Castelluccio di Noto excavations, Bronze Age archaeological site and necropolis in Noto, Sicily, Italy

Castelluccio di Noto excavations are a Bronze Age necropolis of over 200 rock-cut chamber tombs in the steep walls of the Cava della Signora, near Noto in Sicily. The most monumental is the Tomba del Principe, whose facade has four false pilasters. Two tomb doors with carved spiral symbols are now in the Paolo Orsi museum in Syracuse.

Paolo Orsi discovered the site at the end of the 19th century and dated it to between the 19th and 15th centuries BC, in Sicily's early Bronze Age; he identified the village's refuse dump. In the late 1980s scholars located the necropolis and the plan of the settlement, which stood on a rocky spur like a fortified acropolis. The site gives its name to the Castelluccio culture, around 2200 to 1800 BC.

The burial chambers hold decorated ceramic vessels with brown lines on ochre-colored backgrounds alongside carved bone tools. These objects show connections to similar finds from Malta, pointing to trading relationships across the Mediterranean.

Visits work best with a guide since the chambers are scattered among rock formations and the paths are not always clear. Wear sturdy shoes and bring water, as the ground is rough and offers little shade.

Two stone tomb doors from the site, carved with spiral symbols, are now displayed at the Paolo Orsi museum in Syracuse. Similar knobbed bone objects found here also appear at sites in Malta, Apulia, Greece and Troy, pointing to long-distance contacts in the early Bronze Age.