Child burials in the Grotta Petralia at Catania

The presence of Homo in Sicily: evidence, hypotheses and uncorroborated ideas. An archaeo-anthropological perspective

“…Their use changed from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age, but often persisted over time (e.g., cave churches and cave dwellings from the Middle Ages) (Patti 2013). In later periods, and especially from the Copper Age onwards, caves played a complementary role to other settlements, being used as temporary shelters, perhaps during transhumance, as in the Palermo area (Battaglia 2014), or becoming "appendages" of villages (warehouses and/or workplaces) (Privitera 2007); some continued to be used as burial sites (from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age, in conjunction with rock necropoles), others as places where funerary ritual practices took place (e.g., the Petralia cave, in the Catania area (Palio 2014), the Fontanazza cave on the slopes of Monte Grande in the province of Caltanissetta (Panvini 2014), the Chiusazza cave in the Siracusa area (Tanasi 2008) and the Calaforno hypogeum (Ragusa) (Varotto et al 2022).…”

Remote Sensing Analysis in the Archaeological Context of Licodia Eubea (Catania)

“…In the territory of the municipality of Licodia Eubea (CT), more precisely in the Marineo mountain, they have discovered four caves of karst origin (CONSOLI 1988-89), frequented in prehistoric times, for a period between the mid-late Neolithic and the end of the Bronze Age. Starting from 2017 (Palio, Turco 2018), Cave 3 was excavated. This cave is important because inside here it was discovered ceramic fragments of Mycenaean origin, bronze weapons (a dagger and a spearhead), and many fragments of tableware of local production that are probably also connected to ceremonial use.…”