Thapsos — Mycenaean Emporium
Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 BCE)·Sikels with Mycenaean contact·🇮🇹 Sicily, Italy
About
About Thapsos — Mycenaean Emporium
Thapsos — Mycenaean Emporium in Sicily, Italy is a Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 BCE) ancient-city attributed to Sikels with Mycenaean contact. Peninsula emporium with Mycenaean pottery (200+ vessels), beehive tholos tombs and chamber tombs. Three necropoleis with shaft graves and tholoi, Aegean imports, type-site for Thapsos culture.
Why it mattersType-site for Sikels with Mycenaean contact ancient-city studies
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Phasing sequence
- 02Function and cult identity
Theories
- 01Panhellenic competition centre
- 02Colonial foundation model
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. 1500 BCE
- Period
- Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 BCE)
- Culture
- Sikels with Mycenaean contact
- Purpose
- Peninsula emporium with Mycenaean pottery (200+ vessels), beehive tholos tombs and chamber tombs
- Excavation
- Excavated
c. 1500 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1880 CE
Systematic excavation
On the ground
Structures & features
37.1530° N · 15.2310° E · 10 m · 3 mapped features
Thapsos — Mycenaean Emporium — Agora / Forum
agoraPublic square and stoa
37.1532° N · 15.2311° EThapsos — Mycenaean Emporium — Circuit Walls
wallsCity wall circuit and gates
37.1528° N · 15.2312° EThapsos — Mycenaean Emporium — Sanctuary Quarter
sanctuaryTemple or shrine quarter
37.1535° N · 15.2308° E