The Upper Simeto Valley Project : an interim report on the first season.

This paper introduces a new survey project, located on the north-west flank of Etna, and presents the preliminary results of the first season of fieldwork (2006). The project research area includes the territories of the comuni of Bronte, Maletto and Maniace (Catania) in the upper valley of the river Simeto. Many individual archaeological sites and features have been identified in this area in the past, but there has been no systematic survey coverage. The long-term aim of the project is to investigate the transformation of the human and physical landscapes of this upland area from prehistory to modern times. But in contrast to many approaches to Sicily which have conceived of cultural change in terms of a series of external conquests, this project aims to use settlement and material culture to assess the changing human and physical landscapes of Sicily from the 'inside out'