Archaeologists have discovered important new clues about the early expansion of Homo sapiens into the Mediterranean islands, with underwater cave sites in southern Sicily revealing insights about the timing and mode of migration. This research sheds light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the earliest human presence on the island, which is considered one of the earliest in the region to be permanently occupied.
Italy Revealed: The Coastal Caves of Sicily
The work was conducted by a team of scientists at Washington University in St. Louis and examines coastal and underwater cave sites located on the southern coast of Sicily. The sites, first recorded from the 1870s to the 1990s but in many examples lost to science as they succumbed to damage over time, could yield important clues about early human settlement on our island.
Its move to relocate and study these, as well as to produce fresh incursions into previously untested coastal areas have already helped identify three new sites with apparent archaeological sediments. ‘As assistant professor of archaeology Ilaria Patania explains, “What we are looking for is not just the first person who arrived but the first community. The time of first settlement of Sicily is crucial to compare with what would be inferred from the pattern and mode of early spread in the Mediterranean for Homo sapiens.
Protection of the Sicilian Coast: Coping With Environmentalfactors
Sicily sits off the ‘toe’ of Italy’s boot and has always been a key gateway for human migration. Its proximity to mainland Italy — less than two miles — also suggests that the crossing would have been daunting for these early adventurers. Moreover, one of the reasons why in antiquity sailors were often frightened to go through a strait between Sicily and Italy (Strait of Messina), was because there are very strong waves and whirlpools.
“If we go into the cities, which also feel the crisis like everyone else, it’s even worse,” he continues “There are people who take advantage of you but in a different way; they flatter you verbally because they have nothing to give. I come from Sicily and here (pointing at sea) from little people tells each other ‘the sea can be a great resource but never turn your back on the sea.” The ocean is a treacherous place. This knowledge offers vital insight into the island’s coastal ecosystem, which forms an important part of the research being carried out by his team, who are investigating how early humans managed these ‘peripheral environments’ and learned to adapt to potential challenges such as climate change or introduction of new animals.
Building an Archaeological Puzzle with the First Settlers of Sicily
Compared with Siberia, to which humans had traveled via land 30,000 years earlier, according to evidence gathered since the last glacial maximum (LGM), the earliest solid indications of human presence in Sicily date back “only” 16,000 years after LGM. However scholars then speculated that humans might have reached Sicily much earlier than currently estimated.
The new research tries to fill in some of the gaps by investigating the probable routes and behaviors that could have shaped human migration to Madagascar at this early time. Our work on the southern coast of Sicily, previously neglected by scholars, offers new ‘terrain to study,’ provides an opportunity to ‘rethink migration pathways among these earliest modern human ancestors.’ But as the research continues, the team intends to assemble much more than just a chronology of human occupation; they also hope to reconstruct the circumstances in which these people lived and how they responded to natural events, such as earthquakes, changes in climate—perhaps even volcanic eruptions.
