Una cisterna di età classica a Gela: problemi cronologici e topografici

This paper investigates a bottle-shaped cistern found in the “Molino a Vento” area in Gela, with the aim of reconstructing the history of its use and the circumstances of its abandonment. Some vessels useful for drawing water, discovered at the bottom of the cistern and datable in the V century B.C., are attributed to the period of use. They are distinguished from a dumped upper filling, including many fragments of fine and coarse household potteries, transport amphorae, roof tiles and other objects. The findings from this filling are interpreted as debris from the destruction of a nearby building, very likely a private house, during the Carthaginian sack of the city in 405 B.C. The terminus ante quem has allowed the rectification of the chronology of many other similar cisterns and wells of Gela, so far attributed to the second half of the IV century B.C., namely the age of Timoleon. These findings have also suggested some significant remarks on the topography of the city during the classical and late-classical period.