Guida alla mostra permanente. Comiso, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale e Biblioteca Civica, 22 apr... more Guida alla mostra permanente. Comiso, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale e Biblioteca Civica, 22 aprile 2022
The book aims to gather in one volume all the published and unpublished Late Minoan I pottery fro... more The book aims to gather in one volume all the published and unpublished Late Minoan I pottery from the first excavations at Haghia Triada (1902-1914) and to update, according to the more recent research trends, the old edition by L. Banti. The volume is divided into three parts. In the first part, the archival documents (in particular the notebooks and sketches of the first excavators, F. Halbherr, E. Stefani and R. Paribeni) are used to reconstruct the pottery assemblages as retrieved in the old excavations. The nature of the evidence, which mostly consists of whole vases kept in the well preserved LM IB architectural contexts of the Villa Reale, is especially suited to the application of a synchronic perspective and to the investigation of the system of production and consumption of pottery in the site. This investigation, which is carried out in the second and third parts of the book, has largely been neglected in studies on LM I pottery, mostly because of the prevailing interest in chronology and the definition of relative sequences. Regionalism, in particular, has been frequently mentioned but never analyzed in a systematic way. Starting from the evidence from Haghia Triada, more than 50 shapes and 30 motifs are discussed in the second part of the book, with an emphasis on their morphological and stylistic features and on their distribution on a local, regional or insular level of consumption. Finally, these features are classified in four groups on the basis of their geographical distribution and are examined in order to highlight the dynamics governing their spatial distribu¬tion and the inferences that can be drawn for the system of pottery production. In the third part, a new approach to investigating the system of pottery consumption is proposed. It de¬rives from an adaptation of the model elaborated by A. Rapoport for analysing the cultural use (that is to say the consumption) of space. A fundamental point in Rapoport’s approach is that there is not a univocal correspondence between human behaviour and the built environment, but rather a complex interaction between systems of activities and systems of settings. In the same way, vases are not used in isolation, only according to their morphological features, but are part of a system of types that is consumed in connection with systems of activities. Following this perspective, the author proposes to distinguish the pottery shapes from the first excavations into six “functional groups” according to their morphological features and their connection with systems of activities: 1) tableware; 2) small containers for valuable contents; 3-4) storage sets of medium and large dimensions; 5) shapes involved in production/transformation processes; 6) shapes connected to ritual practices. Furthermore, a comparison is carried out between the typological composition of pottery sets recovered in the Villa and in some houses of the Villaggio excavated in the second cycle of excavations (1977-2012) in order to investigate pottery consumption in different social contexts.
in S. Modeo, S. D'Angelo, S. Chiara, Ad aquam orantes. Il culto delle divinità acquatiche nella Sicilia antica,, 2024
The paper discusses the evidence of Greek water cults in the area between Ippari and Irminio rive... more The paper discusses the evidence of Greek water cults in the area between Ippari and Irminio rivers. It is divided in three sections. The first one is dedicated to the water cults which took place in the Greek polis of Kamarina; the second one focuses on the cultic revival, probably connected with water cults, that affected the prehistoric hypogeum of Calaforno in the late Classical and Hellenistic periods; the third section, finally, presents for the first time a group of female clay figurines associated with clay vessels and oil lamps, which testify to the presence of a water cult in a cave probably located in the district of Canicarao (Comiso). The inscriptions on two statuettes refer respectively to the nymphs Oreiades and, probably, to the goddess Hygheia.
Schemata. La città oltre la forma. Vol 2: Preistoria e protostoria - a cura di R. Brancato, L. M. Caliò, M. Figuera, G.M. Gerogiannis, E. Pappalardo, S. V. Todaro, , 2023
The paper analyzes some characteristics of the shape of the Minoan cities of the Palatial period,... more The paper analyzes some characteristics of the shape of the Minoan cities of the Palatial period, highlighting how they do not find exact parallels in the theoretical models traditionally used by scholars to define urban centers. In particular, there are raisons to doubt that the Minoan palatial cities were characterized by a dense and continuous occupation of residential space, as it is usual in typical urban settlements. A case in point is offered by the Great Minoan Tringle of western Messarà, constituted in the Neopalatial period by the centers of Phaistos, Hagia Triada and Kommos. The complementary nature of the functions performed in these three centers suggests that they were distributed according to a unitary planning. Their small size, however, excludes that they were proper cities. Thus, it seems more appropriate to see them as neighborhoods of a larger urban unit which, unlike the modern ones, was characterized by a discontinuous occupation of residential space, and which built its own sense of identity and unity through the participation in the ceremonies that took place in the main monumental buildings of the area. The case of the Great Minoan Triangle suggests, in other words, a hybrid model for explaining the urban phenomenon of Neopalatial Crete, halfway between a city, since it was able to perform specialized urban functions, and a small territorial state, since it was characterized by scattered occupation of large areas of territory.
in C. Langohr, Q. Letesson edd., Πολυμήχανος. Man of Many Ways. Papers in Honour of Professor Jan Driessen, 2023
As the title suggests, this paper has been conceived as a supplement to my early paper concerning... more As the title suggests, this paper has been conceived as a supplement to my early paper concerning ritual performances in Minoan lustral basins. While the subject of the first study was lustral basins and their functional relationship with polythyron halls, here I will analyse their role in the architectural structure of the so-called Minoan palaces, as I believe that this analysis may offer a key to a better understanding of the ceremonial and social nature of these monumental buildings.
