Abstract
Extensive settlement activity at the Bronze Age site of Mokarta in western Sicily has previously been inferred, but the extent and condition of its subsurface remains have never been established. The authors use geophysical prospection, historical and modern remote-sensing data and soil chemistry to identify previously undocumented structures and activity areas extending beyond those exposed by previous excavations. This exercise not only has implications for the multifaceted social organisation of Late Bronze Age communities in Sicily, but, more generally, demonstrates how minimally invasive investigative techniques combined with existing data can reveal subsurface archaeological sites and the impact of post-depositional processes.
Highlights
The settlement at Mokarta is one of the most significant later Bronze Age sites so far discovered in western Sicily
The newly revealed aspects of Mokarta’s structure and organisation suggest that the site’s spatial development contrasts with large sites in other parts of Sicily, where rectilinear buildings begin to predominate after the Middle Bronze Age
Arguments for the development of larger inland Late Bronze Age settlement areas such as Mokarta, traditionally oriented towards defensibility and the control of terrain, could include the development of complex agricultural exploitation in fertile inland areas. Architectural developments, such as outbuildings for storage, could be a reason for, or reaction to, such a situation, but this too depends on achieving a better understanding of site contexts, settlement patterns, environmental conditions and Geophysical prospection, coring, analysis of archival information and comparison with extant archaeological data show that settlement activity at Mokarta was far more extensive and complex than previously documented, it had already been suspected, largely from the presence of surface finds
Summary
A combination of geophysical surveys, soil chemistry and interpretation of historical and modern remote-sensing data is integrated with information from previous archaeological investigations to identify further areas of activity surviving below the present-day ground surface, and to tie them to interpretations about settlement structure and functions. Topographical situation and potential for further evidence of activity at the Castello di Mokarta settlement core, we undertook an integrated prospection survey to gain a clearer picture of the context and condition of buried archaeological features still present at the site.
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