<< Our Photo Pages >> Monte Bubbonia - Chambered Tomb in Italy in Sicily (Sicilia)
Submitted by Salvatore on Tuesday, 07 December 2010 Page Views: 10901
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Monte BubboniaCountry: Italy Region: Sicily (Sicilia) Type: Chambered Tomb
Nearest Town: Gela Nearest Village: Piazza Armerina
Latitude: 37.251833N Longitude: 14.342639E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
aluta would like to visit
Salvatore Piccolo writes: "The Sicilian dolmen phenomenon has started to arouse interest among scholars, so much so that many reports, initially given little attention, are being reconsidered in the light of a new forma mentis."
The richest source of documentation seems to be accredited to the south-east, while the west, as known to date, has only two presumably megalithic constructions: the first in Sciacca, in the district of San Giorgio, the femmina morta site, and the other in the archaeological area of Mura Pregne, north-east of Monte San Mauro between Termini Imerese and Sciara [Ref 1]. We shall begin with Monte Bubbonia, a majestic hill 595metres high to the north of the city of Gela.
The geological conformation of the hill is quite recent, except for the lower chalk strata formed in the Miocene Age, 23 million to 5 million years ago. Around 700,000 years ago, the lower Pleistocene Age, it was covered by sea silt, quartz sand, quartzarenite and, lastly, by a thin layer of red sand that makes the location rather crumbly and dusty.
At the beginning of the 1900s, Paolo Orsi, led the first excavations [2]. He found an indigenous centre on the summit which had been colonised by Gela in the 6th century B.C. Piero Orlandini recognised this as the ancient Sican city of Maktorion mentioned by Herodotus, the Greek historian par excellence [3]. Paolo Orsi was the first to identify the dolmen we are about to deal [4] with, Cassataro [5] recorded it as did Pancucci [6] successively.
The monument is to be found some three quarters of the way along a track which runs along the eastern side of the hill and goes up towards the acropolis. It is in a position that notably overhangs an area of flat land that is surrounded by hills. Made of colossal splinters of rock, with no significant modifications, the dolmen is rectangular in shape. The chalk slab which acts as the cover, the back being wedged into the natural slope of the ground, rests on two parallel megaliths forming a chamber of about 2.60 square metres. The upright block on the right was shorter from the beginning and was raised with overlapping makeshift quoins, or wedges. The pits formed by the rudimentary wedges were filled with small stones.
The back wall was created by fitting together two polygon-shaped slabs. The slab on the right still today overlaps the cover, evidently protecting it from landslides; the other polygon slab, which was lower, had small irregular-shaped stones added to it. Frequent landslides have resulted in a visible tilting to the right, causing a narrowing of the initial part of the chamber. The entrance, opening north- east, follows the same orientation of the other Sicilian dolmens.
A little lower down, following the natural inclination of the hillside, lies what was probably the closure slab. The dimensions, which correspond quite well to the main structure, indicate it could really be the closure hatch as it matches the two uprights.
The original architectural idea was without doubt a small chamber tomb, also to be found in Sardinia and in Apulia, with the back wall placed against the curve of the hillside to facilitate burial, as was the custom for this type of architecture. Soil and stony overlays are to be seen wherever these are found.
Even though the hill had undergone exhaustive works of reforestation, which will have deprived us of many clues, we do not hasten to connect the monument in question to the already examined prehistoric settlements on this north-eastern side of the hill. The latter date from the early Bronze Age to that of Pantalica III and IV, around 850 – 700 B.C. [7]
At the time of the exploration, Paolo Orsi came across an elegant boccaletto (a small tankard) with faint traces of decoration [8], leading him to date the sepulchre back to the VII century B.C. We must not however forget that in the past, especially among people of less affluent classes, it was normal to use previously utilised objects. Hence, finding chronologically previous objects inside our artefact we must not be led astray. Instead, they will be defined in the light of further Sicilian dolmen research and study. It must be mentioned that Paolo Orsi, born in Rovereto, Trentino, had already collected signs in megalithic slabs he found in 1898 at Monte Racello, near the town of Comiso, Ragusa.
