Timpone della Motta

History

The oldest remains belong to a Middle Bronze Age dwelling which stood on the later site of Temple V on the acropolis. During the Iron Age in the ninth and eight centuries BC the hill was the site of a large Oenotrian settlement. Archaeological evidence indicates that a weaving house stood at the site of the Bronze Age dwelling in this period. This building was three times the size of a contemporary native hut discovered on Plateau I and might have had a religious function as well.

In the last quarter of the eight century BC this house and the other Oenotrian apsidal wooden dwellings on the acropolis were replaced by long rectangular wooden temples dedicated to Athena. The temples followed a Greek design but were constructed with native techniques. They were built around a plaza in the centre, with Temple I to the northeast of the plaza, Temple V (built on the location of the weaving house) to the southwest and Temple III to the northwest. Temples I and V were built parallel to the length of the plaza, but Temple III had an entrance which faced the plaza.

These temples were the first known ancient Greek temples on the Italian Peninsula. The Greek colony Sybaris was founded around the same time in 720 BC and it is likely that the Oenotrians and the Greeks co-operated in the construction of the temples at a time when Greek religion was transmitted to the Oenotrian culture.

In the second half of the seventh century BC the sanctuary was taken over by the Sybarites, who changed its layout by erecting small temples, the first in mudbrick on top of the old wooden temples, which were demolished. Pottery and bronze ex-votos have revealed that the site was dedicated to Athena who is mentioned in a famous inscription on a bronze tablet:

Kleombrotos, son of Dexilaos, an Olympic champion, dedicates an aedicule (a small shrine) to the goddess in exchange for keeping the tenth part of his winnings otherwise owed her.

They celebrated large festivals there regularly. …

Excavation

The first excavation of the Macchiabate necropolis was started in 1963 by Paola Zancani Montuoro.

In the 1970s and 1980s illegal excavations took place on a large scale on the southern slope of the Timpone della Motta and in the necropolis. Many stolen artefacts were sold on the antiquities market to private collectors and museums. Eventually these were identified and most of them were returned to the Museo Nazionale Archeologico della Sibaritide, where the finds from Timpone della Motta are exhibited.

Following a brief rescue excavation on the acropolis in 1986-7, excavations on the acropolis and terraces and surveys in the Macchiabate area continued from 1991 until 2008 by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology.