The modern town of Licodia Eubea on the eastern slope of a hill in the high DRILLO VALLEY was the site of an indigenous centre, which entertained intensive and continuous exchanges with the Greek colonies of SouthEast Sicily. This was also due to the particular geographical setting of the site, at the crossroads of important routes leading into the territory of the CHALCIDIAN colonies (especially LEONTINO and CATANIA).
The figures of the pottery form the burials, as well as the large group of non-Greek inscriptions from the surroundings territory, indicate that the native inhabitants outnumbered the Creek/colonial settlers. Thus the site cannot be identified with EUBOIA, the sub-colony of LEONTINOI, mentioned by the Herocotus (7,136) and Strabo (?, 2,? 10, 1,13).
The habitation site must have stood on the southern part of the summit and along the slopes of the castle hill, as shown by the surface finds collected by Orsi all over the area. However, so far there is no data on its organisation and chronological phases, except for a few bits of walls with associated pottery dated between the 6th and 4th centuries BC found in 1945 near the Municipal House.
The evidence of the organisation of this centre is thus limited to the finds from the cemetery explored repeatedly by Orsi, on the slopes of the CALVARIO hill, in the locality FERRIERA. According to Orsi, it was "a single vast necropolis� over CA. 3/4 of a square kilometre which pertains to a large agglomeration."
The tombs include mostly multiple burials and are dug in the soft limestone. Their plans are fairly varied. The prevailing type is the one "A PROZZETTO" (ie entered through a pit), with square chamber and flat or gabled ceiling, with benches along the walls, used as funerary beds. In some of the tombs, a "DROMOS" (or access corridor) replaces the pit.
A few of them, however, have a very articulated plan, such as the one in the ORTA DELLA SIGNORA, with side chambers and a central gallery, or the tombs at CALVARIO hill, where the chamber is preceded by a vestibule open to the sky plus an atrium with benches and a narrow corridor. Also noteworthy is the HYPOGEAN TOMB in VIA PROVIDENZA made of a rectangular chamber with internal partition, flanked by small chambers and a small elliptical cella on the SouthEast.
The grave goods include finds mostly form the 6th century BC, down to the first decades of the 5th. There are both Greek imported and local wares, with a predominance of the latter, although influenced by Greek models. The decorative motifs (vertical lines, metopal arrangements, bands) are those already popular in the preceding FINOCCHITO phase (8th - 6th Century BC). The common shapes are two handled amphorae, hydrial, oinochoa), and large pans with thickened rims.
Sources of the shapes (the large askoi with low shoulders) are typical of the 'facies' of Licodia Eubea are found in other contemporary cemeteries of Southern Sicily, similar types to tombs are to be found in the cemeteries which Orsi defined as "suburban" such as the one at SCIFAZZO, CA, 4km south of the town, which Orsi thought to belong to a distinct indigenous site not far away.
Finally it is to be remembered that both the modern town area and the surrounding territory were covered by a network of prehistoric settlements. The most important traces of which belong to the CASTELLUCCIO phase. Further more, the cemetery complexes on the castle hill are of remarkable relevance for the Christian era of Sicily.
Paolo Orsi (archaeologist)