• The discovery of some fragments of Bronze Age vases along the northern slopes of the cliff allows us to hypothesize the existence of a first settlement nucleus in the place where the necropolis of the indigenous center will subsequently develop. An anthropomorphic clay idol found along the slopes that flank the riverbed to the north also dates back to prehistoric times.

• At the VIII - VII century. BC refer to some finds referable to funerary objects, found along the strip below the fortress, including two vases with impressed and engraved decoration. At the current state of research, the existence of a necropolis close to the cliff could be a valid clue for the existence of an indigenous settlement on the top of the same, although recent excavations have not yet returned significant data in this sense. (in the course of the last three excavation campaigns, the only finds referable to the period in question consist of some sporadic residual fragments of pottery with painted, engraved and engraved decoration, recovered in accumulations of the late medieval age. However, the data is not definitive. , as the surface affected by the excavation is still too small compared to the extension of the entire complex).

 

Prehistory - Protohistory - Greek Age - Medieval Age

 

Text source: Archaeological report 380KV double three-phase power line - Chiaramonte Gulfi - Ciminna (https://va.minambiente.it/File/Documento/62560)

 other documents: https://va.minambiente.it/it-IT/Oggetti/Documentazione/1016/1303?pagina=10

The modern center of Vicari stands at the foot of a 700 m high cliff. and located in the middle valley of the San Leonardo river, in an area rich in traces of frequentation since prehistoric times. At the end of the 800th century an ax and two bronze fibulae were found in the area, unfortunately now missing, and in the locality of Misaddi, on the northern slopes of the fortress, some ceramic fragments dating back to the Bronze Age had been recovered. Later an indigenous center developed on the cliff, perhaps of Sican culture; in fact, some findings relating to funerary objects date between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries BC
found at the foot of the fortress, in the aforementioned locality Misaddi, from which finds with impressed and engraved decoration come. The foundation of Himera will certainly have influenced this territory not far from the polis; In fact, fragments of Greek pottery dating back to the first half of the 2015th century BC come from the Vicari district (Text source: ARCHEOLOGIA I SITI DELL'ENTROTERRA Edited by Stefano Vassallo and Rosa Maria Cucco - Superintendence for Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Palermo XNUMX )