SABUCINA
Sicily.
Successive settlements on
a mountain that rises ca. 8 km E of Caltanissetta and
controls the pass in the valley of the river Salso (fl. Himera). Because of this strategic position, Sabucina was
occupied by prehistoric settlements and by a Sikel-Greek
fort on the S slope of the mountain. This sequence is
attested also on Mt. Capodarso, opposite Sabucina, on
the other side of the river.
Recently Sabucina has been the object of several campaigns of excavation, which are uncovering the remains
of the successive settlements. At the foot of the mountain, in the area called “lower Sabucina,” are the necropoleis of the Early Bronze Age with characteristic oven-shaped, rock-cut graves. At the end of the Bronze Age, between the 12th and the 10th c. B.C., a large new settlement was established at a higher level on the mountain;
it was formed by rows of sturdy circular stone huts that
can still be seen in ruin in the next habitation level of
the Greek period. These huts contained great quantities
of vases in the style called North Pantalica, molds for
the manufacture of bronze weapons, and a single kiln.
This village was destroyed at an undetermined date and
was replaced in the 8th-7th c. B.C. by a new indigenous
center with large rectangular houses comprising several
rooms. In these houses and in the grotto-tombs of the
same period, local material has been found together with
large quantities of Protocorinthian, Geloan, and imitation Greek pottery, which document the first contacts with Gela's colonists. About the middle of the 6th c. the habitation area was smaller and the site became a typical
phrourion of Greek type, with walls blocking the S side
of the slope, the only access to the houses. The necropoleis developed at the same time, with cist and sarcophagus graves filled with Greek vases, especially bronze vessels and Attic red- and black-figure pottery. The dwellings were rectangular with two or three rooms. Quite
likely this thorough transformation of the site was
caused by actual occupation by Geloan or Akragan
Greeks. Only some decorative elements remain from the
religious structures of this phase, in particular some fine
polychrome antefixes in the shape of a Gorgon, similar
to those found at Morgantina. The existence of sacred
buildings is further documented by an unusual terracotta
model of a shrine, with acroteria and antefixes.
This Greek center was violently destroyed shortly before the middle of the 5th c. B.C., probably during the
Sicilian revolt led by Ducetius. It was rebuilt in the second half of the 5th c., and to this phase must belong
most of the ruins at present uncovered, including the new
circuit of fortifications with a fine series of rectangular
and semicircular towers, two postern gates, and a main
entrance. Houses were crowded behind the walls, with
courtyards and empty spaces left for defensive purposes.
The city, abandoned at the end of the 5th c. B.C., was
rebuilt in the time of Timoleon. Like the neighboring
centers of Capodarso, Vassallaggi, and Gibil Gabib, it
was completely destroyed around 311-310 B.C., probably
by Agathokles, tyrant of Syracuse. Habitation of the
site was resumed only during the Roman Imperial period;
a few graves and ruins of farmhouses have been found,
especially in the lower area, well supplied with water. All
the material from the new excavations at Sabucina is in
the Archaeological Museum of Caltanissetta.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. Adamesteanu,
RA 49 (1957) 173;
P. Orlandini,
Kokalos 8 (1962) 10ff; id., “Sabucina,”
ArchCl 15 (1963) 86ff; 17 (1965) 133ff; 20 (1968)
151ff; id.,
RendLinc (1965) 457ff.
P. ORLANDINI