L’architettura minoica fu caratterizzata da una complessa articolazione volumetrica, in particola... more L’architettura minoica fu caratterizzata da una complessa articolazione volumetrica, in particolare per il sistematico uso di edifici strutturati su due o più piani. A dispetto di ciò, la dimensione tridimensionale del costruito minoico è stata molto trascurata nella storia degli studi, a favore di un approccio che tiene in considerazione l’analisi morfologica, funzionale e distributiva solo di quanto sopravvissuto a piano terra. Oggi i moderni sistemi di modellazione 3D offrono nuove opportunità di ricerca riguardo all’articolazione in elevato degli edifici minoici. L’articolo si propone di delineare queste nuove prospettive di ricerca e di definire le principali questioni metodologiche ad esse correlate, attraverso il caso studio offerto dall’insediamento Tardo Minoico IB di Haghia Triada a Creta.
Minoan architecture was characterized by a complex articulation of the volumes, and in particular by the systematic use of multistorey buildings. Nevertheless, the three-dimensional nature of the Minoan built environment has been quite neglected in the history of Minoan archaeology, in favour of an approach that contemplates the morphological, functional and distributional analysis of only what has survived on the ground floor. Today, the modern 3D modelling softwares offer new research opportunities in studying the elevation of Minoan buildings. This paper aims to outline these new research perspectives and to define the main methodological issues related to them, through the case study offered by the Late Minoan IB settlement of Haghia Triada in Crete.
Paper presented at the 13th International Congress of Cretan Studies 5-9 October 2022
The examination of stratified contexts from old and new archaeological excavations at Haghia Tria... more The examination of stratified contexts from old and new archaeological excavations at Haghia Triada, shows that, after the LM IB destruction of the so called “Villa Reale”, an immediate reoccupation took place in the residential sector of the settlement (the so called “Villaggio”), while monumental buildings were abandoned and only rebuilt in LM IIIA2. This evidence suggests some thoughts about the nature of the LM IB rupture which marked the end of Neopalatial and the beginnings of Monopalatial period at Haghia Triada and in the rest of Crete. At Haghia Triada, the opposition between continuity in the residential area of the settlement and discontinuity of monumental buildings, suggests that the rupture was partial and selective, and especially affected the ritual practices taking place in monumental buildings. More in general, the chronological differences highlighted by recent research between the LM IB horizons of destruction attested in this and other sites of Crete, supports the view that LM IB rupture was not monolithic, but varied according to local and functional contexts, and that the radical transformation to Monopalatial period was a progressive process, largely triggered by internal dynamics, more than an abrupt event of exogenous origin: in short, a sequence of differentiated ruptures more than a single homogenous rupture.
in P. Militello, F. Nicoletti, R. Panvini edd., "La Sicilia Preistorica. Dinamiche interne e relazioni esterne", Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Catania - Siracusa 7-9 ottobre 2021, pp. 275-294
Il contributo offre un breve resoconto dei recenti scavi effettuati dalla Soprintendenza BB. CC. ... more Il contributo offre un breve resoconto dei recenti scavi effettuati dalla Soprintendenza BB. CC. AA. di Ragusa nella zona antistante l’accesso all’Ipogeo di Calaforno (2016-2019). L’attenzione è rivolta in particolare alle eccezionali strutture megalitiche che monumentalizzarono l’ingresso all’Ipogeo nel tardo Eneolitico (Edificio 1, Dromos e Muro Occidentale) e nell’Eneolitico finale (Edificio 2). Una modesta frequentazione della zona è attestata anche nell’età del Bronzo antico e medio, e nell’età tardoclassica/ellenistica, quando questo settore conobbe una nuova ripresa edilizia associata a deposizioni rituali. I consistenti contesti ceramici legati alle fasi megalitiche, tra i quali spiccano alcuni frammenti di Thermi ware, offrono interessanti spunti per una migliore definizione cronologica delle fasi tarda (facies di Malpasso) e finale (facies di S. Ippolito) dell’Eneolitico siciliano e del loro rapporto con il coevo contesto mediterraneo.
SUMMARY - INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS AND EXTERNAL LINKS IN CALAFORNO: NEW INVESTIGATIONS IN THE AREA OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE HYPOGEUM - The paper offers a brief account of the recent excavations carried out by Soprintendenza BB. CC. AA. of Ragusa in the area in front of the access to the Calaforno Hypogeum (2016-2019). The focus is on the exceptional megalithic structures that monumentalized the entrance to the Hypogeum in the Late (Building 1, Dromos and Western Wall) and Final (Building 2) Eneolithic. A scattered frequentation is also attested in the Early and Middle Bronze Age, and in the Late Classical/Hellenistic Age, when this sector experienced a new building phase associated with ritual depositions. The substantial ceramic contexts associated with the megalithic phases, among which some fragments of Thermi ware have been recovered, offer interesting insights for a better definition of the chronology of the late (Malpasso phase) and final (S. Ippolito phase) Eneolithic in Sicily and in the contemporary Mediterranean context.
A large fragment of a black and white floor mosaic representing two human figures, was discovered... more A large fragment of a black and white floor mosaic representing two human figures, was discovered in 1935 near Piazza Diana in Comiso, in the same area where, in the following years (1937 Pace’s excavations, and 1988-89 Di Stefano’s excavations), the remains of a roman bath with two architectural phases, respectively dating back to the 2nd and 5th cent. AD, were brought to light. Starting from the discussion on the iconography of the figures and on their original positioning, a general reexamination is proposed of the roman bath and of the surrounding settlement. The two figures are tentatively identified with Arion and a Nereid; probably, they were originally placed in the frigidarium of the first phase of the building. Furthermore, the bath complex, whose dimension and monumentality appear very large and disproportionate if compared to the modest extension of the surrounding settlement in the 2nd century, was probably connected with a sanctuary linked to the cult of the Ippari springs, as suggested on the one hand by some iconographical elements of the frigidarium mosaic and by the marble protome of the so called “Hipparis”, and on the other hand by some mentions in the ancient literary sources.
