Ustica is a small volcanic island north of Sicily. A fortification more than 3,000 years old was discovered here at an archaeological site researched decades ago. It dates back to the height of the Bronze Age and attests to the existence of a larger community whose life at the site was abruptly interrupted around 1200 BC by a sudden event, the origins of which are still mysterious.
The discovery, reported in the Journal of Applied Geophysics, was made by a team coordinated by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). The fortification of Ustica is considered one of the best preserved Mediterranean settlements of its time and was characterized by an orderly urban plan with dozens of huts built along narrow streets, as well as a huge wall 250 meters long and four to five meters high, which surrounded the settlement to protect it from attacks and invasions. The fortress was discovered not far from a Bronze Age village called “I Faraglioni” (“The Cliffs”), protected by a still preserved defensive wall.
Non-invasive techniques make village floor plans visible © KK
Faraglioni Village
The research campaign, which involved geologists, geophysicists, architects and archaeologists, arose from the need to investigate, using non-invasive techniques, some semi-buried structures that sometimes appeared outside the defensive wall. Innovative instruments were used for geophysical research, such as: B. Georadar and electrical tomography. This allowed us to closely examine the deep foundations of the outer wall and the wall that served as the first defensive wall.
According to Franco Foresta Martin, director of the Laboratory of the Ustica Geosciences Museum, the discovery “opens a new window to understand this ancient village and suggests a complex defensive structure that exceeds all expectations”. “The Faraglioni village was built between 1400 and 1200 BC on a stretch of coast that rises from the sea in the north of the island,” explained Domenico Targia, director of the Archaeological Park of Himera, Solunto and Iato, who also supervised the excavations. from the Ustica stand. The finds show parallels with Middle Bronze Age settlements on the Aeolian Islands (approximately 1450 to 1270 BC), which are also located north of Sicily.
The Greeks called the island Ustica Osteodes (“ossuary”) because thousands of Carthage mutineers starved to death there. Since Roman rule, the island has been called Ustica (from ustum “burnt”) because of the black lava rock. Later it was under the rule of the Arabs and the Normans. Until the 18th century, the island was the target of frequent pirate attacks.