Morgantina: South Baths and House of the Two Skeletons

This is a project undertaken within the framework of the American Excavations at Morgantina (AEM) in Sicily, currently co-directed by Malcolm Bell III and Carla Antonaccio. The project is co-directed by Sandra K. Lucore and Monika Trümper. Since 1955 the AEM has uncovered extensive areas of the Prehistoric and Archaic settlement (Cittadella Hill) as well as of the Classical and Hellenistic city (Serra Orlando Plateau). The project, planned for three years (2013-2015), entails full excavation of a public bath building (South Baths) and an adjacent sanctuary complex (West Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore), which are located in the western part of the Hellenistic city (Contrada Agnese) and were only partially excavated in 1971. The broader aim of the project is to better understand the urban development of an exceptional quarter at the western edge of the built city, which may have served for specific (“entertainment-leisure”?) purposes; to fully assess the history, design, and function of both buildings and their relationship to each other; and, beyond Morgantina, to provide a significant contribution to the long neglected investigation of Greek public baths as well as to the study of the sacred topography and religious life of Hellenistic cities.