About the project

The Project

The Departments of Archaeology at York and Rome 2 (Tor Vergata) began a joint research project in 2014 investigating the Byzantine-Arabic-Norman- Swabian transition (sixth to thirteenth centuries AD) in Sicily, with special focus on changes in social structure, agriculture and trade. Assemblages from previous excavations, Survey in four parts of the island and new investigations at Castronovo di Sicilia provide our data.

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The Team

The project is directed by Alessandra Molinari (Rome) and Martin Carver (York) with the collaboration of Girolamo Fiorentino (Salento) and the support of Stefano Vassallo of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali di Palermo.

We are grateful to the Mayor, Commune and people of Castronovo for their warm and valued support.

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Title

The title of the Project is The archaeology of Regime Change: Sicily in Transition abbreviated to the acronym SICTRANSIT. The ERC action number is 693600.

Aims

The project's purpose is to explore the changes of demography, agricultural production and trade of Sicily through five successive regimes.

These are:

Byzantine—Greek speaking Christian imperial power based at Constantinople (Byzantium, now Istanbul), active in Sicily 6-8th century with a headquarters at Syracuse Aghlabid—Arabic speaking Islamic North African power of the Abbasid (Sunni) confederation based at Baghdad in Iraq, gaining control of Sicily in the 9th century and making its headquarters at Palermo

Kalbid—Arabic speaking Islamic North African Fatimid (Shi'ite) power based at Cairo in Egypt, exercising control over Sicily in the 10-11th century from a principal base at Palermo.

Norman—Latin/French speaking Christian power from Northern Europe exercising control over Sicily and southern Italy 11th to 12th century from a capital at Palermo (Roger II).

Swabian—Latin/German speaking Christian power from Germany exercising control over Sicily and much of Italy in 12th-13th century with its Sicilian base at Palermo (Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick II).

Sources and Method

Figure 1: Our sources. 1. Agrigento (5th-7th) 2. Castronovo, Monte Kassar (7th-9th), San Vitale (9th-11th) 3. Castronovo, San Pietro (6th-13th) 4. Catania, Chiesa di Sant'Agata (8th) 5. Contrada Colmitella (7th-13th) 6. Contrada Sant'Agata (5th-6th) 7. Entella (11th-13th) 8. Mazara del Vallo (10th-14th) 9. Palermo, Castello San Pietro (9th-10th) 10. Monte Maranfusa (12th-13th) 11. Palermo Town (9th-13th) 12. Piazza Armerina (10th-12th) Rocchicela de Mineo (9th) Segesta/Calatabarbaro (12th-13th) 15. Segesta (13th) San Vito Lo Capo (12th-13th) 17. Sofiana (7th-9th)

Figure 2: Overall structure of research

Figure 3: Timetable

The team

The team is deployed as follows:

At York: Martin Carver (PI), Ol Craig (Organic residue analysis and co-ordination), Jane Thomas-Oates (organic residue analysis), Michelle Alexander (stable isotope analysis), Camilla Speller (aDNA analysis), Veronica Aniceti (animal remains), Malin Holst (human remains), Helen Goodchild (geophysics), Neil Gevaux (digital media), Madeleine Hummler (publication).

At Rome: Alessandra Molinari (Co-director of Research, ceramics), Vivien Prigent (coins and seals), Emanuele Vaccaro (survey), Paola Orrechioni (sample management), Claudio Mangiaracina (ceramics). At Lecce: Girolamo Fiorentino (palaoecology), Milena Primavera (plant remains)For contacts see DIRECTORY below; other staff will be added when appointed.

We have an advisory panel who help to frame programmes and interpret results: Stefano Vassalo (Soprintendenza dei Beni Culturali, Palermo), Lucia Arcifa (Professor of Archaeology at Catania), Annliese Nef, Université de Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Chris Wickham (Professor of History, University of Oxford), Eduardo Manzano (Centro de Ciencas Humanas y Sociales, Madrid), Giuseppe Barbera (University of Palermo).

Administration. Each University (York, Rome TV, Salento) has a separate contract with ERC. The co-ordinating manager is Jo Tozer (York).

CONTACTS

PI:

Rome:

Rome:

Bioarchaeology—York:

Bioarchaeology—York:

Lecce:

Website:

Advisors

Lucia Arcifa

(Catania)

Guiseppe Barbera

(Palermo)

Eduardo Manzano

(Madrid)

Annliese Nef

(Paris)

Stefano Vassallo

(Palermo)

Chris Wickham

(Oxford)

Directors

Martin Carver (York)

PI

Alessandra Molinari (Rome)

Co-director

Adminsitrative Support

Jo Tozer

Co-ordinating manager

York

Ol Craig (BioArCh)

Organic residue analysis

Michelle Alexander (BioArCh)

