Flour and oil millstones coastal quarries could be used as sea level markers. Our paper examines some unpublished millstones coastal sites in southern Italy: Capo d’Orlando and Letojanni on Sicily; Soverato, Tropea and Capo dell’Armi on Calabria; Palinuro, Scario and Castellabate on Campania, San Vito-Polignano on Puglia. A review of the intended use of these artefacts shows the longevity of the cylindrical millstone with the diameter greater than one meter as a useful tool for the processing of both oil and cereals; this longevity makes it difficult to specify the chronological range of the majority of the studied sites; only one site provides an accurate chronological period of the use of the quarry: at Molare Scario (Sa), due to the presence of stratigraphic deposits radiocarbon aged. The values of depth below sea level, and the chronology of this site coincide perfectly with the point predicted by the sea level glacio-hydro-isostatic curve. Positioning on the curve points according to their depth below the sea level of the other stable sites (S. Vito di Polignano, Palinuro, Castellabate), we could calculate the possible dating of the other sites, with an inverse process to that usually applied.
Cave costiere di macine in Italia: nuove evidenze e ipotesi cronologica
Scicchitano G.;MASTRONUZZI, Giuseppe Antonio;
2013-01-01
Abstract
Flour and oil millstones coastal quarries could be used as sea level markers. Our paper examines some unpublished millstones coastal sites in southern Italy: Capo d’Orlando and Letojanni on Sicily; Soverato, Tropea and Capo dell’Armi on Calabria; Palinuro, Scario and Castellabate on Campania, San Vito-Polignano on Puglia. A review of the intended use of these artefacts shows the longevity of the cylindrical millstone with the diameter greater than one meter as a useful tool for the processing of both oil and cereals; this longevity makes it difficult to specify the chronological range of the majority of the studied sites; only one site provides an accurate chronological period of the use of the quarry: at Molare Scario (Sa), due to the presence of stratigraphic deposits radiocarbon aged. The values of depth below sea level, and the chronology of this site coincide perfectly with the point predicted by the sea level glacio-hydro-isostatic curve. Positioning on the curve points according to their depth below the sea level of the other stable sites (S. Vito di Polignano, Palinuro, Castellabate), we could calculate the possible dating of the other sites, with an inverse process to that usually applied.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
