Archaeology: New discoveries in the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento.

Last Updated: August 8, 2023

Archeologia, nuovi ritrovamenti nella Valle dei Templi di Agrigento

#Agrigento
During the excavations in the Valley of the Temples, specifically in House VII b, a very rich votive deposit consisting of at least sixty terracotta statuettes, busts, and female protomes, as well as oil lamps and small vases, fragments of bronze, and numerous bones, was unearthed. This excavation campaign is fully funded and supported by the Sicilian Region through the Archaeological Park, directed by Roberto Sciarratta, and led by archaeologist Maria Concetta Parello. These findings shed light on the dynamics of the destruction of Akragas in 406 B.C. by the Carthaginians, when the inhabitants had to flee to Gela, leaving behind everything that constituted their happiness, including their possessions, everyday items, and the gods they prayed to, as described by Diodorus Siculus.

“We work tirelessly to return moments of history that belong to Sicily,” says the Assessor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, Francesco Paolo Scarpinato. “The discoveries in the Valley, which is currently experiencing an extraordinary season with over 23,400 visitors in just the last weekend, come during an excavation campaign initiated in 2019 and then halted by Covid, making the find even more significant. It seems that every site has something to tell us at this moment.”

The votive deposit, which seems to have been placed above the destruction layers of the house, could provide insight into the moment when the recovered objects were retrieved by the Akragantines after the devastation. To determine the precise function of this intriguing deposit, further research is necessary, with a focus on the stratigraphic connections between the deposit and the levels of occupation and abandonment of the house. Meanwhile, the restoration of the numerous artifacts recovered has already been planned in anticipation of their immediate valorization.

“It is a scientific intervention that we have supported in recent years,” says the director of the Valley of the Temples Park, Roberto Sciarratta. “It has already yielded important results. In the excavation area, which provides us with a detailed understanding of historical events, a large section of the Greek settlement, consisting of houses, had already been identified. Its main phase ends with the conquest and destruction of the city by the Carthaginians.”