Stable isotope analysis

Camilla Speller (BioArCh)

aDNA analysis

Jane Thomas-Oates

Analytical Chemistry

Malin Holst

Human remains

Veronica Aniceti

Animal Bone

Helen Goodchild

Geophysics

Madeleine Hummler

Editor

Jasmine Lundy

(ORA)

Léa Drieu

(ORA)

Aurore Monnereau

Alice Ughi

(Stable Isotopes)

Rome

Vivien Prigent

Coins and seals

Paola Orrechioni

Records

Francesca Colangeli

Glass and Metal

Antonino Meo

Ceramics

Salento

Girolamo Fiorentino

Palaeoecology

Milena Primavera

Plant Remains

Public Engagement

Images from the York Festival of Ideas (click to enlarge)

Publications and Communication

Publications

2015 Molinari, Alessandra. "Islamisation" and the Rural World: Sicily and al-Andalus. What kind of archaeology? in Sauro Gelichi and Richard Hodges (eds) New Directions in Early Medieval European Archaeology: Spain and Italy compared. Essays for Riccardo Francovich (Brepols), 187-220.

2016 Molinari, Alessandra. Fortified and Unfortified Settlements in Byzantine and Islamic Sicily: 6th to 11th centuries. In Neil Christie and Hajnalka Herold (eds) Fortified Settlements in Early Medieval Europe. Defended Communities of the 8th to 10th century (Oxford: Oxbow), 320-332.

2016 Carver, Martin and Molinari, Alessandra. Sicily in Transition Research Project. Investigations at Castrononovo di Sicilia. Results and Prospects, 2015 FASTI ONLINE http://www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2016-352.pdf

2017 Carver, Martin and Molinari, Alessandra. Ricerche 2016 a Castronovo di Sicilia. Siciliy in Transition (Progetto ERC advance grant 2016-693600) Notizario Archeologico Soprintendenza Palermo, n.23/2017 https://sicilia.academia.edu/NotiziarioArcheologicoSoprintendenzaPalermo

2018 Carver, Martin, Molinari, Alessandra, Aniceti, Veronica, Colangeli, Francesca, Giannini, Nicoletta, Giovannini, Fabio, Hummler, Madeleine, Mangiaracina, Caludio F, Meo, Antonino and Orecchioni, Paola. Sicily in Transition. Interim report of investigations at Castronovo di Sicilia 2016 FASTI ONLINE http://www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2018-412.pdf

In Preparation/in Press

2016 Carver, Martin. Public works and Private lives: Sicily in transition between four regimes (British Museum)?

2017 Meo, Antonino and Paola Orecchioni. Proceedings of the Rome Amphorae Conference?

2017 Molinari, Alessandra. Ardizzone Festschrift

2018 Carver, Martin. The Norman impact in Sicily and in England compared

Events

2018

3 February Islamic Archaeology Day Institute of Archaeology UCL—Get tickets at Eventbrite

16 March Research Seminar at King's Manor York—16:15, Lecture Theatre K133

June Palermo archaeozoology

16 June Festival of Ideas Sictransit—Public Event King's Manor 10:00-14:00

July Leeds IMC sictransit

20 Aug—30 Sep FIELDWORK SEASON 2018

Recent Presentations

2017

10 March Oxford Student Conference Sicily in Transition (Martin)

11 March Oxford Conference on Movement and Conflict

1 July Oxford Conference on Normans in the South (Alessandra)

5 Oct Castronovo di Sicilia Presentation to the town (Alessandra and Martin)

6 Nov Cambridge University Sicily in Transition (Martin)

16 Nov French School in Rome, amphora conference. Sictrans ORA programme (Ol Craig, Lea Drieu)

8 Dec University of York Norman workshop. Normans in Sicily (Martin)

14 Dec University of Newcastle on Tyne. Sictransit (Martin)

20 Dec University of Hull. Sictransit (Martin)

2016

25 June British Museum Conference on Sicily Culture and Conquest

12 May Palermo Press Conference

28 August Castronovo

22 September Castronovo

Communication

The project website is sicilyintransition.org, which connects to the home websites of the participating institutions; Twitter feed is @sicarch; and the Facebook page is sicilyintransition.

The overall plan for Public impact and research impact is shown in Fig 4.

Press

Check back to find links to press articles as they become available.

I want to participate

Sictransit welcomes interest from experienced and inexperienced volunteers willing to contribute hands-on participation in our field season. The work involves picking, shovelling, trowelling, survey, surface collection, pot washing and handling finds and a certificate of attendance is given.

The season takes place at Castronovo di Sicilia in September each year, and board (5 days a week) and lodging are provided. However the project is unable to meet the costs of your travel to and from Castronovo. The nearest airport is Palermo and the nearest train station is Cammerata/San Giovanni Gemini.

The 2018 season will run from 20 August to 30 September.

If you would like to participate please email , giving an outline of your interest and any previous experience and I'll put you on the waiting list. I'll make a selection from the list in February or March and notify you all.

Social media

Contact us

You can get in touch via the following link.

If you require a certain person, please mention their name in your communication.