the anachronistic colonialist model, this lecture applies the globalist theory of transculturality to a long-understudied class of terracotta objects distributed and adapted through ancient Sicily: terracottas stamped using cylinder-roll matrices.  Imported from Corinth in the sixth century, the technique would find widespread popularity among the Greek, Phoenician, and indigenous communities of western Sicily.  Modeling this distribution and translations through formal, contextual, and GIS analyses, the traditional opposition of “Greek” and “non-Greek” is questioned.

Following a study season in 2016, the project’s tenth excavation campaign was conducted in the main urban sanctuary between May and June of 2017, thanks to the support of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, in collaboration with the Archeological Park of Selinunte. This season produced important new findings beneath the current topsoil of the main room, or cella, of Temple R. An incredibly well-preserved stratigraphic column was found, with far fewer disruptions from later phases, contributing significantly to our knowledge of the different use phases of our area, and, more generally, to our understanding of ritual actions associated with the construction of temples in the ancient Greek world...

In the spring of 409, according to Greco-Roman sources, a force under Hannibal Mago of Carthage sacked Selinunte.  The destruction layer uncovered by NYU-IFA excavations, exceptional for its concentration of arrowheads, corroborates previous archaeological evidence that gives credence to the accuracy of the literary accounts.  These same sources go on to describe the reoccupation of Selinous by some of its previous Greek inhabitants, and its changing allegiance across the many conflicts of Hellenistic Sicily.  Despite no indication of a further depopulation, Selinunte’s archaeological record has been interpreted as demonstrating the existence of a Punic colony on the site either immediately following the conquest (Tusa) or in the later fourth century (Mertens & La. Geniére) – relying upon a simplistic paradigm of periodization, in which the homogenous Greek colony became a homogenous Punic colony following its conquest.  While a preponderance of evidence does suggests that the site was the settlement identified in numismatics and epigraphy as Rosh Melqart, and had a large Phoenician population, evidence presented in this paper argues strongly against Jacques des Courtils summation that, “Sélinonte s’inscrit totalement dans le contexte de la civilisation phénico-punique.”

While demographic changes certainly did occur, as evidenced by a proliferation of Sicilian-Punic material culture, it is harmful to understand Selinunte in such a binary narrative.  Instead, a reevaluation of masonry styles, architectural forms, and standing stones oft-identified as aniconic baetyls, corroborates the objections already raised by Christian Russenberger and others that many “indicators” of Punic culture are in fact misinterpretations of the archaeological record.  The most significant new sacred construction in the Hellenistic period is the thoroughly Greek Temple B, dismissed in recent scholarship as anomalous. The discoveries by the IFA-NYU excavations at Temple B and R within the main urban sanctuary, as well as the reevaluation of excavations and architectural study on contrada Gaggera and upon the akropolis all point to Temple B being far from an anomaly, and part of a greater phenomenon of urban and ritual continuity before and after 409.  While objects are not people, and hence Greek material culture should not be seen as definitive proof of Greek inhabitants, there is no longer valid evidence for the total dominance of Punic culture in Selinunte.  This heterogeneous city then, while still useful for understanding Punic trends on the island, can also stand an example of intensive cultural coexistence, and as a further warning against unqualified descriptions of “Greek” and “Punic” cities.

