Archeologia nel territorio dei Monti Sicani (Harvesting Memories project). L’insediamento di lunga durata di Contrada Castro (Corleone, Palermo). Prima campagna di scavo 2017.

The “Harvesting Memories” project aims to address diachronic change in landscape and settlement patterns during the long-term in the area of Sicani Mountains in Central-West Sicily (Italy). This area is a sort of palimpsest of Mediterranean inland areas characterized by a long-term occupation of low-lying lands suitable for agriculture and hills for pastoral activi-ties. The settlement dynamics of this inner area are well documented in the archaeological sequence of the hilltop site of Contrada Castro. Recent excavation (spring 2017) showed dry-stone structures related to the Islamic and Norman period (9th-12th c. AD), a Byzantine infant burial (7th-8th c. AD) and evidence (layer of morphology regularization and pottery) con-nected to an archaic indigenous settlement (6th-5th c. BC). The investigation of this new rural site provided relevant insights of longue durée patterns in hilltop settlements of Sicily between Antiquity and Middle Ages.