The Agora Valley Project at Morgantina, Sicily: Report on the 2023 Field Season (20 min)

Presenters

William Pedrick, Princeton University; Alex Moskowitz, University of Michigan; Andrea Samz-Pustol, Bryn Mawr College; Kevin Ennis, Indiana University Bloomington; Phoebe Thompson, University of Pennsylvania; Christy Schirmer, Tulane University; Anne Truetzel, Davidson College; and Alex Walthall, University of Texas

Abstract

This paper presents results from the first excavations of the Agora Valley Project (AVP), a new, long-term research project conducted under the auspices of the American Excavations at Morgantina. The area under investigation, known as the Southwest Temenos, is in the lower agora of the classical and Hellenistic city. Two primary goals inform the AVP excavations. First, the Southwest Temenos was partially excavated in the 1960s, but the space, its design, and its function are not well understood. Past work revealed a peribolos wall and the western portions of several monumental structures that have tentatively been associated with religious activity. The AVP excavations return to the Southwest Temenos to reveal its full architectural layout and to clarify the chronology of its construction and its likely functions. Second, our understanding of occupation in the agora and contemporary public life in the second and first centuries B.C.E. at Morgantina remains nebulous. Systematic excavations inside the temenos may reveal some of the last undisturbed stratigraphy associated with the period of Roman occupation inside the civic center. The 1960s excavations that first identified the temenos yielded a striking quantity of Roman period ceramics, perhaps even at the foundations of the peribolos wall.

In 2023, excavations focused on clarifying the extent of partially excavated structures and identifying preserved stratigraphy associated with the space’s occupation. This work revealed a number of previously unknown interior spaces, evidence of multiple construction phases, and a small limestone sculpture of a nude male figure holding a bird. Among the findings, the most noteworthy is an independent structure (ca. 8.5 m × 6 m) with a prostyle porch that resembles a naiskos, potentially confirmation of early impressions of the space’s religious function. This paper outlines the season’s work and preliminary results from material analyses, and concludes with a discussion of our evolving goals and strategies for upcoming seasons.