Ancient settlements in the territory of Noto (Syracuse province). New data from the Gioi and Niura districts

Abstrakt

In recent years, dueto ashortage of funds forscientificresearch, the only way to carry outarchaeologicalexcavations has been offered by application of preventive (or rescue) archaeology during public works. 1 As a result, in the years 2011 through 2014, public works of renovation and modernization of the road system created an opportunity to acquire new archaeological data, in particular in the districts of Gioi and Niura, along the road called Strada Provinciale 19 (SP 19), about 1 km SE of the city of Noto. It is important to note that archaeological excavations have been conducted on pre-existing roads and, consequently, on areas with layers already altered or destroyed. Despite various problems connected to the rescue archaeology, the synergic collaboration between the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage of Syracuse and members of the Italian-Polish Mission in Akrai (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw) was very fruitful. 2 Thecity of Noto hasa vast hinterland wheresome of the mostimportantarchaeologicalsites ofthewhole Syracuse province are concentrated: the Greek colony of Eloro, the Roman villa of the Tellaro River, the ancient city of Noto, just to cite a few of the approximately 60 known and catalogued archaeological sites. The data refers to the sites included in the ‘Provincial Landscape Plan’ adopted in 2012. Here is now presented a preliminary report on eight new findingsresultant from the modernization of the Noto – Pachino road. Thearchaeological remainsarechronologically placed mainly between the early Imperial period and the Byzantine period, but there are also older examples, such as the Hellenistic cistern in Contrada Niura. Undoubtedly, the soil’s fertility and the proximity of the Gioi River, made the area a favourable place for settlement from Antiquity to present days. Despite the data is fragmentary, due to the previous works that damaged the archaeological artefacts at the edge of the road, the newlyacquired findings are useful in order to demonstrate the density of settlements in this area. Since the Greek times, the settlements have arisen close to the helorine hodos, the ancient route connecting Syracuse and its sub-colony of Eloro mentioned by Thucydides (vI, 66, 3; 70, 4; vII, 80, 5),about 1 km north of which a monumental tomb, known today as ‘Column Pizzuta’, was built in the 3rd c. BC. The road was a catalyst for settlement over thecenturies,and particularly during the Roman Imperial period and late Antiquity,asevidenced by the Roman villa of Tellaro, located a few kilometres away from the Gioi district. Thelarge villa, decorated with beautiful floor mosaics, fortunately well-preserved, is the best known example of an extra-urban residence in the south- -eastern Sicily and has been associated with the exploitation of a vast agricultural property between the 4th and 5th c. AD. The new data are encouraging, as they present a possibility to discover similar settlements located along theancient route of communication in this area and benefitting from the presence of navigable rivers which in Antiquity provided connection with ports on the coast.