in M. Relaki and J. Driessen edd., "OIKOS: Archaeological approaches to House Societies in Aegean Prehistory", UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve 2020, 2020
Rites of passage are rituals aiming to define the social role and status of the community members... more Rites of passage are rituals aiming to define the social role and status of the community members. In the last decades, many scholars (Davis, Marinatos, Koehl, etc.) have dealt with this topic in Aegean world, showing that these rites were widely practiced in Minoan Crete and strongly interacted with social practices such as clothing, hairstyle, sport and cult. Despite the pervasiveness of rites of passage in Minoan Crete, especially in the palatial period, and their association with relevant collective practices, not enough attention has been payed, so far, to their role in shaping the structure of Minoan society. This paper aims to fill this gap by taking advantage of comparative examples and interpretative models provided by anthropologists and historians of religion. After a short review of the archaeological evidence for rites of passage in Minoan palatial Crete, some hypotheses will be proposed about the structure of these rituals and their internal differentiation according to the age and sex of the participants. This complex system resulted in the creation of homogeneous social groups which must have had a strong role in the life of Minoan communities. They probably acted as “moral persons holding an estate made up of material and immaterial wealth” but perpetuated themselves not on the basis of kinship but of the participation to a common rite of passage.
G. Baldacci, I. Caloi edd., Radhamanthys: Studi di archeologia minoica in onore di Filippo Carinci per il suo 70 compleanno, BAR Publishing, Oxford, pp. 167-178, 2018
The paper focuses on the morphological and dimensional peculiarities of seven potters’ wheels fou... more The paper focuses on the morphological and dimensional peculiarities of seven potters’ wheels found in LM I contexts from the 1977-2012 Haghia Triada excavations. Some thoughts are developed about their technological implications and the cultural significance of these peculiarities; and thence a consideration of the contribution that this new evidence may offer to a better understanding of the phenomenon of regionalism in the LM I pottery production system.
in M. Livadiotti, R. Belli Pasqua, L.M. Caliò, G. Martines (edd.), Theatroedeis. L'immagine della città, la città delle immagini. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Bari, 15-19 giugno 2016, voll. I-IV (Thiasos monografie 11), Roma 2018, vol. I, pp. 309-318.
This paper deals with the problem of the relationship between built environment and visibility in... more This paper deals with the problem of the relationship between built environment and visibility in Minoan palatial age. In particular, it discusses the hypothesis that the structure of Minoan settlement system, whose origin date back to the end of Neolithic, and which acquired urban characters at the beginnings of the second millennium B.C., was strongly influenced, since its origins, by dynamics of visibility pointing to symbolically link the different parts of a region and to convert it into a ritual landscape.
This article deals with the problem of the relationship between outward aspect (i.e. garment and ... more This article deals with the problem of the relationship between outward aspect (i.e. garment and hairstyle) of individuals, and status and power in Minoan palatial Crete. Earlier studies have showed that Minoan iconography took special care of the association between hairstyle, garments and age of individuals. In the article it is suggested that this attention resulted from the key role that age sets, that is corporative groups structured on an age basis, played in managing social life and political power in palatial Crete.
short paper presented at the international workshop "Il Sacrificio. Forme rituali, linguaggi e strutture sociali" (a cura di E. Lippolis, P. Vannicelli, V. Parisi), Roma 27-29 maggio 2015, 2017
This paper summarizes some thoughts arising from the study of a pottery assemblage of ritual natu... more This paper summarizes some thoughts arising from the study of a pottery assemblage of ritual nature recovered in a Late Minoan IA domestic context in the Cretan settlement of Haghia Triada. This assemblage included a tripod tray with six circular holes on the bottom and some miniature bowls that, if inserted in the holes of the tray, could transform it in a “kernos”, that is, according to the ancient Greek sources, a ritual vase for multiple bloodless offerings. The evidence from Haghia Triada throws new light on the dynamic aspects of the ritual use of this object in Minoan Crete, offers further support to the theory of a prehistoric origin of the historic “kernos”, and suggests the possibility that it was connected to initiation performances.
La prospection de la région de Malia a permis de mettre en évidence, comme dans d'autres régions ... more La prospection de la région de Malia a permis de mettre en évidence, comme dans d'autres régions de Crète, une forte diminution du nombre de sites entre la période des Premiers Palais et celle des Seconds palais. Ce phénomène ne correspond pas seulement à une centralisation (population répartie dans des sites plus grands et moins nombreux) mais aussi à un déplacement de l’occupation humaine vers la plaine, plus particulièrement vers la bande côtière, et à un abandon de la zone montagneuse, en l’occurrence les pentes nord du Séléna. Cette évolution implique de nouvelles modalités d’exploitation des ressources naturelles, sinon une modification de ces ressources (exploitées "à distance", ou alors épuisées, ou inaccessibles, ou devenues superflues … ?). En conséquence, ce phénomène ne revêt pas qu’un caractère politique mais également, ou prioritairement, un aspect économique qui a dû affecter le système de production de cette région pendant le passage du Protopalatial au Néopalatial. Pour appréhender ce changement, les auteurs tentent d’abord de reconstituer le paléo-environnement de la région de Malia, à partir d’une analyse du potentiel agricole fondée sur un recensement des végétaux actuels, sur des données palynologiques, et sur une étude de l'hydrologie et de la pédologie locales. Ils examinent ensuite les liens possibles entre le bilan environnemental et l’évolution du système d’occupation du territoire et terminent par une comparaison entre les dynamiques observées dans la région de Malia et celles d’autres régions de Crète.
