The place
The last room of the museum itinerary displays artifacts from sites in the province of Caltanissetta.
Along the middle course of the Platani River, a privileged route for penetrating the island's hinterland, the Neolithic settlement of Milena–Serra del Palco was identified, which yielded engraved gray pottery and fragments with trichromatic painted decoration. Another important find consists of two painted Mycenaean fragments, which were discovered inside a tomb carved into the rock with a tholos vault, typical of Mycenaean culture, which was not isolated in the area if we consider the finds at Sant'Angelo Muxaro.
Vassallaggi, near San Cataldo, identified with the foundation of Motyon, is certainly one of the most important centers of the gradual “Hellenization” of the territory behind the two largest poleis on the southern coast of Sicily, Gela and Akrágas, constituting an important commercial hub between the courses of the Platani and southern Imera rivers and, therefore, between the two shores of the Sicilian and Tyrrhenian channels. The fortifications of the 6th century BC have been unearthed, together with a sanctuary dedicated to the chthonic deities and a residential area, as well as several areas used as necropolises in the Archaic and Classical periods. In addition to the artifacts from the sanctuary (vv. 116-117: note the bust of a deity) and the settlement (v.115; in particular the discovery of part of a clay doll, which must have been completed with movable limbs that have not been found), much of the exhibition is dedicated to the southern necropolis, characterized by burials in sarcophagi; however, there is also the rite of cremation and, for newborns, that of burial in enchytrismos, i.e., inside ceramic containers.
The materials found show complete adherence to Greek cultural heritage in the choice of vases to be included in the grave goods, which, especially in the second half of the 5th century BC, came almost exclusively from Hellenic factories. The male tombs are characterized by the presence of a krater and a knife, a strigil, and containers for ointments; while female tombs contain smaller vessels, especially lekythoi and oinochoai, together with ointment jars and objects related to body care and cosmetics (alabastra, pyxes, mirrors, small knives, and iron spatulas).
Near Mussomeli is the site of Monte Raffe, at the confluence of two tributaries of the Platani, which in the 6th century BC entered the sphere of expansion of Akrágas, as happened with Vassallaggi, probably thanks to the policy of subjugation and control of the internal territory by the tyrant Phalaris. A small sanctuary outside the city walls has been uncovered, which votive statuettes have allowed to be attributed to the cult of the chthonic deities (clay statuettes of aulos players and Artemis known as ‘Sicula’), as well as the classical and Hellenistic settlement, located on the hill, where dwellings partly carved into the rock have been found.
