Summary (English)
Alaimo’s extra-urban sacred area, situated on the western edge of the modern town of Lentini (Sicily), was discovered in 1988 thanks to an excavation undertaken by the University of Catania and the Archaeological Superintendency of Syracuse. The excavation brought to light an open air cult area which palynological analysis has shown was characterised in antiquity by a riverside environment. The numerous faunal remains, mainly sheep/goat and some pig and cow, suggests that animal sacrifices and ritual banquets took place.
The offerings to the gods consisted of pottery and small artefacts datable almost exclusively to between the second half of the 7th and beginning of the 6th century B.C. These were found in a small votive hoard or scattered in the surrounding area. The artefacts are small votives in various materials: terracotta statuettes and loom weights, glass paste and amber beads, ornamental objects and miniature weapons in metal. The pottery was both locally made and imported, the first used mainly for libation rites, whilst the imported pottery, in particular from Corinth and the area of eastern Greece, contained perfumed oils for ritual fumigation. An Attic Red-figure krater bearing an incised dedication to the Dioscuri was also found. This much later in date than the other finds. Depite this, a new hypothesis attributes the sanctuary to the archaic period.
- Lorenza Grasso - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Catania  
Director
- Giovanni Rizza - Università degli Studi di Catania
Team
- Michela Ursino - Università degli Studi di Catania
- Beatrice Basile - Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Siracusa
Research Body
Funding Body
- Università degli Studi di Catania
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