Central Western Sicily Research Articles

Continuity, Resilience, and Change in Rural Settlement Patterns from the Roman to Islamic Period in the Sicani Mountains (Central-Western Sicily)

This study aims to analyze the dynamics of change in settlement models from the Roman, late antique, and Byzantine periods, focusing on how these transformations influenced the formation of Islamic societies in the rural landscapes of western Sicily. The study is centered around the territory of Corleone in the Sicani Mountains (central-western Sicily). This region, strategically located between the significant cities of Palermo on the Tyrrhenian Sea and Agrigento on the Strait of Sicily, has been pivotal in the communication network spanning from the Roman era to the Middle Ages and beyond. The area has been subject to extensive surveys and excavations, revealing diverse dynamics of continuity, resilience, and innovation in settlement patterns from the Roman to the Islamic periods. Beyond presenting the results of archaeological fieldwork, this study employs GIS-based spatial and statistical analyses and utilizes a range of topographic (elevation, slope, aspect, topographic position index (TPI), and distance to water sources) and ecological factors (vegetation series). These analyses aim to assess the evolving relationships and site positioning within the territory over time. Combining archaeological data with topographic and ecological landscape analysis, this integrated approach elucidates the complex transition dynamics from the Roman settlement system to the Islamic age’s landscape formation in western Sicily’s rural areas. The study thereby contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricate interplay between historical developments and environmental factors in shaping rural settlement patterns.

Sources of geomaterials in the Sicani Mountains during the Early Middle Ages: A case study of Contrada Castro, central western Sicily

AbstractFrom 2017, an unknown rural settlement in Contrada Castro at Corleone (Palermo Province, western Sicily) was investigated as part of the ‘Harvesting Memories Project’. The stratigraphic sequence, supported by radiocarbon dating, has demonstrated a reoccupation of a pre‐Roman site during the transition between the Byzantine and Islamic periods. In particular, the main occupation occurred in the late 8th–9th century when pottery kilns and a probable warehouse were constructed. During the 10th–11th century, a new structure with different orientations replaced the previous buildings that had already collapsed. Specifically focusing on a perspective of the household production and its relationship to the surrounding landscapes of this site, this paper presents the results of a geological survey and petrographic analysis of ceramic finds and lithic samples to identify the source area of the geomaterials used in the studied settlement. The ceramic finds were divided into different Paste Groups based on the characteristics of a polarizing microscope study. The use of some locally available raw materials was recorded both for ceramic and lithic samples. Such an approach enables us to better understand ceramic craft technology, clay and lithic procurement strategies and, more broadly, the consumption of household pottery in the Early Medieval site in Contrada Castro. Furthermore, this study verifies the close relationship that this rural settlement had with the surrounding resources in the area and reveals a connection with the city of Palermo during the Early Middle Ages.

Vegetation series as a marker of interactions between rural settlements and landscape: new insights from the archaeological record in Western Sicily

ABSTRACTPlant communities are complex and dynamic elements of the landscape, intertwined with both natural factors and human activities. Vegetation series reflect the environmental characteristics of the landscape, but also the anthropic impact, one of the exogenous forces that most profoundly affects the landscape formation process. This paper aims to investigate the interactions between long-term human settlement catchment areas and vegetation series. The case study area of the Sicani Mountains (Central-Western Sicily) proved to be an ideal place to perform GIS-based spatial analysis in order to compare a data set of rural archaeological sites and land units created through the mapping of vegetation series. The existence of a causal link between vegetation series and human settlement patterns allows us, as well as future researchers, to find new explanations for the formation of the multifaceted Mediterranean rural landscape.

Geobotanical approach to detect land-use change of a Mediterranean landscape: a case study in Central-Western Sicily

A landscape is a palimpsest of the interactions between human activities and ecological dynamics. In an interdisciplinary perspective of dialogue between the ‘Two Cultures’ (Natural Sciences and Humanities), a study of a rural area has been carried out through a reading of plant ecosystems as signs of human impact. The purpose of this paper—as part of the project ‘Harvesting Memories’: Ecology and landscape archaeology of Castro/Giardinallo Valley and Mt. Barrau district (Corleone, Palermo, Sicily)—is to analyse the formative-processes of a Sicilian rural landscape and its changes in the last century. A key element in the reconstruction of the formation of the present landscape is the series of vegetation types which indicate the successive stages of different plant communities occurring in close relation with the human exploitation of natural resources (forestry, grazing, agriculture). An analytical frame for the landscape’s biography was generated through a diachronic comparison of images of the area in 1955 and the present day. The comparison in GIS of both spatial and typological changes in the different vegetation series, together with the calculation of a naturalness index Naturalness Evaluation Index, showed the trajectory the landscape (‘landscape-change map’) has undergone since the 1950s, with an increase in wooded and shrubbed areas and a reduction of pastures and cultivated areas.

