Archaeological Park of Sesi in Pantelleria
The Archaeological Park of the Sesi in Pantelleria contains extraordinary megalithic constructions present in the area of Mursia and Cimillia. In fact, the term Sesi in the local dialect defines any pile of stones.
It is known that in these districts, about 5000 years ago, a people from the coasts of northern Africa settled, who settling he built a village made up of small houses and defended, towards the interior, by a wall.
The Sesi are megalithic constructions, similar to Sardinian Nuraghi, consisting of a truncated cone structure, with an elliptical or circular plan, often surmounted by a conical dome, therefore also known as funerary domes . For their construction, a walkway was created at each laying turn that would allow the passage of the blocks as they proceeded in height. It has been established that these Sesi are sepulchral monuments since numerous buried bodies with their respective funerary equipment have been found inside. These burial structures were erected outside the walls of the village. Each Sese can have several entrances, no more than a meter high, numerous corridors or narrow galleries leading to the rounded cells. The deceased were buried in a fetal position, with the head facing west and the feet towards the tunnel exit.
Of particular interest is the Sese Grande or Sese del Re , the only Sesi that has remained intact to this day, and so called because it was destined for the dominant family of the village and because it was much larger than the other Sesi, with a base diameter of up to twenty meters. It is formed by twelve cells, all located in the center of the building, by eleven entrances, by twelve corridors, up to 7 meters long, which lead towards the center ending in a cell. Inside the cells, four sarcophagi and various pottery were found that served as funerary items. After the burial of the corpses, the entire building was bricked up.
The Sesi necropolis extended even further north where Sese Di Fresco was recently found inside the hotel enclosure Cossyra. It is made up of four funeral cells and inside the remains of an inhumed person were found together with the funeral equipment.
