Sicily, Pantalica

Pantalica is a large limestone promontory in southeast Sicily known chiefly for a series of extensive cemeteries comprising chamber tombs cut out of the rock, dating mainly between the thirteenth and seventh centuries bce. Evidence of subsequent occupation includes a defensive ditch and wall, a Late Antique residential building, rock-cut dwellings of variable date, and three medieval oratories. The site gives its name to the Late Bronze and Iron Age “Pantalica culture,” typical of southern Sicily in the period before Greek colonization.