Mobility of men versus mobility of goods: archaeometric characterization of Middle Bronze Age pottery in Malta and Sicily (15th-13th century BC)

The aim of this paper is to offer the first petrographic and chemical characterization of Middle Bronze Age pottery of Malta (Borġ in-Nadur, half of 15th – early 12th century BC) to discriminate, in the multitude of Borġ in-Nadurvessels found in coeval sites of south-eastern and central-western Sicily, between imports and imitations and to precisely define their provenance.The present research may provide new data in order to shed light on the long standing issue about ‘mobility of men’ and ‘mobility of goods’ between the two insular contexts. A significant amount of Borġ in-Nadurpottery from Malta and Sicily have been sampled and subjected to petrographic exam on thin sections; moreover, chemical analyses of major and trace elements were performed by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.The research is part of an interdisciplinary project, aimed to create a database of petrographic and chemical data of Borġ in-Nadurtype pottery found in Sicily and in the Maltese archipelago, launched by the University of Catania and Arcadia University in partnership with Heritage Malta and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of Malta.

Subaerial exposure and drowning processes in a carbonate platform during the Mesozoic Tethyan rifting: The case of the Jurassic succession of Western Sicily (central Mediterranean)

The Liassic carbonate platform succession outcropping at Monte Maranfusa (central Western Sicily) consists of a shallowing-upward sequence of peritidal carbonates, with Jurassic to Paleogene pelagic limestone and siliciclastic Tertiary covers above. The cyclic sequences of subtidal wackestones/packstones, intertidal microcrystalline carbonates with bird's-eye pores, and supratidal bioclastic grainstones are interbedded with dark layers of the following composition: 1) dark-gray, compact, and well-cemented limestone with blackish clasts, interpreted as calcretes (a type of carbonate soil) and 2) reddish calcite laminae, deformed by elongated cavities, filled with vadose silt, interpreted as paleokarst. This succession is crossed by almost vertical faults, of the Late Liassic to Miocene, which often coincides with neptunian dykes, filled by several generations of Toarcian–Early Miocene pelagic sediments. Another system of dykes, known as neptunian sills, filled by injected Upper Lias–Dogger pelagic sediments, lies parallel to the stratification. The parallel dykes were caused by the flexure of the platform during the Jurassic and presumably by a planar slip in the carbonate rocks, whereas neptunian dykes are caused by faulting episodes. Here, we present evidence that the dark layers in the Liassic succession of Monte Maranfusa, previously described by many authors only as parallel dykes, can actually be interpreted as a) neptunian sills, b) pedogenic calcretes, and c) paleospeleothems. Therefore, we found evidence of exposure/flooding intervals in the evolution of the carbonate platform during the Liassic, linked to different pulses in both the subsidence/tectonic activity and the sea-level oscillations. At the top, Fe–Mn crusts (hardgrounds) seal the carbonate platform succession, which is in turn overlain by condensed pelagic deposits, confirming its drowning during rifting processes.

Ethnobotanical investigation on wild medicinal plants in the Monti Sicani Regional Park (Sicily, Italy)

Ethnopharmacological relevanceThe area of the “Monte Sicani Regional Park” (Central Western Sicily, southern Italy) has been quantitatively and extensively investigated in an ethnobotanical study for the first time. A total of 108 wild species are used for medicinal purposes, while, according to our study, the uses of 9 species have not previously been reported in ethnobotanical studies in Italy (e.g., the use of Kickxia elatine (L.) Dumort. for the treatment of hyperhydrosis of the feet, the use of Lavatera agrigentina Tineo for cough and bronchitis). Aim of the study: The aim of this paper is to analyze, through quantitative indicators, the extent of the current knowledge on medicinal uses of plants in the area, evaluating also the features of uniqueness and commonality of this knowledge in comparison with other Italian and Mediterranean areas. MethodologySemi-structured interviews were carried out in the local communities between 2009 and 2010 within the Monti Sicani Regional Park with local people retained experts in rural traditions. A total of 230 people were interviewed about their knowledge on medicinal plant uses. Local plant uses were evaluated using ethnobotanical indices (e.g., cultural importance index, ethnobotanicity index, informant consensus factor) and then compared with uses in other localities in Sicily, Italy and the Mediterranean basin. ResultsLocal communities currently use a total number of 108 wild species (43 families) as remedies for human and livestock ailments. The majority of plants are used in the treatment of articular, skin and gastrointestinal problems. The use of some species is limited to Sicily (e.g., Rhus coriaria L., Athamanta sicula L., Senecio delphinifolius Vahl). ConclusionsThe research shows an ongoing process of cultural erosion in an advanced stage, but results still highlight an interesting cultural identity as regards the local folk medicine.

