DISCOVERIES IN SICILY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 150, 21 December 1929, Page 32

DISCOVERIES IN SICILY

ALTAKS AND STONE TOOLS

Discoveries which may throw important new light, on the early civilisation and religion of Sicily, before the Greek colonisation, have been made during recent excavations near Girgenti, on the site of the Greek city of Agrigentum, writes C. Martin in the "Daily Telegraph." Close to the ruined temples of Jupiter, Diana, and the Dioscuri, which show how noble must once have been the splendours of Pindar's "most beautiful city of mortals " labourers were digging holes for tree-plant-ing when they came upon a round atone structure which proved to be an altar of" the Orreek-archaic period. This discovery led to the excavation of two more altars of similar construction Ihe greatest interest, however, attaches' to certain prehistoric objects of shaped stone, and in particular to two polished stone -adzes, which have been found near the altafs>, o These implements have been approximately" dated as belonging to the .second millennium 8.C., and were evidently used in religious rites. . It is conjectured that they may have been bo, employed by the Greeks, who found _them on their arrival, and adopted them in;their own worship out of respect tor their great antiquity. But there remains the,,.most fascinating hypothesis that these: stone implements mark the spot as_lhe';.scene of religious practices in existence., before the Greeks came, and may yield some clue to the indigenous worship of the Sicilians. -

i The largest of the altars, and the first to be revealed, is about 4ft high," and consists of three circular strata o£ dressed stones, each layer somewhat thinner than the .one below it. A final layer forming the top .of the altar is missing—evidently plundered^at some early date for building purposes. . Each separate stratum is composed of^two rings, the inner of wedgeshaped stones and the outer in the form of a rim binding the whole together. The centre of the altar is hollow, the cavity being evidently the receptacle into? which worshippers dropped their votive offerings, for. it was found to be full of little statueSj'vases, and other objects. ' Further, excavation disclosed two other altars near by, both: enclosed like the first within rectangular}walls marking off the patch of ground saifred to each deity. One of these altars is very small, and is built over a natural cavity in the rock about 6ft deep, intended us a receptacle for offerings. No finds were made here, however, as the altar had been plundered, and was empty. The other, unearthed only a few feet away, revealed a rich store of statuettes, votive lamps, vases, cups/ goblets and dishes, all of earthenware.

The first altar uncovered was apparentlybuilt between 580 and 550 b.c, and dedicated to Demeter and Persephone, but the subsequent finds have not been'identified. What gives peculiar interest to the discovery is that so many altars should have been found in ( the, same place., ' Two others of similar' design were excavated' i. 1925 and 1927, making a total of five, with a sixth already located with tolerable certainty.