Guida alla mostra permanente. Comiso, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale e Biblioteca Civica, 22 apr... more Guida alla mostra permanente. Comiso, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale e Biblioteca Civica, 22 aprile 2022
The book aims to gather in one volume all the published and unpublished Late Minoan I pottery fro... more The book aims to gather in one volume all the published and unpublished Late Minoan I pottery from the first excavations at Haghia Triada (1902-1914) and to update, according to the more recent research trends, the old edition by L. Banti. The volume is divided into three parts. In the first part, the archival documents (in particular the notebooks and sketches of the first excavators, F. Halbherr, E. Stefani and R. Paribeni) are used to reconstruct the pottery assemblages as retrieved in the old excavations. The nature of the evidence, which mostly consists of whole vases kept in the well preserved LM IB architectural contexts of the Villa Reale, is especially suited to the application of a synchronic perspective and to the investigation of the system of production and consumption of pottery in the site. This investigation, which is carried out in the second and third parts of the book, has largely been neglected in studies on LM I pottery, mostly because of the prevailing interest in chronology and the definition of relative sequences. Regionalism, in particular, has been frequently mentioned but never analyzed in a systematic way. Starting from the evidence from Haghia Triada, more than 50 shapes and 30 motifs are discussed in the second part of the book, with an emphasis on their morphological and stylistic features and on their distribution on a local, regional or insular level of consumption. Finally, these features are classified in four groups on the basis of their geographical distribution and are examined in order to highlight the dynamics governing their spatial distribu¬tion and the inferences that can be drawn for the system of pottery production. In the third part, a new approach to investigating the system of pottery consumption is proposed. It de¬rives from an adaptation of the model elaborated by A. Rapoport for analysing the cultural use (that is to say the consumption) of space. A fundamental point in Rapoport’s approach is that there is not a univocal correspondence between human behaviour and the built environment, but rather a complex interaction between systems of activities and systems of settings. In the same way, vases are not used in isolation, only according to their morphological features, but are part of a system of types that is consumed in connection with systems of activities. Following this perspective, the author proposes to distinguish the pottery shapes from the first excavations into six “functional groups” according to their morphological features and their connection with systems of activities: 1) tableware; 2) small containers for valuable contents; 3-4) storage sets of medium and large dimensions; 5) shapes involved in production/transformation processes; 6) shapes connected to ritual practices. Furthermore, a comparison is carried out between the typological composition of pottery sets recovered in the Villa and in some houses of the Villaggio excavated in the second cycle of excavations (1977-2012) in order to investigate pottery consumption in different social contexts.
in S. Modeo, S. D'Angelo, S. Chiara, Ad aquam orantes. Il culto delle divinità acquatiche nella Sicilia antica,, 2024
The paper discusses the evidence of Greek water cults in the area between Ippari and Irminio rive... more The paper discusses the evidence of Greek water cults in the area between Ippari and Irminio rivers. It is divided in three sections. The first one is dedicated to the water cults which took place in the Greek polis of Kamarina; the second one focuses on the cultic revival, probably connected with water cults, that affected the prehistoric hypogeum of Calaforno in the late Classical and Hellenistic periods; the third section, finally, presents for the first time a group of female clay figurines associated with clay vessels and oil lamps, which testify to the presence of a water cult in a cave probably located in the district of Canicarao (Comiso). The inscriptions on two statuettes refer respectively to the nymphs Oreiades and, probably, to the goddess Hygheia.
Schemata. La città oltre la forma. Vol 2: Preistoria e protostoria - a cura di R. Brancato, L. M. Caliò, M. Figuera, G.M. Gerogiannis, E. Pappalardo, S. V. Todaro, , 2023
The paper analyzes some characteristics of the shape of the Minoan cities of the Palatial period,... more The paper analyzes some characteristics of the shape of the Minoan cities of the Palatial period, highlighting how they do not find exact parallels in the theoretical models traditionally used by scholars to define urban centers. In particular, there are raisons to doubt that the Minoan palatial cities were characterized by a dense and continuous occupation of residential space, as it is usual in typical urban settlements. A case in point is offered by the Great Minoan Tringle of western Messarà, constituted in the Neopalatial period by the centers of Phaistos, Hagia Triada and Kommos. The complementary nature of the functions performed in these three centers suggests that they were distributed according to a unitary planning. Their small size, however, excludes that they were proper cities. Thus, it seems more appropriate to see them as neighborhoods of a larger urban unit which, unlike the modern ones, was characterized by a discontinuous occupation of residential space, and which built its own sense of identity and unity through the participation in the ceremonies that took place in the main monumental buildings of the area. The case of the Great Minoan Triangle suggests, in other words, a hybrid model for explaining the urban phenomenon of Neopalatial Crete, halfway between a city, since it was able to perform specialized urban functions, and a small territorial state, since it was characterized by scattered occupation of large areas of territory.
in C. Langohr, Q. Letesson edd., Πολυμήχανος. Man of Many Ways. Papers in Honour of Professor Jan Driessen, 2023
As the title suggests, this paper has been conceived as a supplement to my early paper concerning... more As the title suggests, this paper has been conceived as a supplement to my early paper concerning ritual performances in Minoan lustral basins. While the subject of the first study was lustral basins and their functional relationship with polythyron halls, here I will analyse their role in the architectural structure of the so-called Minoan palaces, as I believe that this analysis may offer a key to a better understanding of the ceremonial and social nature of these monumental buildings.