Genetic diversity in the endangered Sicilian endemic Brassica rupestris: Proposals for a conservation strategy

Brassica rupestris Raf. is a chasmophyte species that includes two subspecies, both endemic to Central-Western Sicily (Italy). Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers were used to detect genetic diversity within and among eight populations representative of the species' distribution range. High levels of genetic diversity were revealed both at the population (PPB = 53.88%, H S = 0.212, Sh = 0.309) and at the species level (PPB = 96.55%, H T = 0.307, Sh = 0.464). The correlation between genetic and geographical distances was negative (Mantel test, r = −0.06, P < 0.95). The two subspecies of B. rupestris, subsp. rupestris and subsp. hispida, showed remarkable genetic similarity and molecular data did not unequivocally support their distinctness. The pattern of genetic variation revealed by our study bears important consequences for conservation management: It is desirable to preserve B. rupestris populations in situ with a “dynamic” strategy, while, ex situ conservation programmes might be improved to safeguard maximum genetic diversity.

Backthrusts and passive roof duplexes in fold-and-thrust belts: The case of Central-Western Sicily based on seismic reflection data

Seismic reflection profiles crossing the area bounded by the M. Kumeta Ridge and the M. Maranfusa-M. Galiello-Rocca Busambra morphostructural feature (central-western Sicily) were used to constrain the deep structural setting of the Sicilian–Maghrebian fold-and-thrust belt (FTB). By integrating seismic, field and well data, we attempted to correlate outcropping and deep-seated contractional structures, shedding light on the internal geometries of the thrust system. Results of the new seismostratigraphic analysis presented in this paper reveal structural variations along the tectonic edifice. This suggests dividing the study area into two sectors: the western sector is characterized by foreland-verging thrusts comparable to the already known structural model of the chain, conversely in the easternmost sector duplexes and hinterland-verging structures, here highlighted for the first time, prevail. In fact, the main carbonate relief of this area (Rocca Busambra Ridge) appears as the outcropping part of a thick tectonic pile bounded on its northern side by a high-angle backthrust, while at depth a blind southern verging (i.e. forelandward) thrust can been recognized; this structural setting suggests that underthrusting of the buried S-verging carbonate body induced the N-verging (i.e. hinterlandward) dislocation of the overlying units. On the whole, this structure can be interpreted as a triangle zone, where the outcropping relief represents a passive-roof duplex bounded, on its northern side, by the high-angle backthrust deeply connected with a low-angle décollement layer. The recognized backthrust appears as the product of a deep-seated tectonic activity, that played a key role for the upper thrust-sheet emplacement.

First report of Eurytoma plotnikovi Nik. (Hymenoptera, Eurytomidae), a seed parasite of pistachio, in Sicily (Italy)

The pistachio seed wasp, Eurytoma plotnikovi Nik.(Hymenoptera, E urytomidae), is a new pest recently arrived in pistachio orchards in central-western Sicily (Italy). Information on the damaging effects of this seed wasp in the affected areas is provided.

New knowledge on the Monte Conca gypsum karst system (Central-western Sicily, Italy)

The Monte Conca karst system is located in Central-Western Sicily, where Messinian evaporites are widespread. Here, the evaporites lie on lower Messinian-middle Serravallian clayey-marly-sandy deposits and are overlain locally by Pliocene marly limestones. These successions are affected by E-W, and to a lesser degree N-S and NW-SE, high-angle faults that have also produced lateral contacts between the gypsum units and the clayey-marly deposits. The cave passages reachaltogether about 2.4 km in lengthand 130 m in depth, and the system consists of a sink cave, a resurgence and a relict resurgence. At large scale it is characterized by superimposed levels of sub-horizontal galleries connected by vertical shafts, whichare developed in adjustment to the contemporary geomorphological setting. Until 2003, the sink cave was known to have been formed by a stream-sink, an upper horizontal gallery, a sequence of four shafts and a lower gallery. New explorations have discovered 1.5 km of relict passages that are correlatable withthe inactive resurgence level and that occur at intermediate elevations between the two stories of galleries. Sinks of these relict branches are located headward of the actual sink point, but they have been sealed and covered by thick debris and alluvial deposits from the surface slopes. The resurgence consists of two superimposed galleries, the upper one inactive and the lower one active in equilibrium withthe current local base level. The relict resurgence is located about 40 m above the resurgence and is characterized by a sub-horizontal gallery partially filled by copious alluvial deposits. Analysis of the gallery patterns and of the cave landforms suggests that the karst system is a multi-layer system formed under unconfined conditions. Additionally, analysis suggests that its evolution is due to a succession of stillstand and lowering phases of the karst base level, according to a regional uplifting trend, and to surface slope processes, whichhave complicated the structure of the karst system.