In Western Sicily the Greek polis of Selinous, famed for its temples, fell to the Carthaginians in 409 BCE, and was thereafter reoccupied, possibly under the new toponym Rosh Melqart, as part of the “Carthaginian eparchy.”  The conquest of the city marked a major turning point in the site’s profane and sacred urban topography well beyond its extensive Hellenistic fortifications.  However, the conclusions drawn from this reborn site have often relied upon a simplistic cultural paradigm, in which the homogenous Greek colony became a homogenous Punic colony following its conquest.  While demographic changes certainly did occur, as evidenced by a proliferation of Sicilian-Punic material culture, it is harmful to understand Selinunte in such a binary narrative.  Excavation and architectural study conducted by the Institute of Fine Arts-NYU since 2006, along with a reexamination of previous scholarship, indicates the coexistence of Greek and Punic populations.  The acknowledgement of a heterogeneous population is important, as there has been a recent tendency to identify without sufficient evidence structures throughout post-409 Selinunte as Punic shrines, due to the assumption that any new use patterns must be Punic.  Instead, examination of the architecture and assemblages from repurposed structures such as Temples R and C, as well as new constructions such as Temple B, demonstrate that Greek and Punic cult (and daily life) existed in close proximity, suggestive of a pattern of intensive cultural interaction on a localized level that could be applicable elsewhere in the region.

A central component of Greek sacrifice was the act of purification through water. The louterion, or perirrhanterion, a basin standing on a cylindrical shaft and base, was the most typical container for these lustral waters. Produced also for domestic settings, contextual readings, with a consideration of their associated assemblages, are critical for interpretation. While material and formal differences make generalizations difficult, the style of louterion developed in Corinth proved particularly popular in the colonies of Magna Graecia and Sicily, and in the sixth and fifth centuries a diverse series of basins with relief decoration were produced and traded between Himera, Gela, Akragas, and Selinous in western Sicily. And yet, trade of these objects exceeded Greek sites and speaks to a far more adaptable and polyvalent ritual object.

Created with rolling stamps, the reliefs portray Centauromachies, hunters, charioteers, and other mythological scenes—and the quality of this thoroughly Greek iconography has led to a great deal of scholarly attention. Largely restricted in the past to typological analysis, the entire corpus was assumed to be either solely for use in Greek sanctuaries, or for domestic settings. Beyond the fact that a review of original field journals reveals that their findspots varied to a greater degree, these louteria are also found in both indigenous and Phoenicio-Punic sites, such as Mozia and Gibil Gabib. Especially in these new cultural contexts, while the iconography and forms remain homogenous, contexts can vary quite a deal, found not only in sanctuaries but also in ritual and profane domestic contexts and, surprisingly, in burial contexts.

As has been done with imported sympotic pottery in recent years, a contextual reading of louteria in their new settings allows one to chart the chain of transformations by which a Greek ritual object can become an indigenous ritual object for an indigenous audience—avoiding the hermeneutic dangers inherent to colonial and post-colonial approaches. Indeed, louteria seemed to be just as adaptable when traded among the Greek colonies—the polyvalent nature of the objects reflected in the generalized iconographies of victory, order, and other concepts found in the relief decoration. These concepts, when agreeable to local schema, explain the importation of stamped louteria to sites such as Mozia, where one finds reliefs depicting Nikai crowning charioteers—in this instance especially compelling considering other adaptations of agonic motifs into the Phoenician vocabulary.

In 409 B.C.E., a regional conflict between the Greek city of Selinus and the Elymian city of Segesta would take on international significance, with the Carthaginians under Hannibal Mago besieging Selinus and razing it in a matter of days. As famously related by Diodorus Siculus, this event was significant not only for the brutality of the sack but also for the conflict it initiated over the next three years which saw the destruction of Greek cities across the island, forever changing the geopolitical landscape of the Western Mediterranean. During excavations within Temple R on the Acropolis of Selinunte by New YorkUniversity’s Institute of Fine Arts, clear evidence of this sack has been found, ranging from extensive signs of burning to well over 75 arrowheads found in a clear destruction layer. Beyond speaking to the brutality of the conquest, a careful investigation of the typological nuances of these arrowheads and their comparanda across the Mediterranean reveals several significant conclusions about Punic archery and Western Mediterranean warfare generally.

