{"id":999,"date":"2026-07-30T13:10:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medievalsicily.org\/projects\/santa-maria-di-campogrosso\/cemetery\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T13:10:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:10:39","slug":"cemetery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/medievalsicily.org\/en\/projects\/santa-maria-di-campogrosso\/cemetery\/","title":{"rendered":"Cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Santa Maria di Campogrosso<\/a> \u00b7 subpage<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cemetery<\/h1>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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As a result of excavations carried out so far, approximately 50 m\u00b2 of the cemetery have been investigated, uncovering 35 burials, including 12 graves preserved intact. Infants were buried in three graves, and in one of them two infant skeletons were found, placed one above the other. The children’s burials were covered with roof tiles, a type of grave construction used in the Mediterranean region since antiquity. In the specialist literature it is referred to by the term \u201ca cappuccina\u201d. The burials of children and women indicate that this part of the cemetery was probably used mainly for burying lay people.<\/p>\n

Who were the dead buried by the southern wall of the church? Anthropological research by Dr Rosaria di Salvo has shown that this was a group of men, women and children, that is, a population living in the vicinity of the monastery, and thus not, as originally assumed, the cemetery of the monks of the Greek monastery. The considerable stature of both the men and the women, unusual for medieval Sicily, allows the hypothesis to be put forward that they were Norman newcomers.<\/p>\n

The church of Santa Maria di Campogrosso is linked to the churches of Calabria and to the crusading movement by two finds depicting the so-called \u201cmill\u201d, made up of three squares inscribed within one another. These incised motifs, often associated with a popular game, also occurred in the Middle Ages in churches and hospitals, and are sometimes linked to the crusading movement as symbolic representations of Jerusalem. One of these depictions was found on a stone forming part of a grave’s stone lining.<\/p>\n

Some of them were probably people of high social standing, as indicated by the form of the graves adjoining directly the southern wall of the church. In one case this was a monumental stone construction (grave 4) covering the body of a man almost two metres tall. In another we are dealing with a carefully executed stone grave construction of anthropomorphic shape (grave no. 8). This grave was used three times. From time to time the remains of the person buried in it were removed to make room for the next one. However, part of the bones, mainly of the lower limbs, was usually left behind.<\/p>\n

The problem of the church’s chronology is inextricably linked to the dating of the cemetery, which was established rather after the construction of the building. Since ceramics, which in the absence of other finds usually constitute the principal dating tool in archaeology, do not resolve the problem in this case, the basis for establishing the sequence of events was provided by coin finds and by physico-chemical dating methods. Both the follis of William II found above grave no. 2 and the two coins found at the neck of the child in grave no. 7 date from the first and second half of the 12th century respectively. A similar chronological range was established on the basis of C-14 dating of the child’s bones from grave no. 2. Moreover, the stratigraphic position of grave no. 7 indicates that it was dug after a buttress had been added to the wall of the already existing church, and it is therefore considerably later than the church itself.<\/p>\n

The data obtained allow us to assume that the walls of the building visible today were built at the latest in the middle or second half of the 12th century. However, according to written sources, its construction may have begun at the end of the 11th century. The archaeological discoveries have disproved the hypotheses of architectural historians dating the church building to the thirteenth century or later.<\/p>\n

At this stage of research, not too much can yet be said about social and intercultural relations. Thanks to the discoveries in the cemetery, we can only state that the dead buried here followed mainly the Christian rite, with the body laid out in the east-west orientation typical of the period, the head to the west, and without any grave goods. Some of the deceased, buried in earthen pits, had their heads propped up with stones so that they faced east, towards the Holy Land, and stones were also used to brace the limbs at the knees and feet. The dimensions of most of the skeletons discovered indicate that in life they were individuals of tall stature, and thus perhaps came from outside Sicily. The Arab population, on the other hand, is linked to the find of a fragment of a funerary stele with an inscription in Kufic style. It may have come from an earlier Arab cemetery destroyed by Christian graves, but it could also have been an element of an Islamic grave made in a cemetery shared with Christians. If the inscription on the stele, as suggested by Prof. Maria Amalia de Luca of the University of Palermo, is a fragment of Sura 9:33 of the Qur’an, exalting Islam above all other religions, it is difficult to assume that this second of the above hypotheses is plausible.<\/p>\n

A preliminary stratigraphic analysis has made it possible to distinguish several chronological phases in the use of this area, including: the period before the construction of the church (I); the period of use of the building (III); and the period from the destruction of the church to the present day (V). These phases are separated by chronological intervals significant for the history of the building \u2013 the construction phase (II) and the demolition phase (IV).<\/p>\n