Mesozoic tectonics and volcanism of Tethyan rifted continental margins in western Sicily

The paleotectonic and volcanic features of the Jurassic–Cretaceous carbonate successions, outcropping in central-western Sicily, allow us to restore the tectono-sedimentary evolution of a sector of the African continental margin. These successions consist of shallow-to-deep-water Mesozoic deposits that have formed in the carbonate platform-to- pelagic plateau depositional setting of the so-called Trapanese paleogeographic domain. Fieldwork, including structural analyses, has indicated the occurrence of lateral facies changes, resedimented materials, volcanic products (pillow lavas and tuffitic deposits), unconformity surfaces and paleofaults of different trends and age. These data, combined with facies and a physical–stratigraphic analysis, allow one to distinguish between the different tectono-stratigraphic settings. A structural low, filled with thick pillow lavas and reworked deposits, appears bordered by two main structural highs: an articulate carbonate-pelagic platform with a stepped fault margin, and the flank of a structural high, where the volcanoclastic deposits are interlayered with reworked reef materials, suggest the occurrence of a submarine volcano, that evolved into an atoll-type carbonate shelf setting. Tectonic and magmatic events punctuated the sedimentary evolution during the Early Jurassic, Middle–Late Jurassic, Early and Late Cretaceous. The horst and graben structures connected by steeped margins and the occurrence of distinctive types of volcanic products suggest that the study areas could represent a sector of the Jurassic–Cretaceous southern Tethyan passive continental margin, situated at the edge of the continental platform bordering those basinal areas where rifting and possible spreading processes were active during the Mesozoic.

Influence of ivy (Hedera helix L.) on the growth of downy oak (Quercus pubescens s.l.) in the Monte Carcaci Nature Reserve (central-western Sicily)

Les lianes sont communément considérées comme des espèces nuisibles aux arbres forestiers et aux processus dynamiques des forêts. En effet, elles peuvent entrer en compétition avec d’autres espèces ligneuses et avoir des influences négatives sur la régénération des arbres, leur croissance voire leur fécondité. Toutefois, quelques études rapportent que le lierre peut avoir aussi une action de coopération avec des effets positifs sur les espèces hôtes. Au cours des dernières décennies, dans un taillis âgé dans la Réserve Naturelle de Monte Carcaci (Sicile centro-occidentale, Italie), un fort développement du lierre (Hedera helix L.) a été observé au détriment des chênes blancs (Quercus pubescens s. l.) hôtes, lesquels montraient parfois des symptômes évidents de dépérissement. Une analyse de la biomasse aérienne et des cernes de croissance a donc été effectuée dans le but de clarifier la nature des interactions entre le lierre et les chênes hôtes. Les résultats ont montré que, après une phase d’influence positive du lierre sur la croissance des chênes, une phase de compétition active s’établit, se matérialisant par la réduction progressive de la vitalité des arbres porteurs. Sur cette base, un suivi de l’évolution forestière serait souhaitable afin de mieux comprendre le rôle des lianes au sein de l’écosystème et de définir les lignes guide les plus appropriés de l’aménagement forestier futur.

Women in the Classroom: Mass Migration, Literacy and the Nationalization of Sicilian Women at the Turn of the Century

