THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURES OF THE LAMEZIAN PLAIN, FIRST INHABITED BY THE GREEKS

The plain of S.Eufemia is becomingone of the most interesting areas, from the archaeological point of view, even for the period prior to Greek colonization. Nevertheless, there haven’t been systematic excavations nor specific research in this field, not counting the work done in the 1960s by Dario Leone, who discovered the "Casella di Maida"--a dwelling in Maida--belonging to a very ancient culture stemming from the early Paleolithic age, which was confirmed and evaluated in the years 1980-1981 through the systematic exploration conducted by Professor Gambessini of the University of Siena).

Casella di Maida: Archaeological excavation
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Nevertheless, different periods have yielded casual finds that have brought to light many objects of flint and obsidian that bear positive evidence of numerous Neolithic camps. From these objects (chisels, scrapers, spindles, and blades) archaeologists have tried to establish precise dates through by studying of their layering. The characteristics and peculiarities of their work indicate a presence of these Stone Age camps in various zones of the Lamezian territory, confirming the presence of human habitation long before the coming of the Greeks.

Casella di Maida: Stone Age industry of the Upper Archaic Paleolithic period

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The fact that the obsidian came from the island of Lipari proclaims the existence on the Plain of centers for the working of precious primary materials. The discovery of spindles and pieces of round stone from a loom, suitably pierced, confirms the working of textiles on the Plain of S. Eufemia as well as an agriculture that was well under way, albeit still at a primitive level. And in that very place, presumably during the bronze age---as Dario Leone maintains from the start in his “La Calabria nella preistoria” (“Calabria in Prehistory”—see the photo to the side)—there occurred a union of prehistoric people, called italic people (Siculi or Ausoni or Morgeti), and also a change from a nomadic pastoral economy to one of stable agriculture leading to a political constitution guided by the mythical Italus, the legislator about whom Aristotle wrote.

Besides these Neolithic traces, many other archaeological finds (utensils, tombs, remains of walls, vessels, coins), which were discovered prior to the Superintendency's recent excavations that brought to light the remains of Terina, are clear signs of great local vitality during the Brutian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Norman ages.