EDIFICI PREISTORICI, RIOCCUPAZIONI MEDIEVALI: PER UNA ANALISI DELL’ANAKTORON DI PANTALICA

The so called Anaktoron of Pantalica (Sortino, Rg, Sicily) is a monumental building excavated by Orsi and dated by him to the prehistoric period (due to vases of the Pantalica Nord style, bronzes and moulds) with a reoccupation in the medieval period (due to a destruction layer with tiles). It has been considered one of the most interesting evidence of Aegean influence in Italy until at least 1993, when an article by A. Messina proposed that the prehistoric pottery was preceding the building, and dated the Anaktoron to the medieval period. Later, Leighton (2011) considered improbable that a so long span of time had elapsed between the first and the second occupation, accepting the hypothesis by Messina. This article tries to review the evidence. An architectonic and topographic survey of the building area suggests in fact that a direct relationship should exist between the prehistoric layers and the walls of Room A (the most recent of the building). The Anaktoron is therefore to be dated to the prehistoric period, so that one can accept the conclusions reached by Cultraro (2015) in his revision of the pottery from Bernabò Brea excavations: the building was built between the end of the Sicilian Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Final Bronze Age. Evidence of use exists until at least the VII century b.C., whereas its reoccupation should start in the V-VI century A.D., with its final destruction, , due the typology of tiles described by Orsi, being no later than the beginning of the VIII century A.D. In this way, the chronological gap between the first and the second phase is reduced. Once the prehistoric dating of the Anaktoron is accepted, the author carries on a functional analysis, based also on inner circulatory patterns, confirming the different functions of this huge construction, with a “public” sector (storerooms, areas for communal food consumption) including a foundry, and a “private” sector. The analysis of technique and planning, with many comparisons with Mycenaean architecture of the late XIII century, demonstrate an import of know-how from Mainland Greece, but with a strong influence of local traditions.