*5.3. The Small Island of Ustica, Northwest of Sicily*

Ustica is a small island, about 8 km2, located > 50 km north of Capo Gallo (coast north of Palermo in western Sicily). Despite its isolated location, there is archaeological evidence of its occupation also beginning in the Neolithic time period, indicating the rather longdistance open-water travel capabilities at that time. The use of obsidian artifacts, coming from both Pantelleria and Lipari, was first shown with analyses of artifacts from excavations of a Bronze Age site [62], and more recently at several different sites with more than 1100 obsidian artifacts found and analyzed [51,63–65] (Figure 13). In comparison to travel of much more modest distances from northern Corsica through the Tuscan archipelago to mainland Italy, and across the central Adriatic to Croatia, Ustica was not a stop along the way to other places but instead the only reason for travel in its direction.

As noted already, there is no direct or indirect evidence of the boats, rafts, or other open-water vessels that were used in the 6th millennium BCE to reach islands in the Mediterranean (or in the following 4000 years), but it strongly appears that such travel was regular and able to transport not only a few people but also domesticated animals and other items of their material culture. Obsidian from Lipari, in the Aeolian Islands, may have been transported over 25 km to northeastern Sicily, then along the shorelines to Palermo and from there to Ustica, but the proportions of Lipari to Pantelleria obsidian (average of 90% Lipari, 10% Pantelleria), when compared to what was found at the site of Grotta dell'Uzzo in northwest Sicily, suggest more direct open-water travel of >100 km from the westernmost Aeolian island of Alicudi to Ustica [65]. This is supported by the open-water distance from Pantelleria to southwest Sicily (~100 km), followed by travel along the western coast and then > 50 from Capo Gallo to Ustica. The small but seemingly consistent percentage of

obsidian from Pantelleria reflects not only the much greater distance of travel, but also its visual and physical properties and their demand when compared with Lipari obsidian.

**Figure 13.** Archaeological sites on Ustica (north of Palermo, Sicily). The ellipse for Tramontana Alta is the sloped pathway along which surface artifacts were collected.

#### *5.4. Obsidian at Sites in Malta*

The Maltese Islands are about the same distance south of Sicily as Pantelleria, while they were occupied from the Neolithic, and, like elsewhere, were using obsidian from both Lipari and Pantelleria [3,66]. Three different sites were excavated: Skorba, occupied throughout the Neolithic, and Tas-Silj, which is Bronze Age, both on Malta; and the Brochtorff Circle at Xaghra, on the smaller island of Gozo, which is Copper Age (Figure 14).

Skorba has a combination of residential and ritual structures, with seven phases spanning from ca. 5500–2500 BCE (Ghar Dalam, Grey Skorba, Red Skorba, Zebbug, Ggantija, Saflieni, and Tarxien) and each with obsidian present [67]. Following the excavation, visual distinctions of the nearly 300 obsidian artifacts found were initially used to assign nearly 80% to Lipari (black-grey) and 20% to Pantelleria (dark green), and a selection of 25 were analyzed by INAA to confirm this [7]. More recent analyses by pXRF confirmed the visual assignments while also indicating that those from Pantelleria mostly came from Balata dei Turchi with a small number from Lago di Venere, and that all of the Lipari obsidian came specifically from Gabellotto. The proportion of Lipari to Pantelleria for each time period was consistent, and quite similar to that for the sites on Ustica.

Much more recent excavations at the Brochtoff Circle at Xaghra revealed a large number of underground, individual chamber tombs dating to the 3rd millennium BCE [68]. More than 100 obsidian artifacts were analyzed by pXRF, with the results being very different than at the site of Skorba, overall. Only 28% were from Lipari and 72% from Pantelleria, while at Skorba, none of the small number (8) of obsidian artifacts from the contemporary Tarxien phase came from Pantelleria. Again, all of the Lipari obsidian was from the Gabellotto subsource, while the Pantelleria artifacts came from multiple subsources on Pantelleria, mostly Balata dei Turchi. Since the many tomb chambers, representing about 700 individuals, were not of the same time period but spanned many

families over at least a few hundred years, the high selection of Pantelleria obsidian was not a single incident, but an extended cultural burial practice.

**Figure 14.** Malta island sites with obsidian artifacts.
