Ceramics of San Martino – Spadafora (ME)

The card was edited by Eleonora Ambrusiano

Ceramics of San Martino – Spadafora (ME)

The card was edited by Eleonora Ambrusiano


In the territory of the municipality of Spadafora, in the locality of San Martino, two areas have been identified which attest to inhabited settlements during the Neolithic period, dating back to the XNUMXth millennium BC and which currently represent the most ancient evidence of the Tyrrhenian coast of Messina. The first site was located near a stream, while the second was built on a limestone bank of marine origin. Both can be traced back to an ancient phase of the Neolithic, i.e. to the so-called Stentinello culture.

In site 1, below the modern topsoil, a layer relating to the final Neolithic was identified, composed of clayey brown soil and in which, despite the absence of traces of structures such as fences, embankments or walking surfaces, abundant examples of ceramic materials were found and lithic together with bone remains of domestic animals; immediately below there was an even more ancient layer relating to the Middle Neolithic, in which a hearth and two groupings of stones are preserved, together with various objects such as flint and obsidian tools, ceramic fragments relating to vases of different sizes, animal bones and meal leftovers.

In the site of San Martino the Middle Neolithic is documented by the pottery of Stentinello, a phase which corresponds to the first population of the Aeolian Islands, permanently inhabited right from this period, and which is divided into three classes according to whether the mixture is coarse or semi-purified; with the third type of mixture, made using a very purified yellowish clay, called figulina, vases decorated with painted red bands were made. The shapes of the containers are varied and clearly linked to their uses: large containers for storing food or open bowls for direct consumption of food or collection (see fig. 1). As regards the decorations of the ceramics in coarse and semi-purified body (see fig. 2), they present a repertoire rich in decorative motifs which may have been impressed by hand – with the “unghiate” or the “pizzicato” – or with awls , to make strokes and engraved lines, and finally with molds and punches. Very characteristic among all is the zig-zag or serpentine motif, called "a rocker" (fragment 6, fig. 2) which arranges the impressions in a curvilinear series.

From fragments 3 and 6 of the photo (fig. 2), in fact, it can be seen the reproduction of the "rocker" motif, in the first case made in the upper part of the edge, in the second instead in the overall body of the artefact, of which obviously only fragments.

The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas identifies this motif as the oldest documented symbolic motif (as early as 40.000 BC), often also in association with anthropomorphized images of birds or fish, and in general as a decoration of vases as early as the XNUMXth millennium BC, highlighting its affinity with water and its generative force.

The link with the Goddess and water can also be identified in the "mesh" motif, visible on the upper edge of fragment 1 and in the narrow-line decoration of the same fragment and of the number 4, with decorative motifs simulating rain; the symbol of the lozenge of fragment 5 could fall into the same group, within which thick and parallel lines have been engraved. Interesting, and attributable to the same theme, is finally the decoration visible on fragment 7, of the type probably made with the same fingers that create rounded and regular furrows on the surface, and of what can be glimpsed in fragment 8, both attributable to those that Gimbutas he calls "cup-shaped" decoration (made by engraving on the clay or even on the rock, or visible as dots), also in this case to indicate drops, humidity, life-giving water, fertility and abundance. Unfortunately, the fragments are small and it is only possible to speculate how the artifact might have looked as a whole.

In Site 2 of San Martino the presence of a Neolithic settlement has been found which can also be referred to the culture of Stentinello: in fact, stone structures associated with remains of plaster have been identified, often with reed marks, which would confirm the presence of huts. Furthermore, numerous fragments with impressed or engraved decoration have been found, very varied and elaborate, also in this case, in the repertoire of motifs: the most recurring ones are wolf's teeth, rockers, claws, rhombuses, bundles of parallel lines. Of particular interest is the fragment on which, in addition to the zig-zag motif, a decoration consisting of small concentric rhombuses surmounted by short vertical segments is depicted, commonly interpreted as the stylization of an eye with eyelashes (fig. 3). Marija Gimbutas speaks of the glyphs of the triangle and the lozenge as stylizations of the vulva and the pubic triangle, therefore in reference to the source of life: the image of a lozenge inside another is abundantly attested (for example, on seals and frescoes by Catal Huyuk, but also later in the ceramic painting of the Aegean area and in any case in all the cultural areas of Old Europe) confirming the symbolic importance of this form. Furthermore, this figure can also be linked to the stylization of the suit symbol. Another interpretation could be that relating to the aquatic environment; the symbol could have been used as a seal or signature impressed on the pottery, presumably with the function of symbolic language; among other things, a rhomboid-shaped ceramic punch was found in the same site.

It is interesting to note the remarkable similarity with a ceramic fragment kept in the Archaeological Museum of Adrano (CT) shown in fig. 4. As regards the rhombus as a symbolic geometric motif, referred to the possible meanings reported above, it is attested as a decorative motif on a wall painting at the site of Catal Huyuk, as well as on ceramics found at the same site (fig. 5 and 6) .

Historical notes

During the works to build a new line for the methane pipeline in the province of Messina, conducted between 2007 and 2008, several archaeological sites were discovered in the Tyrrhenian area, including those reported here relating to the territory of the municipalities of Spadafora and Venetico. It had already been ascertained that the areas overlooking the coastal beach between Villafranca Tirrena and Venetico have been inhabited since prehistoric times, certainly thanks to the presence of watercourses and fertile plains suitable for agricultural crops, but also to the abundant mineral resources (quarries of clay, deposits of gypsum and limestone) which have proved to be fundamental for the production of ceramics and mortar for construction, as well as for trade with other human groups, for example with the inhabitants of the Aeolian islands rich in precious obsidian, to which numerous artefacts have been found in the sites mentioned above.

CARD

Name

Ceramics of San Martino – Spadafora (ME)

Subject

Manufactured goods

Timeline

The two localities analyzed record the presence of inhabited settlements during the ancient phase of the Neolithic on the island, therefore dating back to the XNUMXth millennium BC, i.e. to the so-called Stentinello culture, currently representing the most ancient evidence of the Tyrrhenian coast of Messina

Location of discovery

Location San Martino in the Municipality of Spadafora - Province of Messina

Region

Sicilia

Environmental context

External area

exhibits exhibited

The finds are not exhibited, but kept in the deposits of the Superintendence of Messina

State of conservation

Many are just fragments

Legal condition

State property

REFERENCES

  1. Maria Clara Martinelli – “Archeology in Spadafora and Venetico” - in Pippo Pandolfo –  Spadafora San Martino history of a community and its territory – EDAS 2010;
  2. Marija Gimbutas – The language of the Goddess – Venexia 2008.