Ischia, a cosmopolitan community of the 8th Century BC
25.02.2025
A study led by the Department of Cultural Heritage at the University of Padua, published in "iScience," has revealed that in the 8th century BC, the community on the island of Ischia was composed of Greek, Phoenician, and Italic immigrants, with a significant presence of immigrant women.
Using isotopic analysis of bones and teeth from over 50 individuals buried in the necropolis of Pithekoussai, the team highlighted the complexity of cultural and biological interactions at this key site for the study of Magna Graecia. "Revealing a highly heterogeneous society where newcomers – Greeks, Phoenicians, Italics – coexisted and interacted, contributing to the formation of a multifaceted and cosmopolitan social identity," explains Melania Gigante, the study's first author and a lecturer at the Department of Cultural Heritage at the University of Padua.
Ischia, a volcanic island, saw the first Greek settlement in the western Mediterranean and became a centre for coexistence among local communities, Greeks, and Phoenicians. The archaeological heritage of this land offers a unique insight into the dynamics of human mobility and biocultural interactions during the Iron Age. The research established that female mobility – not just that of male colonists and merchants – was a structural element in the construction of the Pithekoussai community.
"The integration of archaeological, anthropological, and biogeochemical data has allowed us to reconstruct the movements and interactions of the people inhabiting the island of Ischia with an unprecedented level of detail, confirming the image of a Mediterranean of dialogue and mobility during the first millennium BC," notes Carmen Esposito, co-author of the study and a Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions Research Fellow at the University of Bologna.
The research involved various Italian and international institutions and also analysed the Tomb of the Cup of Nestor, one of the most iconic burials in Pithekoussai, dated to the second half of the 8th century BC. The isotopic analysis carried out here established that at least one of the individuals buried next to the cup was born locally, opening new perspectives on social and cultural integration.
"What has been published well represents the current state of advanced research in bioarchaeology, where cutting-edge techniques open up previously unimaginable horizons of knowledge about the past," comments Alessia Nava, anthropologist at La Sapienza University of Rome, lecturer at the Department of Odontostomatological and Maxillofacial Sciences, and co-author of the study, reiterating the importance of this type of scientific approach.
This research thus represents the first direct evidence of Greek colonisation in the 8th century BC and offers a new perspective on Mediterranean history, paving the way for future studies on the dynamics of mobility and cultural integration in antiquity.
