The Capo Graziano culture is an archaeological culture that was prevalent on the Aeolian Islands. According to prevailing opinion, it emerged at the beginning of the early Bronze Age, around 2200 BC, and lasted until approximately 1430 BC. The culture is named after Capo Graziano, a cape in the southeast of the island of Filicudi, where one of the most significant settlements of this culture was discovered.

Chronology

The beginning of the Capo Graziano culture is generally believed to be around 2200 BC – however, a 2013 analysis of 14C data suggests it may have begun slightly earlierGianmarco Alberti: A Bayesian 14C chronology of Early and Middle Bronze Age in Sicily. Toward an independent absolute dating. In: Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (2013) pp. 2502–2514. – with the onset of the Early Bronze Age on the Aeolian Islands. It ended around 1430 BC or slightly earlier.

The Capo Graziano culture can be divided into two main phases:Dates according to Anna Maria Betti Sestieri: The Bronze Age in Sicily. In: Anthony Harding, Harry Fokkens (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, p. 655. Other authors, such as Pamela Fragnoli et al.: Investigations into the intra- and inter-insular circulation of Bronze Age ceramics in the Aeolian Archipelago (Messina, Sicily, Italy) using petrography and geochemistry. In: Britta Ramminger, Ole Stilborg (eds.): Scientific Analyses of Pre- and Protohistoric Ceramics II. Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 2012, pp. 159–178, date the beginning of the second phase of the Capo Graziano culture to around 1700 BC. The different dates for the transition from Phase I to Phase II are primarily due to the uncertain and highly contested absolute chronology of this period for the Aegean region, particularly the different datings of the so-called Minoan eruption. These also affect the earliest fragments of imported ceramics found in the layers of Capo Graziano II, which originate from the first phase of the Late Helladic I period. Since a naturally well-fortified settlement on Filicudi was built during the time typical of Capo Graziano I ceramics, yet fortified settlements by definition (see below in the text) characterize the second phase, the "high chronology" is indicated here.

Capo Graziano I: ca. 2200–1800 BC

Capo Graziano II: ca. 1800–1430 BC

The two phases are distinguished primarily by changes in ceramics and by the fact that during Capo Graziano II, settlements were very well-protected, while in the early phase they were located in unprotected places. While Capo Graziano I is generally considered part of the Early Bronze Age, Capo Graziano II is regarded by some authors as Middle Bronze Age (the first two phases of the Middle Bronze Age, MBA I and II).See Reinhard Jung (lit.), Pamela Fragnoli et al. (lit.). Other researchers now define the entire Capo Graziano culture as Early Bronze Age, with the Middle Bronze Age beginning only with the appearance of the subsequent Milazzese culture.See Gianmarco Alberti (lit.), Anna Maria Betti Sestieri, The Bronze Age in Sicily. In: Anthony Harding, Harry Fokkens (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age. University Press, Oxford 2013, pp. 655ff.

Historical Development

After the Aeolian Islands became a significant center for widespread trade in Obsidian during the Neolithic due to their obsidian deposits, a period of economic, demographic, and cultural decline set in during the Copper Age, as metals began to replace obsidian as a material for tools. However, in the Bronze Age, there was a revival, likely due to the strategically advantageous location of the islands, as they controlled the Strait of Messina. Some settlements became transit points for long-distance trade. This is evidenced by numerous finds, including those of eastern Mediterranean origin, such as Mycenaean pottery and earlier fragments of Middle Helladic clay vessels. Conversely, artifacts – especially pottery – of the Capo Graziano culture have been found not only on the Aeolian Islands (including Stromboli) but also in some regions of Sicily (especially near Milazzo and around Palermo), as well as in Calabria and Campania (e.g., on the island of Vivara in the Gulf of Naples). New settlements, consisting of round to oval huts, emerged on all the main islands except Vulcano.

The Capo Graziano culture was succeeded around 1430 BC by the Milazzese culture, which is closely related to the Thapsos culture of Sicily. Since some settlements of the Capo Graziano culture continued into the Milazzese culture without being destroyed during the transition, it appears that the Capo Graziano culture did not end violently. Some characteristics of the culture persisted in the Milazzese culture.

