MARSALA – The preventive archaeological excavations for the reconstruction of the Marsala sewer network bring to light, in via De Gasperi, the extraordinary remains of two inviolate underground chambers containing the funerary equipment and the remains of buried bodies. To these exceptional finds are added about 50 tombs, located at a lesser depth, most likely referable to a Punic necropolis. The most significant findings concern two underground chambers, found at a depth ranging from five to eight meters above street level.
The first hypogeum, presumably datable to a first survey around the middle of the 4th century BC, has two quadrangular funerary chambers of about four square meters, in which the remains of five buried bodies, three adults and two children, were found. the relative funerary equipment consisting of some vases and small metal objects dating back to the mid-4th century BC. It is a hypogeum with access to a rectangular well measuring 0.66×2.04 m.
The second hypogeum looks like a multi-level structure in which different architectural and use phases can be recognized, which seem to cover a time span of at least seven centuries. A first large rectangular room of about 35 square meters seems to be the result of the expansion and union, carried out in Roman times (around the 2nd century AD), of pre-existing Punic burials from the 4th-3rd century BC.
This second hypogeum has a series of burials carved out along the walls: in particular, six coffered tombs, eight niches and eight quadrangular niches have been found. Two of the coffered tombs have preserved remains of burials inside, while the six rectangular pit tombs have been excavated directly on the floor of the burial chamber.
The discovery, inside, of ceramic material and of figured and stamped lamps, as well as of various buried ones, suggests a use from the II to the IV / V century AD with a first phase of Jewish cult and a second Christian one. In the most superficial part – at a depth ranging from a minimum of 50 centimeters to a maximum of 3.40 m with respect to the road level – about 50 well tombs and rectangular pit graves of an average size of 0 m were found. 45×1.75 arranged with variable orientation NS and EO, which seem to refer to the Punic necropolis of the IV-III century BC.
«That of Marsala is a discovery of the highest archaeological value – underlines the councilor of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, Aberto Samonà – and it gives us the opportunity to reiterate how vast and wonderful the heritage hidden underground is. The preventive excavation activity, carried out throughout Sicily under the supervision of the Superintendencies of Cultural Heritage, has delivered extraordinary finds in recent months, confirming how important the control of the territory is especially in the investigation phase that precedes the construction of the building works. . The discoveries of Marsala, on which the necessary investigations are underway, give us unpublished pieces of a territory that still has a lot to add to the reconstruction of our history ».
“To the regional government that I represent – says the commissioner Samonà – the task of creating the conditions so that these findings are not the final moment of an activity but represent the first page of a new book that enhances the history and identity of places “.
«These exceptional finds – say the Superintendent of Trapani, Mimma Fontana, and the archaeologist Giuseppina Mammina – give us an untouched part of the ancient necropolis. The two underground chambers add precious material that will be the subject of in-depth analysis and analysis and thanks to which we will be able to learn more about the historical fabric of the city of Marsala ».
The works – commissioned by Sogesid Spa, with the executing firm Venezia Srl in compliance with the prescriptions dictated by the Superintendence for Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Trapani, which is carrying out in-depth investigations – are carried out under the scientific direction of the archaeologist Giuseppina Mammina and they are conducted in the field by Sharon Sabatini (SAMA Archaeological Excavations) and by Sebastiano Muratore, archaeologist of the executing firm. The workers Joan Sararu, Giuseppe Amodeo, Mirko Genna and Riccardo Ingarra contributed to the precious excavation work.