La Sapienza a Mozia 2010-2016: il primo insediamento fenicio, l'area sacra di Baal e Astarte, il tofet, la necropoli, l'abitato, i nuovi scavi alle mura. Una sintesi

Sapienza University of Rome and the Superintendence of Trapani have been carrying on a major research project on the island of Motya since year 2002. Renewed excavations, restorations and studies over 15 years produced a flow of fresh data which substantially changed the narration of the history of the island from a prominent prehistoric occupation in the first half of the second millennium BC to the Phoenician landing and development of a flourishing harbour city at the centre of the Mediterranean, until its final destruction in 397/6 BC by Dionysious of Syracuse, later surviving as seat of industrial activities and of a rural religious outpost. This paper summarizes most recent results of fieldwork and related studies, highlighting what has changed in the archaeological record, as well as in the historical interpretation.