Settlements

New settlements were established on all the main Aeolian Islands except Vulcano. In the first phase of the Capo Graziano culture, these settlements were located in strategically advantageous but poorly protected places. They consisted of round to oval huts with stone bases that were slightly sunk into the ground. With the beginning of the second phase – the settlement at Capo Graziano on Filicudi likely in the first phaseReinhard Jung: ΧΡΟΝΟΛΟΓΙΑ COMPARATA. Comparative Chronology of Southern Greece and Southern Italy from around 1700/1600 to 1000 BC. Vienna 2006, pp. 75–77, derived from older excavation publications and stratigraphy data. – the old settlements were abandoned, and new settlements were built in naturally well-protected locations. For instance, the old settlement on Lipari was located in the Contrada Diana plain (on the site of the modern town of Lipari) and was moved at the beginning of Capo Graziano II to the so-called Acropolis of Lipari. On Filicudi, older settlements at the harbor, on the narrow isthmus (Filo Braccio), were replaced by a naturally well-protected settlement on a terrace about 100 meters high at Capo Graziano.

The exploration of the settlement at Filo Braccio on Filicudi, inhabited during the first phase of the Capo Graziano culture, revealed food remains, mostly in the form of bone fragments.Information in this paragraph is based on Maria Clara Martinelli et al.: New research at the settlement on the isthmus of Filo Braccio at Filicudi. Preliminary note on the 2009 excavations. In ORIGINI 32, New Series IV, 2010, pp. 285ff., especially pp. 297 f., 303. Analyses showed that these were remains of goats, pigs, cattle, fish, and shellfish. Archaeobotanical studies also identified grapevines (Vitis vinifera).

Pottery

The early pottery of the Capo Graziano culture shows parallels in terms of vessel shapes and manufacturing techniques to the pottery of Early Helladic III Greece. The pieces are gray, sometimes dark brown, and are partially decorated with simple linear incisions. In the second phase, the pottery is incrusted and decorated with various incised designs.

Production sites for Capo Graziano pottery were located on Filicudi and Lipari, according to archaeometric and petrological clay analyses.For details, see Pamela Fragnoli, Sara Tiziana Levi, Daniele Brunelli: Investigations into the intra- and inter-insular circulation of Bronze Age ceramics in the Aeolian Archipelago (Messina, Sicily, Italy) using petrography and geochemistry. In: Britta Ramminger, Ole Stilborg (eds.): Scientific Analyses of Pre- and Protohistoric Ceramics II. Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 2012, pp. 159–178 (with further literature references on earlier research by John L. Williams, on which the study is based). To a lesser extent, pottery in the Capo Graziano style was also produced on the Sicilian peninsula near Milazzo and in the region of the Tropea promontory in Calabria. The latter made up about 20% of the pottery found on Stromboli. Pottery produced at Milazzo was found in small quantities on Filicudi, while the island itself exported larger amounts of undecorated utility ware to Milazzo and decorated pottery to Stromboli, which also produced its own pottery in Capo Graziano style in small quantities.

Glass Industry

Starting from the Capo Graziano I period, glass was used as a raw material for ornaments on the Aeolian Islands. The glass used was imported from the eastern Mediterranean region in the form of flat slabs and then further processed in local workshops. The first finds of imported glass ornaments on the Aeolian Islands are from the late phase of Capo Graziano I and are therefore among the oldest of their kind in the central Mediterranean.

Rites of the Dead

The settlement of Capo Graziano on Filicudi, along with the adjacent settlements on Salina and Lipari, was explored as early as the beginning of the 20th century by the then-priest of Lipari, Bernabò Brea, who discovered numerous burials. Some of these contained grave goods such as pottery vessels, which were used during the Capo Graziano culture as urns for cremations and were buried in urn fields. Unlike the settlement on Panarea, where no cemeteries from the Capo Graziano culture have been found so far, graves of the Capo Graziano culture have been discovered on Stromboli, but here, due to the lack of significant finds and the limited scope of the explorations, no precise conclusions could be drawn.

References