While the heterogeneity of arrowhead types found at Marathon and Thermopylae make ethnic or national distinctions difficult in such cases, in the case of Selinus types found almost exclusively in Ibiza, Iberia, and Carthage, as are types popular in Italic contexts from which the Carthaginians drew mercenaries. While not an argument for arrowheads as ethnic identifiers, the material from Selinus does suggest a far greater degree of regionalism in military technology than previously allowed in scholarship. The arrowheads of Selinus favor the growing understanding in the classical scholarship of the importance of archery in military conflict, a reaction to the earlier view of such warfare as a prelude to more decisive hand-to-hand combat. This view may be challenged based upon not only a numerical analysis but also an extensive study of the wear patterns upon the arrowheads of Selinus. Such studies clearly point to these arrowheads being used in the sack itself, rather than being discards or votive in nature, fundamentally challenging certain conceptions of classical warfare.

From a class of objects too often ignored in field reports and publications, one can thus not only evaluate the veracity of Diodorus Siculus’ account but also learnt far more about the actors involved in one of the most important battles of the Pre-Roman Western Mediterranean.

While the intersection of dietary habits and ritual in the Ancient Mediterranean has been a popular topic at a theoretical level, the resultant paradigm that what is sacrificed is also eaten, and can thus be found in the osteological record, has yet to be applied sufficiently to specific archaeological questions.  Such a question arises in the history of the Sicilian site of Selinunte, a colony of Megara and Megara Hyblaea founded in the seventh century BCE, conquered by the Carthaginians in 409 BCE.  Scholarship is divided on the nature of the city following this catastrophic event: was the city entirely Punic, or was the post-409 BCE population more heterogeneous? 

One underexamined avenue of interpretation arises from the intersection of diet and ritual, and how ritual can be understood as an indicator of cultural identity.  Writers such as Porphyry of Tyre as well as epigraphic evidence describe an abstention from pork in Phoenicia, and the practice was not abandoned in the West by the Carthaginians.  Although the suggestion that the Carthaginians abstained entirely from pork has been disproved through archaeological study, a preponderance of evidence suggests that the animal was considered unclean and rarely sacrificed.
At Selinunte, there are two sanctuaries active following 409 BCE associated with Demeter, a key cult for both Greek and Punic alike.  One is at the shrine of Demeter Malophoros, the other at ‘Temple B’ on the acropolis.  Temple B is problematic for those considering the site to be entirely Punic: a thoroughly Greek prostyle temple built in a supposedly Punic site.  Excavations at Temple B conducted by New York University have revealed that the main sacrificial victims are piglets, sacrificed in keeping with a uniquely Greek cult.

By contrast, during the excavation of the sanctuary of Demeter Malophoros, a high proportion of burned goat and sheep bones were found, especially in the later levels, with little evidence of the sacrifice of pigs.  While this anomaly has been associated with the epiklesis of the goddess, it is instead possible to see the sanctuary as a cult of Demeter catering to a Punic-Phoenician populace, in tandem with the cult of Temple B.  In this way, the question of the nature of Hellenistic Selinunte can be answered by utilizing traditional interpretive frameworks such as building technique while also considering a practice at the core of ancient life: sacrifice and the diet that is expressed through it.

Since Alexandre Lezine coined the term opus africanum, the construction technique, characterized by alternating ashlar pilaster courses and mortared fill, had been intimately tied to Punic culture, and to the perceived seat of that culture in Carthage and the surrounding areas.  Yet the term itself, given an air of authority in its Latin form, is but a modern construct.  That said, based upon Lezine’s model, scholars like Sophie Helas have attempted to show that the construction technique spread with the influence of the Carthaginian Empire, and instances of opus africanum outside of North Africa are thus indicative of Punic colonists.  A presentation by Lisa Fentress was seen to corroborate this model, indicating that the distribution of the opus matches the area many historians believe to be under the control of Carthage.  Indeed, when examples of the style were discovered in mainland Italy, the prevailing explanation had been to see it as the work of Punic slaves, as construction technique and ethnic identity had become so thoroughly interwoven in scholars’ eyes.