Technical data sheet of the monument
Overall length of the monument 2.20 metres
Overall width of the monument 1.20 metres
Length of the right lateral 1.25 metres
Length of left lateral 2.10 metres
Tilt of right lateral 20° to the left
Width of right slab (back wall) 0.78 metres
Height of right slab (back wall) 1.00 metres
Width of left slab (back wall) 0.60 metres
Height of left slab (back wall) 0.52 metres
Thickness of chalk mass 0.35 metres
Length of closure hatch 1.30 metres
Width of closure hatch 0.69 metres
Thickness of closure slab 0.40 metres
Height of monument 1.40 metres
Orientation (opening) 24° NE
Geographical map references I.G.M. (Italian Military Geographic Institute) 1/25.000-F° 272 I N.E.
References:
1 S. Spadafora, I dolmen di Mura Pregne nel quadro del fenomeno dolmenico Europeo, in Graduation thesis of the “Scuola Universitaria diretta a fini speciali per Op. Tecnico-Scientifici per i beni Culturali ed Ambientali”, settore Archeologico, Palermo University, Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, Agrigento, Academic Year 1996-1997, , pp. 48-65.
2 P.Orsi ( by D. Pancucci), Esplorazioni a Monte Bubbonia dal 1904 al 1906, in «Archivio Storico Siracusano» n.s. II (1972-73).
3 Herodotus, VII, 153, 2. Cf. P. Orlandini, Omphake and Maktorion, in Kokalos VII (1961), pp. 165 on.
4 P.Orsi, ibidem, p.46.
5 «Sicilia Archeologica», 52-53, XVI year, 1983, p.71.
6 D.Pancucci/M.C.Naro, Monte Bubbonia, compagne di scavo, 1905, 1906, 1955, in «Collana di monografie pubblicate dal Centro di studi storico-archeologici “Biagio Pace”», 1992, p. 151.
7 Cf. D. Pancucci, Monte Bubbonia, in «Sicilia Archeologica», N° 23, December 1973, p. 55 [Pantalica, clinging to the inland highlands of the Province of Syracuse, dominating the valley of the River Anapo, between the cities of Sortino and Ferla, gives its name to the final phase of the Sicilian Bronze Age. This era is subdivided in four periods between 1250 B.C. and 700 B.C. circa].
8 P. Orsi, ibidem.
This article continues with a look at Cava dei Servi Dolmen.
Information from Salvatore Piccolo's book,
"Antiche Pietre. La cultura dei dolmen nella preistoria della Sicilia sud-orientale",
Morrone editore, Siracusa 2007.
Note: Archaeologist Salvatore Piccolo takes a close look at four important dolmens in Sicily in this exclusive feature article for us
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.
Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Nearby Images from Flickr
The above images may not be of the site on this page, but were taken nearby. They are loaded from Flickr so please click on them for image credits.
Click here to see more info for this site
Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the areaKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)
To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.
Turn off the page maps and other distractions
Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
12.6km N 357° Villa imperiale del Casale* Ancient Palace
22.3km SSW 200° Archaeological museum (Gela)* Museum
22.3km SSW 207° Bagni Greci* Ancient Village or Settlement
22.6km SSW 208° Capo Soprano* Hillfort
23.2km NNE 31° Morgantina* Ancient Village or Settlement
43.2km SSE 168° Kamarina Ancient Village or Settlement
47.6km ESE 108° The neviere of Buccheri* Artificial Mound
53.5km ESE 114° Akrai* Ancient Village or Settlement
54.0km ESE 114° Santoni* Carving
56.4km SE 130° Cava dei Servi* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
61.1km ESE 102° Pantalica Rock Cut Tombs* Rock Cut Tomb
61.5km ESE 121° Castelluccio Necropolis Rock Cut Tomb
61.9km ESE 102° The Anaktoron Palace* Ancient Palace
62.4km SE 135° Cava D'Ispica* Rock Cut Tomb
64.8km SE 130° Cava Lazzaro* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
65.6km W 275° Temple of Demeter* Ancient Temple
65.9km W 274° Temple of Juno* Ancient Temple
66.5km W 274° Temple of Concordia* Ancient Temple
66.7km W 274° Tomb of Theron* Ancient Temple
66.7km W 273° Temple of Asclepius* Ancient Temple
66.9km W 274° Valley of the Temples* Ancient Temple
66.9km W 274° Ekklesiasterion of Phalaris* Ancient Village or Settlement
67.3km W 274° Temple of Jupiter (Sicily)* Ancient Temple
67.5km W 274° Temple of Dioscuri* Ancient Temple
67.7km W 274° Temple of Vulcanus* Ancient Temple
View more nearby sites and additional images