Per una revisione dei più antichi materiali d’importazione a Siracusa. Nuove evidenze sulla prima fase dell’apoikia

This paper deals with the earliest imports at Syracuse, in order to investigate the origins and early life of the apoikia (ca. 733-690 BC). During the last century, research has long been based mainly on ceramics and the chronology of the very earliest imported Greek pottery in the Western colonies, and, in particular at Syracuse. On the contrary, this study provides an updated reassessment of the much wider imported material culture in context. This paper offers a comprehensive overview of both published and unpublished material from several Protoarchaic contexts excavated at Syracuse. In particular, special attention is paid to the new archaeological evidence from the sanctuary in the area of the Athenaion of Ortygia. This investigation sheds new light on the following aspects: a) peculiarities, repertoire, use and distribution of imported objects within the local material context; b) social (and ethnic) features of the early settlement; c) process of foundation and development of the apoikia.