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A preliminary reconnaissance at the end of March has located the ruins of a stone enclosure measuring c. 50 x 50 meters which has tentatively been identified as a Greek or Italic fortress. The site is nested in a thick forest and controls an important crossroads on the watershed between the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian coasts. Remains of several trenches suggest past looter activity.

The 2005 team consists of 20 volunteers and staff from the University of Colorado, Brown University, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and UCLA. Our goal is to uncover and plot the entire structure, and to excavate one architectural trench in order to gain data about the main phases of construction and occupation. We will also re-excavate two robber trenches to salvage discarded materials that will help to reconstruct the history and use of the complex.

Photograph of the

Monte Palazzi site. The

red arrows indicate the land

horizon which is the

top of the site

April 22, 2005

Between June 14 and July 4, 2005, The Mamertion Foundation completed the first archaeological investigations at the mountaintop site of Monte Palazzi, in southern Calabria. At 1,215 meters above sea level, Monte Palazzi is possibly the highest classical site within the region. Test
excavations on the summit, which is thickly forested, have yielded the inner face of a perimeter wall built on granitic rock. There is evidence that the site was disturbed by looters in recent years. The
pottery finds suggest a period of occupation ranging between the late 6th and the mid- or late 3rd centuries BCE and consist largely of Greek finewares and storage vessels, including amphoras from Locri
Epizephyrii, a major city c. 30 km. to the south on the Ionian coast. Finds of kitchen wares and grinding stones seem to attest to the presence of a small Greek settlement, perhaps a garrison guarding the
main overland trading route between the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian Sea. However, fragments of votive ceramics, figurines, and painted plaster do not rule out the possibility that Monte Palazzi may have been a frontier sanctuary in the Locrian hinterland. We plan to test these hypotheses through a large block excavation next summer.

September, 2005

Dr. Paolo Visona` has issued a new report on the past archaeological investigations at the sites in Contrada Mella and Monte Palazzi. The report can be found here for download as a Word file. The report will be available for reading on the site in the coming weeks..

Please feel free to contact us with your questions at mamertion@prodigy.net

February, 2006

Monte Palazzi seen from the west from Monte Gremi.

Setting up the squares before excavation

A view of the fortification wall during
the excavation.

Come Dig the Greeks in Italy!

Excavations at Monte Palazzi (Passo Croce Ferrata, Calabria) in 2007.

Located on a mountaintop at 1,215 meters above sea level, Monte Palazzi is one of the highest classical sites in the central Mediterranean. The Greeks of Locri Epizephyrii built a fort here to watch the overland route from the Ionian to the Tyrrhenian seas. This outpost seems to have been continuously occupied from the 5th to the 3rd centuries BCE. Our goals for 2007 are to explore its layout and to gain new data on the life and culture of the settlers.

For more information on our 2007 dig, look under current opportunities in the "Volunteer Opportunities" section on the menu.

A view of the fortification wall.

September, 2006