Bronze and Iron Age settlements at Guletta in western Sicily.
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The zone between coastal and interior western Sicily contains a rich matrix of archaeological resources indicative of its changing importance and functions at various periods in history. Nowhere is this in greater evidence than along the banks of the Mazaro River, a spring-fed perennial stream that flows from the hilly western interior near modern-day Salemi for more than 25 km southwest to the Mediterranean port city of Mazara del Vallo. The inland section of the river flows in a wide and gentle valley, but as it approaches Mazara del Vallo, it cuts into shallow sandstone, forming a deep-sided gorge whose rocky outcrops have provided resources and shelter for both the living and the dead for millennia. Existing information about archaeological resources in the region indicate a diversity of archaeological sites and isolated finds from the Upper Palaeolithic to the modern era and a complex spatiotemporal relationship with the river and surrounding lands. The overall impression is one of nodes of substantial activity in the landscape at various periods in time. One of these nodes is Guletta, an area of dense multiperiod mortuary and settlement activity extending from the rocky plateau above the riverbed down to its right bank. The discovery via aerial reconnaissance of a multi-ditched structure on top of the plateau in 2003 led to the development of the Prospecting Boundaries project. This landscape-oriented research project focused on discovering new archaeological resources through integrated archaeological prospection and analysis of diverse information sources, including geophysical prospection, geoarchaeology, airborne laser scanning, targeted and total coverage aerial photography, surface survey, and archival materials. Initial evidence suggests settlement occupation from at least the Middle Bronze Age through later prehistory. Due to the diversity and scope of its archaeological resources, Guletta has the potential to serve as a focal point for the development of our understanding of activity along the Mazaro River during later pre- and protohistory. Furthermore, it has also served as a prime location for evaluating the applicability of such integrated data collection and interpretation approaches in the specific environmental context of the western Mediterranean.