Il villaggio-officina di Via Capuana a Licodia Eubea : un caso studio sulla produzione e circolazione di manufatti litici in selce e ossidiana nell'area occidentale dei Monti Iblei in eta tardoneolitica

Abstract

This dissertation reopens the discussion about the development of the lithic workshops in the Hyblaean territory, in south-eastern Sicily, because of the discovery of a large lithic assemblage uncovered within the urban outskirts of Licodia Eubea, a small town located on the western fringes of the Hyblaean Mountains. The lithic assemblage of “via Capuana”, with more than 11000 flint and 700 obsidian artefacts, gives the possibility of observing, for the first time in this area, the stages of stone tool production inside a late Neolithic settlement (end of 5th mill. BC). The research deals with three main topics. Firstly, a pattern of flint visual characteristics is produced in order to identify the flint varieties knapped in the workshop of via Capuana, based on a macroscopic basis. This investigation has led us to identify at least six different macroscopic flint types, and has given hints about which variety was processed in the site and which one was introduced in the form of finished artefacts. Secondly, the analysis of the lithic industry was carried out according to the criteria of the chaîne opératoire approach, which aimed to the recognition of the prevailing knapping methods and technological features, and to the reconstruction of the distribution framework of the different technomorphological categories of artefacts within the lithic workshop. Such a distribution framework shows that the whole area was affected quite homogeneously by the knapping activities, while it has emerged that some stages of production could have taken place in specific areas. Finally, the research aims to propose, through the comparison with other better-known contexts, a hypothetical territorial and social model that could be able to explain the movement of exotic raw materials, such as obsidian, towards the site and, in the opposite direction, the movement of flint towards the neighbouring areas or even overseas territories.