Antonella Santostefano

The ancient city of Gela (built in the 7th century BCE) is located in the southern sector of the Sicily Island (Southern Italy) on a Pleistocene marine terrace near the mouth of the Gela River. Gela was one of the most important Greek colonies in the Mediterranean Sea, strategically positioned at the crossroads of the major maritime trade routes and with a rich production of cereals thanks to the fertile Gela River alluvial plain. To reconstruct the coastal and environmental configuration during the Greek period and to improve the understanding of the location of the harbour basin, a multidisciplinary approach was applied to a sector of the Gela River alluvial–coastal plain. This area, located very close to the ancient city, is known as Conca (Italian for “Basin”) and was identified through the analysis of historical and modern maps as well as aerial photographs. The multidisciplinary approach includes geomorphology (derived from maps and aerial photos), stratigraphy (boreholes and archeological trench), paleoecology (ostracoda, foraminifera and fossil contents of selected layers), geochronology (¹⁴C dating of selected organic materials) and archeology (historical sources and maps, pottery fragments extracted from boreholes and trench layers). The main results show that this area was occupied by lower shoreface environments in the time intervals between 4.4 and 2.8 ka, which progressively transitioned to upper shoreface environments until the Greek age. During the Roman period, these environments were significantly reduced due to repeated alluvial sedimentation of the Gela River transforming the area into fluvial–marshy environments. A time interval of aeolian sand deposition was recorded in the upper part of the coastal stratigraphical succession, which can be related to climatic conditions with high aridity. Available data show that marine environments persisted in the Conca sector during the Greek age, allowing hypothesizing the presence of an ancient harbour in this area. The depth of the Greek age marine environments is estimated to be between 4.5 and 7 m below the current ground level. Further investigation, mainly based on geophysical and stratigraphical methods, will be planned aimed at identifying the presence of buried archeological targets.

The identification and location of Sicilian red-figure pottery workshops remain an unresolved issue in archaeological research. Recent studies propose various hypotheses based on the typological and stylistic analyses of the vases and on the distribution of the finds. This paper examines a corpus of red-figure vases from Gela (Sicily), dating from the late 5th to mid-4th centuries BC, attributed to prominent painters from Sicily and Magna Graecia. For the first time, a corpus of fourteen red-figures vases is subjected to X-ray fluorescence elemental analysis (XRF) to compare the results with established compositional data for fine ware Sicilian productions, including those from sites identified in the archaeological literature as potential red-figure workshop centers or areas with relevant attestations. The aim is to geochemically fingerprint the Gela corpus to assess its manufacturing origin and test the prevailing stylistic attribution hypotheses. The compositional similarity in the geochemical fingerprint of the studied corpus points definitively to a single, highly cohesive production area—namely the so-called “Strait of Messina” area, which is distinct from Siracusa which has been traditionally considered the main producer. This finding challenges the existing model of red-figure production in the region and strongly suggests the presence of a major, previously unidentified workshop center serving Gela.

Geophysical techniques are a core toolkit of modern archeology, thanks to their effectiveness in reconstructing important pieces of evidence for buried ruins, which are relics of the past usage of an inspected site. Some methodological approaches and advancements are proposed for investigating the site of Gela, which was one of the most important western Greek colonies, founded in 689–688 BC on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy. The ancient settlement was developed on a hill, mostly flat on the top, and over its sides. The archeological evidence discovered so far in the acropolis of the city can be attributed to two main architectural typologies: urban blocks and archaic temples. Based on these targets, a geophysical protocol has been tested, utilizing passive seismic, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) methods. Where the lowest physical contrast was expected among possible archeological remains and burying soil (close to the urban blocks area), the three geophysical techniques have been jointly applied, while an innovative support-to-interpretation approach for GPR datasets is proposed and developed over both kinds of archeological targets. Our experimental outcomes underline the effectiveness (and possible weaknesses) of the two geophysical investigation strategies against various targets producing different signal-to-noise responses, thanks to the synergistic contributions from multi-method and multi-depth approaches. The integrated use of GPR, ERT, and passive seismic methods allowed the reconstruction of complementary information, with each method compensating for the limitations of the others. This combined approach provided a more robust and comprehensive understanding of the subsurface features than would have been achieved through the application of any single technique.

Synchrotron X-ray µ- and nano-probes are increasingly affirming their relevance in cultural heritage applications, especially in material characterization of tiny and complex micro-samples which are typical from archaeological and artistic artifacts. For such purposes, synchrotron radiation facilities are tailoring and optimizing beamlines and set-ups for CH, taking also advantages from the challenges offered by the third-generation radiation sources. In ancient ceramics studies, relevant information for the identification of production centers and manufacture technology can be obtained in a non-invasive and non-destructive way at the micro-sample level by combining different SR based methods. However, the selection of appropriate beamlines, techniques and set-ups are critical for the success of the experiments. Fine and varnished wares (e.g., Attic and western-Greek colonial products) are an excellent case study for exploring challenges offered by synchrotron X-ray microprobes optimized to collect microchemical and phase-distribution maps. The determination of provenance and/or technological tracers is relevant in correctly classifying productions, often based only on ceramic paste, gloss macroscopic features or style. In addition, when these vessels are preserved in Museums as masterpieces or intact pieces the application of non-invasive approach at the micro sample is strictly required. Well-designed synchrotron µXRF and µXANES mapping experiments are able providing relevant clues for discriminating workshops and exploring technological aspects, which are fundamental in answering the current archaeological questions on varnished Greek or western-Greek colonial products.

Lo skyphos a figure rosse oggetto di questo studio1 è stato rinvenuto a Gela, nel corso delle campagne di scavo condotte da E. De Miro e G. Fiorentini nell’area di Molino a Vento, tradizionalmente identificata con l’acropoli della città greca per la presenza di edifici templari, ma occupata anche da un quartiere urbano sviluppatosi sul versante settentrionale della collina2. Inedito e privo di numero d’inventario, il vaso è composto da numerosi frammenti, non tutti combacianti, e presenta lacu...