L’architettura minoica fu caratterizzata da una complessa articolazione volumetrica, in particola... more L’architettura minoica fu caratterizzata da una complessa articolazione volumetrica, in particolare per il sistematico uso di edifici strutturati su due o più piani. A dispetto di ciò, la dimensione tridimensionale del costruito minoico è stata molto trascurata nella storia degli studi, a favore di un approccio che tiene in considerazione l’analisi morfologica, funzionale e distributiva solo di quanto sopravvissuto a piano terra. Oggi i moderni sistemi di modellazione 3D offrono nuove opportunità di ricerca riguardo all’articolazione in elevato degli edifici minoici. L’articolo si propone di delineare queste nuove prospettive di ricerca e di definire le principali questioni metodologiche ad esse correlate, attraverso il caso studio offerto dall’insediamento Tardo Minoico IB di Haghia Triada a Creta.
Minoan architecture was characterized by a complex articulation of the volumes, and in particular by the systematic use of multistorey buildings. Nevertheless, the three-dimensional nature of the Minoan built environment has been quite neglected in the history of Minoan archaeology, in favour of an approach that contemplates the morphological, functional and distributional analysis of only what has survived on the ground floor. Today, the modern 3D modelling softwares offer new research opportunities in studying the elevation of Minoan buildings. This paper aims to outline these new research perspectives and to define the main methodological issues related to them, through the case study offered by the Late Minoan IB settlement of Haghia Triada in Crete.
Paper presented at the 13th International Congress of Cretan Studies 5-9 October 2022
The examination of stratified contexts from old and new archaeological excavations at Haghia Tria... more The examination of stratified contexts from old and new archaeological excavations at Haghia Triada, shows that, after the LM IB destruction of the so called “Villa Reale”, an immediate reoccupation took place in the residential sector of the settlement (the so called “Villaggio”), while monumental buildings were abandoned and only rebuilt in LM IIIA2. This evidence suggests some thoughts about the nature of the LM IB rupture which marked the end of Neopalatial and the beginnings of Monopalatial period at Haghia Triada and in the rest of Crete. At Haghia Triada, the opposition between continuity in the residential area of the settlement and discontinuity of monumental buildings, suggests that the rupture was partial and selective, and especially affected the ritual practices taking place in monumental buildings. More in general, the chronological differences highlighted by recent research between the LM IB horizons of destruction attested in this and other sites of Crete, supports the view that LM IB rupture was not monolithic, but varied according to local and functional contexts, and that the radical transformation to Monopalatial period was a progressive process, largely triggered by internal dynamics, more than an abrupt event of exogenous origin: in short, a sequence of differentiated ruptures more than a single homogenous rupture.
in P. Militello, F. Nicoletti, R. Panvini edd., "La Sicilia Preistorica. Dinamiche interne e relazioni esterne", Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Catania - Siracusa 7-9 ottobre 2021, pp. 275-294
Il contributo offre un breve resoconto dei recenti scavi effettuati dalla Soprintendenza BB. CC. ... more Il contributo offre un breve resoconto dei recenti scavi effettuati dalla Soprintendenza BB. CC. AA. di Ragusa nella zona antistante l’accesso all’Ipogeo di Calaforno (2016-2019). L’attenzione è rivolta in particolare alle eccezionali strutture megalitiche che monumentalizzarono l’ingresso all’Ipogeo nel tardo Eneolitico (Edificio 1, Dromos e Muro Occidentale) e nell’Eneolitico finale (Edificio 2). Una modesta frequentazione della zona è attestata anche nell’età del Bronzo antico e medio, e nell’età tardoclassica/ellenistica, quando questo settore conobbe una nuova ripresa edilizia associata a deposizioni rituali. I consistenti contesti ceramici legati alle fasi megalitiche, tra i quali spiccano alcuni frammenti di Thermi ware, offrono interessanti spunti per una migliore definizione cronologica delle fasi tarda (facies di Malpasso) e finale (facies di S. Ippolito) dell’Eneolitico siciliano e del loro rapporto con il coevo contesto mediterraneo.
SUMMARY - INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS AND EXTERNAL LINKS IN CALAFORNO: NEW INVESTIGATIONS IN THE AREA OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE HYPOGEUM - The paper offers a brief account of the recent excavations carried out by Soprintendenza BB. CC. AA. of Ragusa in the area in front of the access to the Calaforno Hypogeum (2016-2019). The focus is on the exceptional megalithic structures that monumentalized the entrance to the Hypogeum in the Late (Building 1, Dromos and Western Wall) and Final (Building 2) Eneolithic. A scattered frequentation is also attested in the Early and Middle Bronze Age, and in the Late Classical/Hellenistic Age, when this sector experienced a new building phase associated with ritual depositions. The substantial ceramic contexts associated with the megalithic phases, among which some fragments of Thermi ware have been recovered, offer interesting insights for a better definition of the chronology of the late (Malpasso phase) and final (S. Ippolito phase) Eneolithic in Sicily and in the contemporary Mediterranean context.