In January of 1908, Rosa welcomed her husband Angelo home from the United States, where he had spent the last four years working in the coal mines on the outskirts of Birmingham Alabama. In his store-bought suit, starched white collar and leather shoes, Angelo cut quite a figure as he made his way through the narrow streets of Sutera, a small hill-town in central western Sicily. His new clothes served as testimony to his success as an emigrant and to his new status as a respectable merchant. His experiences overseas had changed his place in the world. Transoceanic migration eroded the borders of the world he had grown up in, defined by village and kin. In Birmingham, Angelo came to see himself as an Italian as well as a Sicilian and a Suterese. Now back home, he was an Americano, a migrant, with ties to faraway worlds. Although Rosa never left Sutera, transoceanic migration had also redefined her position in the village and in the nation-state. Until her husband emigrated, Rosa's life had been circumscribed by the physical and social boundaries of Sutera. From her childhood, blood and baptism defined her position in the village and the world. While Angelo was abroad earning the money needed to claim membership in the local elite, Rosa looked after the family's interests and worked toward fulfilling the couple's dream of upward mobility by ensuring the family could claim the cultural, as well as the material trappings of success. In her husband's absence Rosa learned how to read and write and she kept her children in school. Literacy, along with property ownership, was critical to claiming membership in the local gentry. Book learning and formal schooling not only repositioned Rosa in the community, it transformed her relationship to the state, and into an expanding national and transnational consumer economy. This article uses the history of Sutera to explore why mass male migration succeeded in drawing rural women into the classroom when state reforms failed, and how literacy changed their sense of self-identification as women and as Italians. Although state legislation had made elementary education compulsory since 1861, a combination of political and personal apathy kept attendance at a minimum. Not only were southern Italian schools underfunded and mismanaged, but in the absence of any viable social or political reform movements, residents had little hope that education could improve their lives. Transoceanic migration made schooling relevant to daily life. The practical considerations surrounding long-distance communication provided powerful incentives for mi? grants and their families to learn to read and write, and education itself was an integral part of the dream of social advancement underlying the familial de? cision to send someone overseas to work. In consequence, potential migrants flocked to the schoolhouse, as did the women and children who remained at home. For rural women, the consequences of learning to read and write went

Paleogeography and structure of the central Mediterranean: Sicily and its offshore area

The geology of the mainland and offshore of Sicily is illustrated by a few geologic sections and seismic profiles across the late Cenozoic orogenic belt of central and western Sicily and across the Sardinia Channel and Sicily Straits. This belt is the result of several tectonic events. Deformation involved mainly the sedimentary cover of the old African continental margin characterized by a broad basinal domain, flanked along its external (southern) margin by a shallow-water carbonate platform attached to Africa in the Triassic. Compressional deformation started in the more internal basinal rock assemblages overlying a thinned crust. The most important structural characteristic of the early phase of thrusting is the duplex pile forming the bulk of the chain in Central Western Sicily. The structure consists of a basal allochthon, made up of Permian to Middle Triassic layers, an intermediate duplex wedge, composed of competent Mesozoic carbonates, and a roof complex, including Upper Mesozoic-Lower Tertiary less competent rocks. Large-scale clockwise rotation of the thrusts accompanied transpressional movements in the hinterland during the Pliocene. Right oblique reverse faults modified the previous tectonic contacts between the allochthons in the hinterland zones. Contemporaneous south-directed imbrications affected the southern external areas, progressively incorporating foreland and piggyback basins. Development of the Gela Thrust System appears to be linked to the transpressional event; its accretion is also related to contemporaneous underthrusting at deeper levels of Mesozoic carbonate substratum. The older buried thrust sheets were pushed up to the surface breaching the deformed Tertiary cover of the Gela TS. Northwards in the belt post-Messinian normal growth faults opened half graben whose sedimentary fill underwent structural inversion. Alternation of extension and compression tectonics characterizes the Sicilian continental margin in the last million years.

Venous thrombosis and pulmonary emboli in urology: Colby, F. H.: J. Urol. 56:124 (July), 1946

The area of the “Monte Sicani Regional Park” (Central Western Sicily, southern Italy) has been quantitatively and extensively investigated in an ethnobotanical study for the first time. A total of 108 wild species are used for medicinal purposes, while, according to our study, the uses of 9 species have not previously been reported in ethnobotanical studies in Italy (e.g., the use of Kickxia elatine (L.) Dumort. for the treatment of hyperhydrosis of the feet, the use of Lavatera agrigentina Tineo for cough and bronchitis). Aim of the study: The aim of this paper is to analyze, through quantitative indicators, the extent of the current knowledge on medicinal uses of plants in the area, evaluating also the features of uniqueness and commonality of this knowledge in comparison with other Italian and Mediterranean areas.Semi-structured interviews were carried out in the local communities between 2009 and 2010 within the Monti Sicani Regional Park with local people retained experts in rural traditions. A total of 230 people were interviewed about their knowledge on medicinal plant uses. Local plant uses were evaluated using ethnobotanical indices (e.g., cultural importance index, ethnobotanicity index, informant consensus factor) and then compared with uses in other localities in Sicily, Italy and the Mediterranean basin.Local communities currently use a total number of 108 wild species (43 families) as remedies for human and livestock ailments. The majority of plants are used in the treatment of articular, skin and gastrointestinal problems. The use of some species is limited to Sicily (e.g., Rhus coriaria L., Athamanta sicula L., Senecio delphinifolius Vahl).The research shows an ongoing process of cultural erosion in an advanced stage, but results still highlight an interesting cultural identity as regards the local folk medicine.