Dying Young in Archaic Gela (Sicily) : From the Analysis of the Cemeteries to the Reconstruction of Early Colonial Identity

The paper examines the children funerary space in Archaic Gela, the well-known Rhodian and Cretan colony in Sicily, founded in 689 BC on a low hill by the sea on the southern Sicilian coast. The paper has drawn inspiration from other recent works and researches on sub-adult death in Classical antiquity, referring especially to Gillian Shepherd’s work on burial and religion in Sicilian colonies and to the proceedings of the International Round Tables organized between 2008 and 2011 by EMA (L’Enfant et la mort dans l’Antiquité) with special sections concerning Magna Graecia and Sicily. I focus on the results of a major new examination of the Archaic cemeteries of Gela, containing mainly 7th and 6th Century burials. I began this work ten years ago as PhD research at the University of Pavia, and then I continued it during postdoctoral research at the University of Milan. The final results of the work have just appeared in a book entitled Profumi di argilla. Tombe con unguentari corinzi nella necropoli arcaica di Gela 2013.