A large fragment of a black and white floor mosaic representing two human figures, was discovered... more A large fragment of a black and white floor mosaic representing two human figures, was discovered in 1935 near Piazza Diana in Comiso, in the same area where, in the following years (1937 Pace’s excavations, and 1988-89 Di Stefano’s excavations), the remains of a roman bath with two architectural phases, respectively dating back to the 2nd and 5th cent. AD, were brought to light. Starting from the discussion on the iconography of the figures and on their original positioning, a general reexamination is proposed of the roman bath and of the surrounding settlement. The two figures are tentatively identified with Arion and a Nereid; probably, they were originally placed in the frigidarium of the first phase of the building. Furthermore, the bath complex, whose dimension and monumentality appear very large and disproportionate if compared to the modest extension of the surrounding settlement in the 2nd century, was probably connected with a sanctuary linked to the cult of the Ippari springs, as suggested on the one hand by some iconographical elements of the frigidarium mosaic and by the marble protome of the so called “Hipparis”, and on the other hand by some mentions in the ancient literary sources.
in M. Relaki and J. Driessen edd., "OIKOS: Archaeological approaches to House Societies in Aegean Prehistory", UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve 2020, 2020
Rites of passage are rituals aiming to define the social role and status of the community members... more Rites of passage are rituals aiming to define the social role and status of the community members. In the last decades, many scholars (Davis, Marinatos, Koehl, etc.) have dealt with this topic in Aegean world, showing that these rites were widely practiced in Minoan Crete and strongly interacted with social practices such as clothing, hairstyle, sport and cult. Despite the pervasiveness of rites of passage in Minoan Crete, especially in the palatial period, and their association with relevant collective practices, not enough attention has been payed, so far, to their role in shaping the structure of Minoan society. This paper aims to fill this gap by taking advantage of comparative examples and interpretative models provided by anthropologists and historians of religion. After a short review of the archaeological evidence for rites of passage in Minoan palatial Crete, some hypotheses will be proposed about the structure of these rituals and their internal differentiation according to the age and sex of the participants. This complex system resulted in the creation of homogeneous social groups which must have had a strong role in the life of Minoan communities. They probably acted as “moral persons holding an estate made up of material and immaterial wealth” but perpetuated themselves not on the basis of kinship but of the participation to a common rite of passage.
G. Baldacci, I. Caloi edd., Radhamanthys: Studi di archeologia minoica in onore di Filippo Carinci per il suo 70 compleanno, BAR Publishing, Oxford, pp. 167-178, 2018
The paper focuses on the morphological and dimensional peculiarities of seven potters’ wheels fou... more The paper focuses on the morphological and dimensional peculiarities of seven potters’ wheels found in LM I contexts from the 1977-2012 Haghia Triada excavations. Some thoughts are developed about their technological implications and the cultural significance of these peculiarities; and thence a consideration of the contribution that this new evidence may offer to a better understanding of the phenomenon of regionalism in the LM I pottery production system.
in M. Livadiotti, R. Belli Pasqua, L.M. Caliò, G. Martines (edd.), Theatroedeis. L'immagine della città, la città delle immagini. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Bari, 15-19 giugno 2016, voll. I-IV (Thiasos monografie 11), Roma 2018, vol. I, pp. 309-318.
This paper deals with the problem of the relationship between built environment and visibility in... more This paper deals with the problem of the relationship between built environment and visibility in Minoan palatial age. In particular, it discusses the hypothesis that the structure of Minoan settlement system, whose origin date back to the end of Neolithic, and which acquired urban characters at the beginnings of the second millennium B.C., was strongly influenced, since its origins, by dynamics of visibility pointing to symbolically link the different parts of a region and to convert it into a ritual landscape.
This article deals with the problem of the relationship between outward aspect (i.e. garment and ... more This article deals with the problem of the relationship between outward aspect (i.e. garment and hairstyle) of individuals, and status and power in Minoan palatial Crete. Earlier studies have showed that Minoan iconography took special care of the association between hairstyle, garments and age of individuals. In the article it is suggested that this attention resulted from the key role that age sets, that is corporative groups structured on an age basis, played in managing social life and political power in palatial Crete.
short paper presented at the international workshop "Il Sacrificio. Forme rituali, linguaggi e strutture sociali" (a cura di E. Lippolis, P. Vannicelli, V. Parisi), Roma 27-29 maggio 2015, 2017
This paper summarizes some thoughts arising from the study of a pottery assemblage of ritual natu... more This paper summarizes some thoughts arising from the study of a pottery assemblage of ritual nature recovered in a Late Minoan IA domestic context in the Cretan settlement of Haghia Triada. This assemblage included a tripod tray with six circular holes on the bottom and some miniature bowls that, if inserted in the holes of the tray, could transform it in a “kernos”, that is, according to the ancient Greek sources, a ritual vase for multiple bloodless offerings. The evidence from Haghia Triada throws new light on the dynamic aspects of the ritual use of this object in Minoan Crete, offers further support to the theory of a prehistoric origin of the historic “kernos”, and suggests the possibility that it was connected to initiation performances.
La prospection de la région de Malia a permis de mettre en évidence, comme dans d'autres régions ... more La prospection de la région de Malia a permis de mettre en évidence, comme dans d'autres régions de Crète, une forte diminution du nombre de sites entre la période des Premiers Palais et celle des Seconds palais. Ce phénomène ne correspond pas seulement à une centralisation (population répartie dans des sites plus grands et moins nombreux) mais aussi à un déplacement de l’occupation humaine vers la plaine, plus particulièrement vers la bande côtière, et à un abandon de la zone montagneuse, en l’occurrence les pentes nord du Séléna. Cette évolution implique de nouvelles modalités d’exploitation des ressources naturelles, sinon une modification de ces ressources (exploitées "à distance", ou alors épuisées, ou inaccessibles, ou devenues superflues … ?). En conséquence, ce phénomène ne revêt pas qu’un caractère politique mais également, ou prioritairement, un aspect économique qui a dû affecter le système de production de cette région pendant le passage du Protopalatial au Néopalatial. Pour appréhender ce changement, les auteurs tentent d’abord de reconstituer le paléo-environnement de la région de Malia, à partir d’une analyse du potentiel agricole fondée sur un recensement des végétaux actuels, sur des données palynologiques, et sur une étude de l'hydrologie et de la pédologie locales. Ils examinent ensuite les liens possibles entre le bilan environnemental et l’évolution du système d’occupation du territoire et terminent par une comparaison entre les dynamiques observées dans la région de Malia et celles d’autres régions de Crète.
