Sicily

Emigration only attained serious proportions within the last decade of the 19th century. In 1897 the emigration from the island was in 1898, 21,320; and in 1899, 24,604. Since then it has increased: in 1905 the emigrants numbered 106,o0o, and in 1906, 127,000 (3.5% of the population). Of these about three-fourths were adults ; but the rapid increase in the population has more than covered the deficiency.

Emigration has fallen since the World War. When in 1860, Sicily was incorporated in the Italian kingdom, hardly a tenth of the population could read and write. Upon the completion of unity, elementary schools were founded everywhere; but, though education was free, the indigence of the peasants in some regions prevented them from taking full advantage of the opportunities offered. In 1921, 51% of the whole population over six years old, and in 1925, 74% of the persons married, could read. Brigandage of the classical type has disappeared from Sicily, and energetic proceedings are now, for the first time, being taken against the Mafia (q.v.). (G. G. CH.; G. Mo.; T. A.) New Measures.—The institution in 1925 of the Provveditorato alle opere pubbliche in Sicilia (a special commission for public works) has rendered co-ordination and rapid action possible. Over 1,200 miles of high-roads are being improved, and over 450 miles of new roads are to be finished by 1931. Important harbour works, schools, aqueducts and other public works have been undertaken, the total cost of which will be some i8,0oo,000. Marshy land is being drained and new villages are being built. Much is being done in the way of co-operation and the granting of credits, especially since the Bank of Sicily ceased to be a bank of issue, and became (like the Bank of Naples and the Monte dei Paschi at Siena) a public credit institution. It was thus able to create an association for the cultural and economic development of the island, out of which has already grown a regular motor service for tourists along the main routes. The National Associa tion for the interests of southern Italy maintained in 1925-26 159 day-schools, frequented by 14,588 pupils, and 742 schools for adults, which in the first five years were frequented by 162,955 pupils.

Archaeology.

The pre-Hellenic inhabitants of Sicily are called by classical authors Sicani or Siculi, variant names of kindred tribes who doubtless migrated at much the same time from north Africa. It is, however, very convenient to retain the two names, to apply the term Sicanian to the stone age, and to reserve Siculan for the Chalcolithic and the bronze and iron ages, the first Siculan period being Chalcolithic, the second Siculan be ing bronze age, while the beginnings of the iron or the third Sicu lan period will be from goo to 700 B.C., and the beginning of a

fourth Siculan may be placed at 700 B.C. when the native civiliza tion is hybridized with the Greek.

The Sicanian Period.

Pottery incised with geometrical de signs, including one bell-beaker, the Sicanian period is known principally from two sites, Stentinello and Matrensa. Stone implements from these places were of poor quality and there were no other objects of interest except the pottery, which is hand-made and baked in an open fire. The surface is blackish grey, and the ornament upon it, which looks as if it were merely incised, has a strange regularity produced by real stamps, not by puncture by bone awls. This phenomenon is unique at this early time. Most unfortunately no vases have been recovered intact, but from the fragments it is inferred that there were, at any rate, hemispherical bowls, basins with ring handles and conical vases with a ring foot. The pottery of the caverns at Villafrati and Mo arda belongs to a later stage of the Neolithic. The finding of a bell-beaker connects it with the civilization of the dolmen builders.

Many parts of Sicily still remain to be explored for traces of the Sicanian period, but so far as the present material goes, the first Siculan does not seem to have evolved from the Sicanian, or, if it has, the steps are still missing; for all the outward and material evidence of the two civilizations shows them to be very different. A few rock-hewn tombs of the first Siculan period have been discovered near Palermo and a considerable number near Girgenti, but the largest cemeteries were found by Paolo Orsi in the Syracusan district. The principal sites are those of Castelluccio, Melilli, Monte Racello, Monte Tabuto, Vallelunga and Monte Salia. The typical burial was in a rock-hewn chamber, the construction varying according to the nature of the ground, so that at Monte Tabuto the dead were buried in disused flint mines, while at Monte Racello natural caverns were enlarged for the purpose, and actual surface-graves were even formed out of slabs on the top of the broken ground. At Castelluccio, however, which may be taken as the standard case, the circular or elliptical chambers were hewn in a vertical face of rock and entered by a short horizontal corridor.