Morgantina - WikiHQ

thumb|right|The Greek theater, the Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone, and the [[ekklesiasterion]]

thumb|Plan

thumb|right|Agora sanctuary dedicated to a [[chthonic deity; the sacred area is characterized by a cylindrical altar]]

thumb|right|House of the Doric Capital, mosaic floor

thumb|right|House of the tank arc

Morgantina () is an archaeological site in east central Sicily, southern Italy. It is sixty kilometres from the coast of the Ionian Sea, in the province of Enna. The closest modern town is Aidone, two kilometres southwest of the site. The site consists of a two-kilometre-long ridge running southwest–northeast, known as Serra Orlando, and a neighbouring hill at the northeast called Cittadella. Morgantina was inhabited in several periods. The earliest major settlement was made at Cittadella and lasted from about 1000/900 to about 450 BCE. The other major settlement was located on Serra Orlando, and existed from about 450 BCE to about 50 CE in Magna Graecia. Morgantina has been the subject of archaeological investigation since the early 20th century.

Serra Orlando was identified as Morgantina by Kenan Erim following the discovery of a number of coins bearing the Latin word HISPANORUM. Erim used these coins and passages from Livy to argue that the city found at Serra Orlando was in fact the ancient city of Morgantina. The name is variously written by Latin writers as Murgantia, Murgentia and Morgentia. The inhabitants were called Murgentini by Cicero and Pliny the Elder.

According to Strabo, Morgantina was founded by a pre-Roman Italian group known as the Morgetes of Rhegium.

Excavation history

Early work on Serra Orlando

The earliest excavations at Morgantina were undertaken by Luigi Pappalardo in 1884. He uncovered part of a necropolis, a large terracotta drain and two houses. One of the houses he found, the Pappalardo house, was named for him by later American excavators.

Paolo Orsi recorded stray finds from Morgantina and excavated trial trenches in 1912. He located a terrace of nine steps, and walls, as well as what he called 'a Roman house'.

Princeton University

Morgantina has been the principal site of American research on classical Sicily. Currently there are two other sites on the island with significant American presences: the Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. di Catania's excavations at Palike, and the work undertaken by Stanford University and Northern Illinois University as part of a consortium of primarily Scandinavian institutions at Monte Polizzo. In 1955, a major project was begun by Princeton University, under the supervision of Professors Erik Sjöqvist and Richard Stillwell. The excavations on the (then unidentified) town were intended to serve as training for graduate students in Princeton's Department of Art and Archaeology. Major figures who participated in work at Morgantina include Kenan Erim, Donald White, T. Leslie Shear Jr., Ione Mylonas Shear, R. Ross Holloway, Stephen Miller, Paul Deussen, and Karl Erik Östenberg. Special mention should also be made of Sweden's King Gustaf VI Adolf, who came to Morgantina on several occasions in the 1950s at the invitation of Sjöqvist, his former secretary, to work at the site.

Hubert Allen and the University of Illinois

In the mid-1960s, Princeton graduate student Hubert L. Allen assumed a role in the administration of the excavations. Upon receiving his doctorate, Allen was hired by the University of Illinois, which then began to co-sponsor the Morgantina project. The death of Sjöqvist and retirement of Stillwell in the early 1970s led to Princeton's withdrawal from direct involvement in the excavations. Allen continued to lead the project until 1975, when he was denied tenure at Illinois and took a position with University of Illinois computer sciences. At that point, American work at Morgantina was put on hold.

University of Virginia and Wesleyan University

The excavations had produced vast amounts of artefacts and data, but as yet there was no final publication. In 1978, Malcolm Bell III, professor of classical art and archaeology at the University of Virginia, took over the project with the goal of publishing the Morgantina material. Bell was a former Princeton graduate student (Sjöqvist had been Bell's advisor until his retirement) who had written his dissertation on terracotta figurines found at Morgantina. He has conducted investigations on Serra Orlando since 1982, each time with the intention of answering specific questions raised by earlier work. Bell used his dissertation as the basis for the first book in the Morgantina Studies series published in 1983. Six volumes have appeared in the series, which is the main vehicle for the definite publication of the excavation results.

In 1990, Carla Antonaccio, then on the faculty of Wesleyan University but now at Duke University, herself a Princeton graduate, assumed responsibility for publishing the post-7th century BCE settlement on Cittadella. Since that time, both Virginia and Wesleyan, along with many other American and Italian institutions, have sent scholars and students to conduct research. Notable scholars currently working on the project include Barbara Tsakirgis of Vanderbilt University on the houses of Serra Orlando, Jenifer Neils of Case Western Reserve University on figured pottery, Barbara Barletta of the University of Florida on architectural mouldings, Rosa Maria Albanese Procelli and Enrico Procelli, both of the University of Catania on the Bronze Age material, John Kenfield of Rutgers University on architectural terracottas, and Robert Leighton of the University of Edinburgh on the protohistoric settlement on Cittadella.

The site's archives are currently housed at the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, though some materials also exist at the University of Illinois.

Looting and restitution of Morgantina artworks

By the 1980s, a number of works looted from or near the Morgantina site were marketed to major collectors and institutions, with the now-disgraced dealer Robin Symes serving as an intermediary. The works include an Aphrodite purchased by the J. Paul Getty museum, the parts of two acroliths purchased by Maurice Tempelsman, and the Morgantina treasure purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. All the works were returned to Italy and are on display at the museum of Aidone.

North Baths

Since 2003 Sandra K. Lucore (formerly of the University of Tokyo, now an independent scholar) has led excavations of the 3rd century BC North Baths complex that have produced interesting results including evidence of one of the earliest examples of dome and barrel vault construction.

External links

Official website of the archaeological park and museum {Italian}
The American Excavations at Morgantina