音频游览 4. Archaeological Collection: Room 4

The fourth room of the Museum is dedicated to Modica and to the ancient Sicilian and Greek settlements that followed one another in the urban area of ​​the modern Baroque city. The spur of the Castle, at the confluence of the Janni Mauro and Pozzo dei Pruni torrents, was the privileged place in which intense frequentations developed from prehistory (Vignazza), up to the Hellenistic age (Saint Theresa and Saint Peter) and the Middle Ages .

In showcase 14 are exhibits from the prehistoric village of Vignazza and Quartiriccio, dating back to the Ancient Bronze Age (facies of Castelluccio 2200-1450 BC): on the top shelf there are fuserulas, a lid and flint blades while on the lower shelves we can see obsidian, hatchets and millstones. From the Quartiriccio zone there are also displays of Greek ceramics, such as the rhodium amphora loop of the Hellenistic age with the manufacturer's stamp (Apollonios).

In showcase 15, on the upper and middle shelves, there are some ointments, a painted black plate, a small cup and some olpai from the necropolis of the Vignazza quarter. On the other shelves of the display case there are cups, skyphoi, painted black fish dishes and handles of amphorae with stamps (MIKYTOS, MIDAS) from the 3rd century B.C., perhaps coming from a votive deposit of a sanctuary that could be near the present Domus Sancti Petri and via Grimaldi.

In showcase 16 the outfits of the necropolis of the 4th-3rd century B.C. are displayed, located in Saint Theresa: on the top shelf various painted black vases (skyphoi, cups, small beakers) are exhibited; on the other shelves examples of acrobatic pottery (olpai, ointments, croquettes, oil lamps).

In showcase 17, on the upper shelf, are the grave goods from the chamber (tomb 1st century B.C.- 1st century A.C.) with multiple burials, found in the Polara Palace during the 2012 excavations: two lagynoi, six ointments, a cup , two lamps. Finds of 6th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd century BC are also exhibited, these are from various districts of the city (Saint Vito, Corso Garibaldi, Vico Medica, Dente).

In showcase 18, on the upper shelf, there are fragments of bowls in majolica decorated in blue and lustre of the Valencian discrict of ​​the14th century; on the middle shelf there are various fragments of bowls with coats of arms of Modican families, and of the Chiaramonte family from the 13th and 14th centuries, majolica plates of the 15th century with the monogram IHS (JHESUS SALVATOR MUNDI) and majolica jugs of the 15th century; on the lower shelf  majolica from the 15th century are exhibited.

In showcase 19 the finds are from the excavations carried out in the Castle of Modica between 1995 and 2011. On the highest shelf, there is a fragment of  protocorinthian kotyle and a fragment of a bowl with green glaze of the 12th century; on the middle shelf are two fragments of basins in protomaiolic from the 14th century, two majolica bowls with 16th century glaze and a majolica plate, decorated in blue with bush motifs, from the 17th century; on the lower shelf are fragments of rims of chafing dishes of the 13th century, fragments of basil pots from the 15th century, fragments of bowls in glazed earthenware in blue of the 16th century, a fragment of a majolica plate decorated in blue and lustre of the 15th century.

In showcase 20 there are finds from different areas of Modica: on the higher shelf there is a bronze string from the 5th - 4th century BC, a rectangular bronze buckle, fragments of a bronze ring, an oscillum of Greek-Roman age, a African canal lamp of 5th - 6th century AD, a Greek funerary epigraph of 3rd - 4th century AD and a Sicilian-style lamp from the 6th to 7th century AD; on the middle shelf there is the remains of bone necklace and a small pendant of prehistoric age; on the lower shelf there is an axe in large basalt, dating back to the Bronze Age.