La Culunnella, village and necropolis
Culunnella, a name absent in the IGM cartography, designates the small summit at an altitude of 238 m, the lowest of the central elevations of the island. The summit is certainly leveled by the man who cultivated it up to five years ago. This work involved modest buttresses that suggest not so much of an agricultural utility as of making the site “fortified”. The exploration of the summit esplanade disappointed me while the prospecting of the sides for the clay fragments present confirmed the presence of a prehistoric settlement, of the Aeolian culture of Capo Graziano From the top descending along the eastern slope, a little higher than the Passo di Don Bartolo where the well entrance of a small cave example of lava flow opens, in an area with mamelons of soft rock of lapilli and ash and scattered patches of ogliastro, I have identified the necropolis of "oven" tombs with entrance dromos or cockpit, model imported from Palermo. In 1991 the discovery on the surface of a slab of tuff foreign to the place gave me the clue to investigate. I found four tombs that had already been violated: one, certainly re-used, contained fragments of Roman amphorae; in another or collected clay fragments of the Culture of Capo Graziano. F ° 249 IV NE, Ustica Island; UTM: UC42408606; Altitude: 150 m.
Text source: Giovanni Mannino: Guide to the Prehistory of Palermo - List of prehistoric sites in the province of Palermo - Sicilian Institute for Political and Economic Studies)
PRESS: Well cataloged but partially geolocated. We invite you to provide your contribution by providing us with useful information that will allow us to geolocate the listed asset. See also "Cultural Heritage to be Geolocated"
Bibliography and further 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
Ignazio Caloggero:
History of Sicily - 1.4.1: The development of metallurgy
History of Sicily - 1.4.2: Social and cultural development
History of Sicily - 1.4.3: Burials during the Metal Age
History of Sicily - 1.4.4: Religious sentiments during the metal age
Card insertion:
Photo: Obsidian from Pirozza. Fig. 8 Franco Foresta Martin, Robert H. Tykot Characterization and Provenance of Archaeological Obsidian from Pirozza Spalmatore, a Site of Neolithic Colonization on the Island of Ustica (Sicily) 2019
Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero Web
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