A pre-Greek Libyan settlement at Cyrene

The excavations dug to bedrock in the Agora Quarter of Cyrene by Urbino archaeological mission since the seventies and especially the ones of the last fifteen years were aimed at gathering material and information on the period when the colony was founded in the late 7th century BC. In this regard, after S. Stucchi’s 1950s-1980s excavations in the Agora, remains of archaic structures came to light together with the ruins of a sanctuary, with temple and altar, dedicated to the “gods of Fertility” and now ascribable to the Dioscuri on the strength of recently found inscriptions. Moreover, a thick pre-Greek layer of extremely black soil was found right on the bedrock, with several fragments of hut plastering, handmade pottery, carved flint, fireplace remains and post holes. Such material, mainly unpublished and recently studied, provides wide-ranging information about the Libyan presence, with huts at the top of the hill where the colony of Cyrene was founded in the 7th century BC, from the Acropolis to the House of Propylaeum and the Sanctuary of Dioscuri.