Piana della Catena archaeological area
Prehistoric settlement. Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
Located about 9 km north-east of Lentini, the village, heavily damaged by the bulldozers, is located on a high rocky spur of the lower Pleistocene, on the west side of the homonymous district that overlooks the southern edge of the Piana di Catania and the area of biviere of Lentini.
The settlement of which we know occupies a position of control, overlooking the southern limit of the Piana di Catania and the Biviere di Lentini. The first settlement on the site, with impressed and engraved ceramics dates back to the Neolithic era. A settlement from the Early Bronze Age was then superimposed on this. Unlike other castelluccian settlements, Piana dalla Catena has returned, in addition to geometric tools from this cultural horizon, also a certain quantity of arrowheads of the sessile foliate type, single-sided and double-sided, with extensive retouching. It is a lithic typology that is not very present or even absent in the area of the Castelluccian cusp of south-eastern Sicily and this suggests the defensive role played by this settlement.
Area of archaeological interest, art. 142 letter m) Legislative Decree 42/04
Bibliographic sources:
I. Russo, A settlement of the Ancient Bronze Age, Balate, territory of Francofonte, Syracusan Historical Archive, s.III, XVI, 2002, pp. 7-24 I Russo, Notes on the prehistoric "colonization" of the fertile fields of Lentini, Historical Archives of Syracuse s. III, XVIII, 2004, pp. 11-25 M. Musumeci, The Neolithic and the province of Syracuse, in From the Grotto to the Village: from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age. ScuolaMuseo Project - P. Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum, edited by C. Ciurcina, Syracuse 2008, p. 7, fig. 6, no. 7
(Text source: survey form no.533 Landscape Plan of the Province of Syracuse - Archaeological Heritage)
Archaeological Heritage Sheets Landscape Plan of Syracuse
PRESS: Well cataloged but partially geolocated. We invite you to provide your contribution by providing us with useful information that will allow us to geo-locate the listed asset. See also "Cultural Heritage to be Geolocated"
Bibliography and in-depth documents:
100) FIRST SICILY - AT THE ORIGINS OF SICILIAN SOCIETY - volume first edited by Sebastiano Tusa Palermo 1997.
Ignazio Caloggero: Sicily between History, Myths and Legends. Vol. 1: From Prehistory to the Phoenicians. First edition 2018 - Revised and updated edition of 2022
History of Sicily - 1.3.1: Neolithic and the birth of agriculture in Sicily
History of Sicily - 1.3.2: Religiosity and Burials in the Neolithic Period
History of Sicily - 1.3.3: Art in the Neolithic
History of Sicily - 1.3.4: Neolithic Sites List
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero Web,
Note: The populating of the files of the Heritage database proceeds in incremental phases: cataloging, georeferencing, insertion of information and images. The cultural property in question has been cataloged, georeferenced and the first information entered. In order to enrich the information content, further contributions are welcome, if you wish you can contribute through our area "Your Contributions"
