Archéologie et hydrogéologie. De nouvelles données concernant la gestion de l'eau dans la cité de Solonte (nord-ouest Sicile, Italie)

Abstract

Known since the sixteenth century, the site of Solonte, located on the promontory of Monte Catalfano, was searched intermittently from 1825 and intensively between the 1950s and 1960s under the direction of V. Tusa. It had uncovered a public area and living quarters, organized according to a regular plan, that the inhabitants have supplied water through a complex system of pipes and reservoirs to make the most of the environmental conditions in the area. Recent research has focused on furniture but has not addressed the issue of water management, which was quickly addressed in an archaeological guide, Solunto, published in 1994. The interdisciplinary program launched by researchers from Aix-Marseille University (Centre Camille Jullian, LAMPEA) in summer 2016 aims to shed light on the different ways in which the Solontine population adapts to its natural resources, focusing on water management. This is the first time since the first excavation campaigns of 1825 that a study combining hydrogeology, geomorphology and archaeology is conducted on this site. The inventory had revealed a supply based on a massive, even exclusive, recourse to masonry cisterns, 76 examples in the urban space, hence the common idea that the site was lacking water and was supplied only by precipitation.