Starting from the analysis of the ceremony performed in Theran Xesté 3, I discuss some points con... more Starting from the analysis of the ceremony performed in Theran Xesté 3, I discuss some points concerning the crucial role played by initiation rituals in structuring society and political power in Minoan Crete.
Ritual action from Phaestos to Thera: a functional interpretation of the "polythyron-adyton" comp... more Ritual action from Phaestos to Thera: a functional interpretation of the "polythyron-adyton" complex in the Aegean world
Several Cretan lustral basins, such as that in room 83 of Phaistos Palace or in Daskaloiannis street at Chania, are furnished with or flanked by ledges, passageways or windows. According to M. Andreadaki-Vlasaki, these devices were intended to allowing «to only a few spectators to attend an event» performed in the lustral basin. In this paper, I argue that a similar architectural arrangement is also recognizable in the Xesté 3 at Akrotiri, where magnificent wall paintings permit to reconstruct an initiation ceremony, with a female initiate descending in the lustral basin 3 a and some male attendants helping her from the adjacent sector 3b. A similar ritual action, concerning initiation and based on sex segregation, could have taken place also in the Cretan lustral basins. This conclusion strengthens the old hypothesis of Hägg and Marinatos, according to which the Minoan architectural complexes with polythyron halls and lustral basins (or adyta following the terminology of the two scholars) were used – mainly if not exclusively – for ceremonial purposes. Furthermore, the initiatory interpretation of these ceremonies suggests that rites of passage played a basic role in Minoan society, structuring different groups on the basis of sex, age and common participation and control of these strategic ritual practices.
Review of the volume "Vincenzo La Rosa (1941-2014). Un archeologo tra Sicilia ed Egeo", a cura di... more Review of the volume "Vincenzo La Rosa (1941-2014). Un archeologo tra Sicilia ed Egeo", a cura di L. Arcifa, P. Militello, Oxford, Archeopress 2021
intervento al convegno "Biagio Pace e l'archeologia nel Mediterraneo. Oltre la Sicilia", Comiso 8 febbraio 2020
Si propone una ricostruzione delle attività di ricerca condotte nel centro urbano di Comiso e nel... more Si propone una ricostruzione delle attività di ricerca condotte nel centro urbano di Comiso e nel territorio circostante da B. Pace, e si aggiorna il quadro con riferimenti ai più recenti sviluppi della ricerca
Conferenza tenuta il 6 dic 2021 nell'ambito del progetto di Public History "Alla scoperta di Ragu... more Conferenza tenuta il 6 dic 2021 nell'ambito del progetto di Public History "Alla scoperta di Ragusa e del suo paesaggio culturale" promosso dall’Ecomuseo Carat del Comune di Ragusa e dall’Archivio degli Iblei in collaborazione con Archivio di Stato di Ragusa, Associazione Insieme in città, Università di Catania Struttura Didattica di Ragusa https://www.labstoria.it/allascopertadiragusaedelsuopaesaggioculturale/alla-scoperta-di-ragusa-e-del-suo-paesaggio-culturale-il-progetto/
Esposizione dei reperti archeologici della collezione del Museo civico di Storia Naturale di Comi... more Esposizione dei reperti archeologici della collezione del Museo civico di Storia Naturale di Comiso, tra cui i materiali dai recenti scavi in contrada Serra Carcara
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Books by Dario Puglisi
Papers by Dario Puglisi
A case in point is offered by the Great Minoan Tringle of western Messarà, constituted in the Neopalatial period by the centers of Phaistos, Hagia Triada and Kommos. The complementary nature of the functions performed in these three centers suggests that they were distributed according to a unitary planning. Their small size, however, excludes that they were proper cities. Thus, it seems more appropriate to see them as neighborhoods of a larger urban unit which, unlike the modern ones, was characterized by a discontinuous occupation of residential space, and which built its own sense of identity and unity through the participation
in the ceremonies that took place in the main monumental buildings of the area. The case of the Great Minoan Triangle suggests, in other words, a hybrid model for explaining the urban phenomenon of Neopalatial
Crete, halfway between a city, since it was able to perform specialized urban functions, and a small territorial state, since it was characterized by scattered occupation of large areas of territory.
Minoan architecture was characterized by a complex articulation of the volumes, and in particular by the systematic use of multistorey buildings. Nevertheless, the three-dimensional nature of the Minoan built environment has been quite neglected in the history of Minoan archaeology, in favour of an approach that contemplates the morphological, functional and distributional analysis of only what has survived on the ground floor. Today, the modern 3D modelling softwares offer new research opportunities in studying the elevation of Minoan buildings. This paper aims to outline these new research perspectives and to define the main methodological issues related to them, through the case study offered by the Late Minoan IB settlement of Haghia Triada in Crete.
SUMMARY - INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS AND EXTERNAL LINKS IN CALAFORNO: NEW INVESTIGATIONS IN THE AREA OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE HYPOGEUM - The paper offers a brief account of the recent excavations carried out by Soprintendenza BB. CC. AA. of Ragusa in the area in front of the access to the Calaforno Hypogeum (2016-2019). The focus is on the exceptional megalithic structures that monumentalized the entrance to the Hypogeum in the Late (Building 1, Dromos and Western Wall) and Final (Building 2) Eneolithic. A scattered frequentation is also attested in the Early and Middle Bronze Age, and in the Late Classical/Hellenistic Age, when this sector experienced a new building phase associated with ritual depositions. The substantial ceramic contexts associated with the megalithic phases, among which some fragments of Thermi ware have been recovered, offer interesting insights for a better definition of the chronology of the late (Malpasso phase) and final (S. Ippolito phase) Eneolithic in Sicily and in the contemporary Mediterranean context.
