Archaeobotanic investigations at the Phoenician site of Motya (Sicily, Italy)

The current research aims to reconstruct plant cultivation and plant use of the Phoenicians at Motya, a small island set along the Western Sicilian coast, through the study of macro- (seeds and charcoal) and micro-fossils (pollen) and the support of archaeological evidence. The archaeological settlement is most known for its Phoenician-Punic occupation (late 8th century B.C. – 397 B.C.), although the island is known to have been occupied by indigenous populations since the 17th century BC and continued to be inhabited also after the Siege of Motya by Dionysus I of Syracuse (397/6 B.C.), despite not recovering its former importance. The first stage of the present project consists in the study of a disposal pit (whose use is roughly ascribed to the 7th century B.C.) found in the D area, along the slopes of the acropolis. The carpological remains have allowed to obtain information about the diet of the inhabitants of the island and about the surrounding environment, while the anthracological remains complete this image and provide data regarding plant use. The environmental reconstruction is enriched by the study of pollen.