Le attestazioni ceramiche di San Miceli (Salemi-TP): Testimonianze dall'area di culto e dal contesto insediativo

The systematic excavations directed by the Andrews University (MI-USA) on the San Miceli site in Salemi are bringing to light the phases of the Christian building and other tombs of the necropolis, as well as a new building that is certainly part of the settlement area, that A. Salinas had begun to explore, in the 1800s, well to the south of the basilica. The results, although preliminary, which are presented here, refer to some ceramic materials (amphorae, fine red slip wares, cooking wares, coarse wares) found in the three areas in which the excavations were focused (area A, at the southern limit of the park, area B, to the north of the building that preserves the mosaics, and area C, to the north of the northern wall of the basilica) and cover a period between the 2nd and the beginning of the 7th century AD, although the structures found till now date to between the 4th and 7th century AD. Among the ceramic evidence, North-African imports are predominant; in effect they invaded the Sicilian market from the end of the 1st century AD. But it is also possible to identify eastern and local products which confirm the active economic role played by the rural settlement in the period of greatest development, and demonstrate the dense network of commercial connections between the Sicilian hinterland and the main ports of the coast during the Roman imperial period and Late Antiquity.