About Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is an island to the southwest of the Italian peninsula. At more than 9,920 square miles, it is the largest island in the Mediterranean. Due to its position at the crossroads of Europe and North Africa, and between the eastern and western Mediterranean, the island was a land of conquest until modern times. People as diverse as the Phoenicians (who developed commercial networks), the Greeks and Romans (who built important towns), the Arabs (who introduced new architectural models for agriculture), and the Normans, the Swabians and the Spanish (who built Gothic and Baroque Christian churches), all contributed to the culture and history of Sicily. Thanks to this rich history and material culture, the island is brimming with amazing sites. We were invited by the Sicilian authorities to excavate in the Belice Valley, which is located in southwest Sicily and is home to a variety of small sites that have yet to be excavated from the Late Bronze Age to the Medieval Period. These sites were home to Phoenicians, Mycenaeans, Greeks, Romans, and Early Christians.

Excavations

During the summer of 2014, students from the Institute of Archaeology at Andrews University initiated a new excavation in western Sicily, exploring the emergence of early Christianity there. According to the book of Acts, Paul landed at Syracuse on the eastern shore of Sicily and it is thought that Christianity spread from there. Andrews doctoral students conducted new excavations at a Roman village at San Miceli (Salemi) that was occupied during the critical transition time when Romans adopted the new faith. The Andrews team excavated a significant building at San Miceli from this important time period; in the same ancient village they also uncovered the ruins of possibly the earliest Christian basilica on the island.*

Andrews returned to San Miceli (Salemi) in the summers of 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Future Plans

Andrews University Institute of Archaeology plans to continue excavating at San Miceli, Salemi, Sicily in the summer of 2019. If you are interested in joining us, please go the the Participate page for more information.

See also our partnership with University of Geneva on the Lilybaeum Archaeological Project: Excavations in the Archaeological Park of Marsala.

Personnel

Senior Staff

Dr. Randall Younker, Senior Project Director
Dr. Elisabeth Lesnes, Sicilian and Medieval Archaeology Expert (San Miceli, Salemi)
Dr. Alessia Mistretta,Classical and Medieval History and Archaeology Expert (Lilybaeum)
Dr. Giorgia Lanzarone, Ceramics
Dr. Theodore Burgh, Roman Road Survey
Dr. Karen Borstad, Roman Road Survey