Pottery classification and contextual analysis at the beginning of the Bronze Age: the Hut F in the village of Filo Braccio (Filicudi, Aeolian Islands)

Abstract

The beginning of the Bronze Age in the Aeolian islands is marked by the Capo Graziano facies. The village of Filo Braccio represents the oldest phase of occupation of the archipelago in the Bronze Age. The settlement of Filo Braccio in Filicudi (Aeolian Islands) was the subject of archaeological investigations since 1959 (Bernabò Brea, Cavalier 1991a) and then resumed in 2009 (Martinelli et alii 2010) and in 2013. Several huts, named A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L were investigated. They are groups of oval-shaped huts with attached open-air spaces for agricultural and work activities. Three households were identified: A-B-C; F-H; D-G-I-L. The analysis of the hut F represents an analytical study of the nucleus of a household of this complex settlement, inhabited for about five hundred years, during which it can be supposed the succession of at least ten generations. Here the authors decided to edit part of the archaeological excavation on the F hut, to expose pottery chronotypology and deepen the study of the Capo Graziano facies. The four horizons that Bernabò Brea claimed in one of his papers (Bernabò Brea 1982, pp. 12-13) expressed the need for a further scanning within the facies and provided useful ideas for its development. This higher focus on the chronological sequence is today possible thanks to the data that emerged from the recent excavations on the islands. The sequence of Capo Graziano facies in the Aeolian Islands presented by Luigi Bernabò Brea was based mainly on two typological elements: decoration and profile of the bowls. The absence of decoration in the most complex schemes is common in the site of Filo Braccio where, however, some drawings related to the sea, zigzag and boats rarely occur, the latter almost exclusively represented by a unique cup with marine scene. In the other sites of the Aeolian archipelago, the decorative motifs are comparable with each other and fall in the style that will become dominant in the final stage, when the villages shelter on high peaks. The first consideration that has emerged since the resumption of the investigation in the village, is that it was the island of Filicudi the first place to have “landed” the Capo Graziano people. Even considering the other settlements in the archipelago known so far and the distinctive characteristic changes of this facies from an island to another, no other settlement similar to Filo Braccio is known. The location on the coast, the long duration of the occupation (Martinelli et alii 2010; Martinelli 2016) from 2300 to 1700 BC, the absence of decoration in the typical style of pottery, the hut distribution within the site, all of this makes it a settlement in its own right. The hut F, whose internal chronological probably covers a span of about 150 years, is a significant case study: the three stages of life of the structure and pottery types have been compared both vertically in the internal stratigraphy, both horizontally (distribution areas) and with the materials of the structures A, B, C, D, E investigated in 1959. From a historical perspective, Hut F may be located in the early stages of occupation of the village and at an early stage of the culture of Capo Graziano, definitely parallelizable with the phases of the D and E huts, partly with the structures A, B and C and also with the funeral caves of Montagnola. For what to concern the contexts outside of Filicudi, some comparisons are possible with the necropolis of Diana in Lipari, with the village of San Vincenzo in Stromboli and with the Villaggio dei Cipressi in Milazzo. The hut F was inhabited during two main phases: the oldest one (phase 1) and the latest one (phase 2). After the collapse, the area of the structure was still used but no longer as dwelling (phase 3). Between phase 1 and 2 there are differences in the structural elements and in the use of space. For pottery types, there were two main shape indicators: the bowl and the jar. The jars are widespread in all the phases of the hut and in all the Aeolian sites of Capo Graziano facies. Some features indicate the differences between phases: - The rounded bowls (type 4) are present at all stages, but both 4A and 4B prevail in the phases 1-2 - The careened bowls (type 5) are present at all stages but it is possible to reconstruct an evolution that leads from the prevalence of type 5A in the phase 1 to the one of the type 5B (pronounced hull and throat) in steps 2-3 -The pedestal vase (type 12), although represented in all phases, is present to a lesser extent in the phase 1. -The incised decorative motifs are rare and consist of lines in a zigzag pattern somewhat irregular, but the boat depiction appears since the phase 1. We can finally show some correlation elements with other cultural and geographic sites: - The presence of the pedestal vase (a local production) is widespread in the Sicilian culture of Malpasso-Chiusazza at the end of the Copper Age. - The presence during phase 3 of a “sway-backed” handle, that recalls the Messina-Ricadi facies in the Strait of Messina. - The local manufacture of pithoi, exported to Milazzo and Tindari. Essential part of the work was the analysis of the pottery materials for areal distribution, integrated as much as possible with the functional analysis linked to the shapes. The results will in future be crossed with the data obtained from the analysis of other classes of materials and with the other huts of the village still being studied, for an overall functional reading. It is important to note that throughout the settlement, as in the case of the hut F, there are no traces of violent destruction or sudden abandonment or fire. In addition, the large amount of materials recorded, especially in the US 21, excludes an abandonment of the structures with the removal of vessels. Inside the hut, it was possible to locate pottery distribution that assumes a partial division of space, reserving the conservation function to the South area and near the North wall. The central area must instead be used for consumption and preparation of food. On the West side, near the entrance, there was a space bordered by a vertical slab, used during phase 1 as a hearth and then as space for storage, with different vessels including a big pithos. During this long period of Capo Graziano facies, human communities spread to other islands resulting in an increase of the population. Filicudi probably, despite having been the first cultural focus, will remain the most isolated and linked to the local craft traditions, not fully acquiring the elaborate decorative motifs of Lipari and Milazzo settlements. The volunteer break of the cup (Martinelli et alii 2010; Martinelli 2015), engraved with a marine scene, took place at the end of life of the F hut. Symbolically, it concludes a presumably more peaceful period before the settlement shift on the Montagnola.