Regional differences and the multi-ethnic populations at many sites in the Western Mediterranean have been recognized in other media, and it is the purpose of this project to challenge the perception of opus africanum as an ethnically restricted style, and to instead recognize its spread as being one of either emulation, acculturation, or practical functionality, thus formally suggesting a rupture between the technology of the medium and its spread, and the political system that has been imagined from it.  At many sites opus africanum appears to have been a pragmatic means of rapid repair and construction, rather than a conscious expression of a particular identity. 

In order to investigate this, the technical aspects of the building method will be analyzed in detail at four sites: Soluntum and Akragas in Sicily, and Pompeii and Capua in Campania.  While scholarly consensus concerning Soluntum as a continually inhabited “Punic” site allows a study of the technique to serve as a control, the other exempla chosen for this study come from areas assuredly outside of the area of the Punic eparchy.  Traditionally, case studies looking generalizations of style have been restricted to the comparison of opus africanum within the bounds of a single site, as has been done for Soluntum, but in this project the methodologies and materials used in the construction of a single well-dated structure from each site will be compared.  Much can be learned from the substrate of the extant walls, the mortars used, typologies of stones selected, through recent non-invasive techniques of identification more often used in the field of architectural conservation.  It is my belief that, in looking beyond the surface style, and at composition and context, opus africanum might finally be divorced from its singular ethnic association.  It would thus provide the groundwork for a more nuanced debate concerning this opus, and question the belief that this building style can be used as a clear indicator of the ethnic identity of the ancient populations of archaeological sites.

In May and June of 2014 we carried out our eighth campaign of excavation in the main urban sanctuary. Work this season consisted of the continued excavation of Trench P, opened in the previous year in the adyton of Temple R. By the end of the season, the Classical and Archaic levels in the trench were excavated, down to the floor of an earlier structure datable to the seventh century BCE...

In May and June of 2013, we carried out our seventh campaign of excavation in the main urban sanctuary. Excavation this season consisted of the opening of a large trench (Trench P, 3.90 x 4.66 m) in correspondence of the western two-thirds of the adyton, the innermost chamber of Temple R. By the end of the season, the Hellenistic and Late Classical levels in the trench were excavated, down to a layer of burnt material corresponding to the Carthaginian destruction of Selinus in 409 BCE.

A seasonal torrent, bounded by retaining walls integrating Greek and Roman phases, runs through the middle of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on the island of Samothrace. This central ravine was the subject of study in 2016, inspired by the American mission’s current focus on the question of how ancient visitors navigated the sanctuary. A key aspect of this study was the accurate, but selective, documentation of the ravine’s anthropogenic elements, and the delineation of these premodern and modern phases. Rather than using laser scanning or other technologies more often used for large features, the project generated a high definition photogrammetric model and associated vector drawings by a modified protocol using a handheld camera. This case study reviews the efficacy of this low-resource methodology within a complex archaeological site, its limitations, and the technique’s long-term benefits in light of a series of catastrophic storms between 2017 and 2020.

The island of Samothrace in the northern Aegean Sea was home to one of the most famed sanctuary of the ancient Greco-Roman world, where visitor from kings to slaves could be initiated into the mysteries of the nameless megaloi theoi – or Great Gods. Under the patronage of Alexander the Great’s family and his Hellenistic successors, the sanctuary grew to contain a wealth of architecturally innovative buildings and luxurious dedications with few rivals. While the ancient rites of initiation still remain a mystery, since the 1940s American excavations have investigated the site’s ruins, helping us to reconstruct the sanctuary’s built environment.



A new multidisciplinary campaign over the past decade has sought to better understand the experience of the ancient visitor as they moved through the sanctuary. Excavation and 3D modelling have helped us to recognize how the dramatic natural landscape, enhanced by a theatrical approach to architectural design, guided a visitor through a series of dramatic views that generated feelings of sacred awe. New geologic and architectural surveys demonstrate the Samthracean’s use of local stone to contextualize new marble dedications in a seemingly timeless rustic context. Together, we can begin to appreciate the complex planning that went into the design of ancient sacred space.

