Greek colonisation of South Italy and Sicily (Magna Graecia) was a defining event in European cultural history, although the demographic processes and genetic impacts involved have not been systematically investigated. Here, we combine highresolution surveys of the variability at the uni-parentally inherited Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA in selected samples of putative source and recipient populations with forward-in-time simulations of alternative demographic models to detect signatures of that impact. Using a subset of haplotypes chosen to represent historical sources, we recover a clear signature of Greek ancestry in East Sicily compatible with the settlement from Euboea during the Archaic Period (eighth to fifth century BCE). We inferred moderate sex-bias in the numbers of individuals involved in the colonisation: a few thousand breeding men and a few hundred breeding women were the estimated number of migrants. Last, we demonstrate that studies aimed at quantifying Hellenic genetic flow by the proportion of specific lineages surviving in present-day populations may be misleading.

This chapter provides an overview of the development and growth of the archaeology of childhood as a discipline. It outlines the emergence of the inclusion of childhood and children in archaeological studies. Childhood is discussed in terms of the role of competence, as well as dependency, of children, and its relevance in archaeological interpretation. The notion of biological age and chronological age as definitions of childhood are discussed. This is followed by an introduction to the volume which provides an outline of the structure of the volume, its themes, the key areas discussed within the chapters, and the contribution this new volume makes to the discipline.

There have been recent suggestions that an indigenous element in ancient Greek settlements in Sicily can be detected through funerary customs. This paper reviews the evidence for 'indigenous' burial methods in Greek cemeteries, concentrating on multiple, contracted and acephalous burials. It argues that such evidence is limited and open to various interpretations and that while it is highly likely that Greek settlements did incorporate an indigenous population, the funerary record cannot be used as a reliable identifier of such groups. The paper also briefly assesses the evidence for the presence of Greeks deriving from areas other than the historical mother-cities and suggests that such individuals are also very difficult to detect. It concludes that the general impression given by Sicilian Greek cemeteries is one of overall subscription to coherent burial systems, which may be viewed as part of an attempt to forge a unified and independent cultural identity.When Archias, the Corinthian oikist of Syracuse, received a Delphic oracle instructing him to found a colony in order to expiate the murder he had committed, he was given a description of the site of Syracuse in order that he could identify it:An isle, Ortygia, lies on the misty ocean Over against Trinacria, where the mouth of Alpheius bubbles Mingling with the springs of broad Arethusa. (Paus. 5.7.3).Pausanias earlier explains the myth of Arethusa and Alpheios: the hunter Alpheios fell in love with Arethusa, a huntress, and pursued her across the sea from Greece to Sicily, where she turned into a spring on the island of Ortygia. Alpheios in turn was changed into the river of the same name at Olympia, whose water went under the sea and mingled with the spring on Ortygia (Paus. 5.7.2). On a more banal level, Strabo volunteers the information that in obeying the oracle Archias acquired most of his settlers at Tenea in the Corinthia and that en route to Ortygia he picked up some Greeks ('Dorians') at Zephyrion in Italy who had parted company with the founders of Megara (Strabo 8.6.22; 6.2.4).These passages give us more detail than we have for many colonial foundations and contain information which may have implications for determining the precise nature of the early stages of Greek colonies, particularly those in the West. The myth of Arethusa and Alpheios has OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 24 (2) 115-136 2005 4 As for example Ts 436 and 450 in the Fusco necropolis (Orsi 1895): both were impressive seventh century monolithic sarcophagi, the former containing an adult and child with two further skeletons extended on the cover; the latter had two enchytrismos burials on the cover and an adult and child inside. 5For example Ts 205, 320 (without goods; Orsi 1895), Ts 204, 425 and 471 (with goods; Orsi 1895).

Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté. © Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté. Tous droits réservés pour tous pays.La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France. Il est précisé que son stockage dans une base de données est également interdit.

No abstract