Sybaris — Casa Bianca Northern Quarter Annex
Sybaris Casa Bianca North · Thurii Northern Insula
Archaic to Roman (720 BCE – 7th c. CE)·Achaean Greek / Thurian (Athenian) / Roman·🇮🇹 Calabria, Sibari Plain, Parco del Cavallo–Casa Bianca northern estate, Sibaritide, Italy
About
About Sybaris — Casa Bianca Northern Quarter Annex
1 m below modern Sibari plain, stratified as (bottom to top) 720–510 BCE Sybaris Archaic houses (stone socles, hearths, 8th c. 2 m wide, tiled roofs) and Roman Copia drains (194 BCE+) — three cities stacked vertically as at Parco del Cavallo. The annex was exposed 2019–2023 by the Sibari Plain Palaeoenvironment Project (Oxford–Calabria): magnetometry-guided test trench revealed a 510 BCE destruction horizon of carbonized timber and sling bullets, directly overlain by Thurii levelling fill with Hippodamos' orthogonal grid at +18° to Archaic orientation.
1 m alluvial seal is sterile Crati-Coscile overbank silt, waterlogging lower Sybaris timbers.
Why it mattersOnly vertically stacked triple-city horizon outside Parco del Cavallo main; Hippodamos rotation quantified at 18°; 510 BCE sling bullet destruction horizon.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether 18° Thurii rotation respected or erased Sybaris memory
- 02Sling bullets — Krotoniate vs Sybarite manufacture
Theories
- 01Thurii deliberately rotated grid to avoid Sybaris graves — symbolic erasure
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.720 BCE Sybaris; annex insula c.640 BCE
- Period
- Archaic to Roman (720 BCE – 7th c. CE)
- Culture
- Achaean Greek / Thurian (Athenian) / Roman
- Builders
- Achaean, Hippodamos' Thurian planners, Roman Copia colonists
- Purpose
- Residential insula on Parco del Cavallo estate north of main Sybaris grid
- Abandoned
- 510 BCE destruction; reoccupied 443 BCE as Thurii; faded 7th c. malaria
- Rediscovered
- Casa Bianca deep sounding 2020 annex trench; magnetometry 2019
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
720 BCE
Achaean insula founded with stone socles and well
510 BCE
Kroton sack destroys houses, carbon horizon
443 BCE
Hippodamos re-plans as Thurii insula at +18° orientation
2019
Oxford trench exposes stacked cities and sling bullets
On the ground
Structures & features
39.7238° N · 16.4855° E · 7 m · 4 mapped features
Archaic Sybaris House Socles
domestic6th c. stone socles with hearths and 8th c. well at 4.1 m depth
39.7240° N · 16.4858° EHippodamian Plateia (Thurii)
street5.2 m wide Thurian avenue rotated 18° to Archaic grid
39.7236° N · 16.4852° E510 BCE Destruction Horizon
geological markerCarbon timber and sling bullets sealing Archaic level
39.7238° N · 16.4855° ERoman Copia Drain
hydraulicTile drain cutting Thurii level, Copia 194 BCE–7th c. CE
39.7237° N · 16.4856° E