The 2016 season undertook a formalized study of the premodern and modern interventions between the Central Sanctuary and the Western Hill, resulting in a new focus on the Central Ravine. The primary objective of this study was to understand the course, dimensions, and magnitude of the Central Ravine as it existed in antiquity and to assess how this water channel both informs and is informed by the modern ravine.  This study is critical for understanding structures of the Central Sanctuary, namely the Altar Court and Theater, which were constructed along the path of the ravine and whose interpretation relies heavily upon how we understand hydraulic management in this area. The Central Ravine also informs our understanding of site conservation needs, due to the practical realities of recent seasonal flooding which has increased the degree of erosion and undermining of the current cement and cobble lining.

In the ASCSA excavations of Corinth’s Potters’ Quarter between 1929 and 1931, a series of stelai were uncovered within unroofed enclosures containing deposits rich in votive material. Originally approached for their value within the wider context of the Potters’ Quarter and the reconstruction of a chronology for Corinthian ceramics, these stelai shrines were reconsidered as a type following the discovery of similar shrines elsewhere in the city by Charles K. Williams. Defined in several brief publications as short-lived shrines that memorialized domestic cults following their abandonment, this interpretation has been accepted or challenged across a series of recent studies. These studies’ engagement with the material evidence itself has been limited and selective (with the stelai themselves receiving the lion’s share of attention), in part because of the typological nature of the original early twentieth century excavations, which obscured the shrines’ complex and rich evidence. 
To promote a more holistic dialogue, over the past two years the shrines and their assemblages were reconstructed through the reexamination of original excavation notes as well as published and unpublished archaeological materials.  Plans of all these shrines are presented for the first time, and their votive assemblages’ depositional relationships analyzed.  This new contextual approach was paired with trace pigment analysis of the stelai themselves, faunal analysis, and comparison to evidence recently discovered in the Corinthiad and the wider Peloponnese.  While this research supports seeing these stelai as semea of offering tables, beyond the stelai themselves a far greater variation in votive practice and context exists than traditionally thought.  Rather than solely short-lived memorializations, a new reading reframes the shrines as heterogeneous diachronic processes adaptable to the complexity of ritual life across ancient Corinth.

In the ancient world, art and falsehood were closely entwined on both a philosophical and practical level. Plato’s opinion of art, as related in the Republic and other dialogues is well known: good people and gods do not deceive – but artists constantly deceive the viewer by trying to make their fake imitations look real (Rep. 598c, 602d). While Aristotle tempered Plato’s theories on mimesis, deception’s key role in art did not change, but rather was seen as a potential benefit. Stories of Zeuxis’s deception of Parrhasius or the rise of mimicry marks a shift towards appreciating the deception itself as part of a piece. As developed in fourth century sculptural tastes, aesthetic pleasure arises from an artwork’s very nature as a falsehood.

Recognizing the importance of deception in the appreciation of artwork allows for the opportunity to reincorporate into the corpus of Art History a typology of sculpture that has been oft-ignored: automata. Beginning in the fourth century and reaching its peak in the courts of Alexandria and Syracuse, the practice of constructing statues which could move, speak, and even interact with one another in a larger composition was highly valued not only for the statues’ technical innovations, but also for their wondrous beauty. Famous examples include Ctesibius’s statue for Philadelphus, Philo of Byzantium’s dancing girls, and Hero’s complex ensemble of Herakles, archer, and hissing snake. Up until now, these works have been analyzed as works of engineering that are maligned as generally worthless toys despite their high regard in literary accounts. However, by understanding the importance of deception to the appreciation of ancient art, automata can be reinterpreted not as oddities, but rather the pinnacle of a new taste in Greek art for the artfully deceptive.