Il Ceramico di Akragas fuori Porta V alla luce dselle recenti indagini (2019-2023)

The study of the artisanal production in Akragas (archaic-classical period) has been the focus of the research carried out by the University of Bologna in cooperation with the Park “Valle dei Templi” since 2017. The project is concentrated on the excavation of the artisanal area located west of Porta V, a site which appears to be the oldest Kerameikos in the polis, according to the results obtained so far. Such conclusion is of great relevance in the panorama of studies on the Greek world, although it has never been systematically linked to the archaic and classical age until now, when Akragas had already become a thriving center undergoing rapid expansion, fully integrated in the wide and lively trade network of the Mediterranean Sea. The methodology involved first a preliminary recovery and study of all the published data on the context and then a geomagnetic analysis of the entire area on the west of Porta V. The following step had been the excavation through a multidisciplinary approach, leading to the discovery of large production structures and their associated waste deposits, never attested before for this specific chronological period in Sicily and Magna Graecia. Therefore, these recent discoveries confirm Agrigento at the center of the scientific debate for its important artisanal and productive dimension, besides its remarkable sanctuaries and rich necropoleis.