Valley of the Temples, excavations bring out news about the Sanctuary and Temple D

The first excavation campaign conducted in the Valley of the Temples by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa has just concluded: important findings that have emerged open new vistas on the architectural, historical and archaeological phases of the Sanctuary and Temple D.

For the first time, ceramic materials (including a fragment of pottery datable to around 580-570 B.C.) and fragments of Attic and Ionian production chronologically traceable to the first generation of the colony, which, according to literary sources, was founded around 580 B.C., were found on the Southern Hill. This indicates that soon after the founding, this area of the city, probably already with a cultic purpose, was frequented by settlers.

“We are experiencing a very interesting season from the point of view of archaeological discoveries,” said Alberto Samonà, councillor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, “some of which, as is happening in Agrigento, open up new hypotheses for study and turn the spotlight on the enormous unexplored heritage that our island holds. We need to open up even more to collaborations with Italian and foreign universities and strengthen excavation campaigns, thanks to which, not only will we have the opportunity to expand the regional archaeological heritage, but we will also be able to enter into alliances that can also function as attractors for quality cultural tourism.”

The excavations were carried out by students of Classical Archaeology from the Scuola Normale, the Universities of Pisa and Palermo, under the scientific direction of Professor Gianfranco Adornato, investigating a number of sectors located in the sacred area and inside the temple building. "This first school-excavation campaign, which saw the students of classical archaeology of the Normale as protagonists in the field,“ Adornato commented, ”was particularly fruitful and the promising results urge us to investigate the area more carefully. We have found, for the first time on the Southern Hill, numerous votive statuettes ritually deposited together with pottery and burnt bones; these votive offerings, together with conspicuous fragments of terracotta tiles, are clear indications of a cult and of a possible sacred building of late Archaic age (not yet identified), existing before the monumentalization of the sacred area and temple, which took place around the mid-5th century BCE."

Valley of the Temples, excavations bring out news about the Sanctuary and Temple D

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