Sicily

Sicily between the 5th-3rd centuries BC can be considered one of the best examples for the analysis of osmosis of Greek and Phoenician-Punic culture, especially as regards the monetary interactions between Punic Sicilian centres and those of Western Greece.

From the point of view of archaeological finds and material culture, Mozia is undoubtedly the richest in specimens and findings, including the “archaic” necropolis, in the northern part of the island. In the over one hundred and sixty tombs – most of them cremation tombs – dating to between the end of the 8th and the 7th centuries BC, none have returned coins.

Another centre of great importance was Panormo, founded by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC, when the oldest burials in the city can be dated, that are well tombs and dromoi, used up to the Punic age with examples of inhumation burials.

The archaeological investigations carried out in the urban centre of Marsala between 1987 and 1991 by Superintendence for Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Trapani, have brought to light the vast Punic-Roman necropolis of Lylibeum: some 450 burials have already been studied. The period of use of the burial ground begins in mid-4th century BC. According to the study by S. Frey-Kupper taken as the main reference in this short note, coins can be found as part of funerary kit starting from 320/300 BC up until 350 AD. The numerous nucleus composed of 179 monetary finds distributed among 76 tombs, makes this Punic-Roman necropolis a fundamental reference in the complex study of the monetary finds in context.

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