Rappresentazioni Naturalistiche Nella Ceramica del Bronzo Antico Siciliano: Il Caso di Grotte di Marineo (Licodia Eubea, Catania)

The pottery production of Castelluccio phase (Early Bronze Age 2200-1450 BC) is mainly characterized by a schematic painted decoration with basic geometric motifs combined in multiple patterns. This peculiar decorative frame does not include any depiction of natural ele-ments, as men, animals or nature. The identification of two Castelluccian vessels, coming from the 1988-1989 excavations at the site of Grotte di Marineo (Licodia Eubea, Catania), with extraordinary figurative scenes brings new light to this neglected stylistic feature of Sicilian Early Bronze Age pottery. The analysis of the two examples from Grotte di Marineo and the discussion of the few known parallels seems to suggest the presence of a sort of ‘naturalistic style’ in the Castelluccio pottery alternative to the common ‘geometric style’, the chro-nology of which is unfortunately hard to be defined in the continuum of the Castelluccio culture.