Phase I \u2013 the period before the construction of the church. In Phase I, preceding the construction of the church, layers (SU 11; SU 16) already present when the builders arrived were formed. The oldest layer associated with Phase I is layer 16, a dark brown soil lying above the natural bedrock, with a thickness of 10-20 cm. A layer that formed as a result of the weathering of the rock was also recorded (SU 11). It constituted the substrate for the activities connected with the construction of the church and the use of the cemetery. In these layers, vessel ceramics were very scarce (191 fragments) and were dated mainly to the Late Roman period. They were not accompanied by animal bones or architectural remains. Phase II \u2013 the construction of the church. The construction phase and the beginnings of the use of the church and the cemetery (II) are associated with layer SU 8. This layer, of a dark, rusty-brown colour, occurs across the whole area of the site, being at times almost indistinguishable from layers SU11 and SU16. Fragments of lime mortar appear in this layer for the first time. A total of 58 fragments of vessel ceramics were found in layer 8. The individual finds discovered in the deposits of Phase II are not numerous (8 fr. of metal objects) and have no dating value. The strong fragmentation of the ceramic material (more than 70% of the fragments recorded had a diameter in the range of 2 to 5 cm) and the traces of erosion observed on some sherds prevent a precise interpretation of the technological features and the reconstruction of vessel forms, which is why establishing their chronology is sometimes altogether impossible. No animal bones were recorded in the layers of Phase II. Phase III \u2013 the period of use of the church. During the period the building was in use (Phase III), up to the point at which the church began to fall into ruin and was eventually demolished, layers (SU 5; SU 5a; 6) formed and were used, among other things, for sepulchral purposes; fragments of vessel ceramics together with animal bones were recorded in them. During the use of the cemetery, when it was repeatedly dug into in order to make further burials, old graves were encountered, and soil from the service area adjoining the monastery church also found its way here. Traces of the monastery buildings were discovered during non-invasive survey carried out by Piotr Wroniecki, MA. The grave fills can likewise be attributed to Phase III. In the deposits of Phase III, 27 fragments of ceramics and animal bones were found. In addition to the ceramic material, the layers also contained metal finds (42 fr.). The largest group of metal finds consists of nails, numbering 38. These were most often found in the fill of the grave pits or in layers lying directly above the graves. One coin and 6 fragments of glass were also found. Phase IV \u2013 the period of the church’s demolition. The layers mentioned above were covered by a layer of stone paving, which for the most part consisted of field stones from the demolition, often bearing traces of mortar (Phase IV). In the layers of Phase IV, 2017 vessel fragments were found, representing 56% of the ceramic finds recovered from the cemetery area and 29.65% of the entire assemblage of sherds from the whole site. As in Phase II, the ceramics recovered are strongly fragmented, as may be indicated by the large proportion of body sherds and by the diameter of the surviving fragments, which generally did not exceed 5 cm. The lack of surface decoration and the temper used in the recovered fragments of vessel ceramics may indicate their use as kitchen ware. The co-occurrence of animal bones (species not yet determined) with vessel ceramics seems to confirm that the cemetery was no longer fulfilling its role by this time. Phase V \u2013 the period from the destruction of the church to the present day. Phase V has been assigned the humus layer (SU 1) and the utility layer lying directly beneath it (SU 2), which formed after the destruction of the church. They consisted of greyish-brown, slightly loamy sand and stones. In these layers, fragments of strongly fragmented vessel ceramics were found, accompanied by animal bones (probably of small ruminants) and architectural remains, such as fragments of mortar or roof tiles. The terminus post quem for the formation of the layers is marked by the demolition of the church in the 16th century. During the excavations, 1249 fragments of vessel ceramics were found in the most recent layers (18.36% of the entire assemblage; 34.65% of the ceramic fragments coming from the trenches located in the cemetery area). The large proportion of ceramics in the most recent layers suggests that, despite the desacralisation of the church and its partial demolition, the area continued to be used, probably by casual people \u2013 wayfarers, brigands or corsairs. This hypothesis also seems to be confirmed by the varied technology of manufacture and firing of the vessels (as many as 10 different fracture colours were recorded). The diversity of the vessels is linked to the fact that they appeared rather by chance and were not connected, as previously, with the economy of the Basilian monastery, for which many vessels were supplied by its own workshops, something reflected in the greater uniformity of the assemblage coming from the deposits of Phases II and III.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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\u2190 Powr\u00f3t do Santa Maria di Campogrosso<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Santa Maria di Campogrosso \u00b7 subpage Cemetery As a result of excavations carried out so far, approximately 50 m\u00b2 of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":976,"menu_order":80,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-999","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCemetery - 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