Cette évolution implique de nouvelles modalités d’exploitation des ressources naturelles, sinon une modification de ces ressources (exploitées "à distance", ou alors épuisées, ou inaccessibles, ou devenues superflues … ?). En conséquence, ce phénomène ne revêt pas qu’un caractère politique mais également, ou prioritairement, un aspect économique qui a dû affecter le système de production de cette région pendant le passage du Protopalatial au Néopalatial.
Pour appréhender ce changement, les auteurs tentent d’abord de reconstituer le paléo-environnement de la région de Malia, à partir d’une analyse du potentiel agricole fondée sur un recensement des végétaux actuels, sur des données palynologiques, et sur une étude de l'hydrologie et de la pédologie locales. Ils examinent ensuite les liens possibles entre le bilan environnemental et l’évolution du système d’occupation du territoire et terminent par une comparaison entre les dynamiques observées dans la région de Malia et celles d’autres régions de Crète.
A case in point is offered by the Great Minoan Tringle of western Messarà, constituted in the Neopalatial period by the centers of Phaistos, Hagia Triada and Kommos. The complementary nature of the functions performed in these three centers suggests that they were distributed according to a unitary planning. Their small size, however, excludes that they were proper cities. Thus, it seems more appropriate to see them as neighborhoods of a larger urban unit which, unlike the modern ones, was characterized by a discontinuous occupation of residential space, and which built its own sense of identity and unity through the participation
in the ceremonies that took place in the main monumental buildings of the area. The case of the Great Minoan Triangle suggests, in other words, a hybrid model for explaining the urban phenomenon of Neopalatial
Crete, halfway between a city, since it was able to perform specialized urban functions, and a small territorial state, since it was characterized by scattered occupation of large areas of territory.
Minoan architecture was characterized by a complex articulation of the volumes, and in particular by the systematic use of multistorey buildings. Nevertheless, the three-dimensional nature of the Minoan built environment has been quite neglected in the history of Minoan archaeology, in favour of an approach that contemplates the morphological, functional and distributional analysis of only what has survived on the ground floor. Today, the modern 3D modelling softwares offer new research opportunities in studying the elevation of Minoan buildings. This paper aims to outline these new research perspectives and to define the main methodological issues related to them, through the case study offered by the Late Minoan IB settlement of Haghia Triada in Crete.
SUMMARY - INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS AND EXTERNAL LINKS IN CALAFORNO: NEW INVESTIGATIONS IN THE AREA OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE HYPOGEUM - The paper offers a brief account of the recent excavations carried out by Soprintendenza BB. CC. AA. of Ragusa in the area in front of the access to the Calaforno Hypogeum (2016-2019). The focus is on the exceptional megalithic structures that monumentalized the entrance to the Hypogeum in the Late (Building 1, Dromos and Western Wall) and Final (Building 2) Eneolithic. A scattered frequentation is also attested in the Early and Middle Bronze Age, and in the Late Classical/Hellenistic Age, when this sector experienced a new building phase associated with ritual depositions. The substantial ceramic contexts associated with the megalithic phases, among which some fragments of Thermi ware have been recovered, offer interesting insights for a better definition of the chronology of the late (Malpasso phase) and final (S. Ippolito phase) Eneolithic in Sicily and in the contemporary Mediterranean context.
Cette évolution implique de nouvelles modalités d’exploitation des ressources naturelles, sinon une modification de ces ressources (exploitées "à distance", ou alors épuisées, ou inaccessibles, ou devenues superflues … ?). En conséquence, ce phénomène ne revêt pas qu’un caractère politique mais également, ou prioritairement, un aspect économique qui a dû affecter le système de production de cette région pendant le passage du Protopalatial au Néopalatial.
Pour appréhender ce changement, les auteurs tentent d’abord de reconstituer le paléo-environnement de la région de Malia, à partir d’une analyse du potentiel agricole fondée sur un recensement des végétaux actuels, sur des données palynologiques, et sur une étude de l'hydrologie et de la pédologie locales. Ils examinent ensuite les liens possibles entre le bilan environnemental et l’évolution du système d’occupation du territoire et terminent par une comparaison entre les dynamiques observées dans la région de Malia et celles d’autres régions de Crète.
Several Cretan lustral basins, such as that in room 83 of Phaistos Palace or in Daskaloiannis street at Chania, are furnished with or flanked by ledges, passageways or windows. According to M. Andreadaki-Vlasaki, these devices were intended to allowing «to only a few spectators to attend an event» performed in the lustral basin. In this paper, I argue that a similar architectural arrangement is also recognizable in the Xesté 3 at Akrotiri, where magnificent wall paintings permit to reconstruct an initiation ceremony, with a female initiate descending in the lustral basin 3 a and some male attendants helping her from the adjacent sector 3b. A similar ritual action, concerning initiation and based on sex segregation, could have taken place also in the Cretan lustral basins. This conclusion strengthens the old hypothesis of Hägg and Marinatos, according to which the Minoan architectural complexes with polythyron halls and lustral basins (or adyta following the terminology of the two scholars) were used – mainly if not exclusively – for ceremonial purposes. Furthermore, the initiatory interpretation of these ceremonies suggests that rites of passage played a basic role in Minoan society, structuring different groups on the basis of sex, age and common participation and control of these strategic ritual practices.
https://www.labstoria.it/allascopertadiragusaedelsuopaesaggioculturale/alla-scoperta-di-ragusa-e-del-suo-paesaggio-culturale-il-progetto/