Castelluccio

An Early Bronze Age settlement and cemetery of rock-cut tombs near Syracuse, Sicily. Excavated by Orsi in 1891-1892, the cemetery contained several hundred tombs used for collective burial and one tomb had a carved facade and several were closed by slabs with carved double spirals. The characteristic pottery was a buff ware painted with black or green lines and designs. Pottery shapes included splay-necked cups and pedestaled bowls. There were also bossed bone plaques, showing connections with the Aegean world well before 2000 BC.

A settlement and cemetery site in southeast Sicily which has given its name to an Early Bronze Age culture. The cemetery contained several hundred rock-cut tombs used for collective burial; the tombs were sometimes closed with rock slabs and these were occasionally decorated with carved spirals, which were at one time compared to those found in the Mycenaean world; they are now thought to be of considerably earlier date. Grave goods include a fine buff ware painted with black or green designs, and bossed bone plaques demonstrating connections with the Aegean world well before 2000 bc.