The Sicilian Pyramids

Text by A. Gigal

In Italiano qui

 

A very High Antiquity

Human presence going back to as early as from the end of the Pleistocene can be observed on the Mediterranean's biggest island (26,000 km²). Indeed, on this island located at the crossroad of many civilizations, drawings can be found in caves dating from 6,000 - 8,000 BC, in the Addaura caves near Palermo for example, or on the Aegadian islands. Many remains from the Upper Paleolithic can thus be found.

This island hosts numerous episodes of the Graeco-Roman Gods' mythological life; its patrimony is extremely rich, its vestiges very diverse. Only one of its heritages is particularly unrecognized: the pyramids... It is precisely those I went to seek during a detailed exploration with my team. So-called "primitive" agricultural communities have thus settled around the Aegean Sea around 6,000 BC. It is also said that this region's progress towards civilization was late, way behind Egypt and Mesopotamia. It might actually be much more nuanced than that. In The Odyssey, Homer refers to Sicily by calling it Sikania (in classical texts it is also called Sikelia) and mentions the Sicanian Mountains. This is why one of the three native people of Sicily was named the Sicani (or Sicanians) and would date from 3,000 BC to 1,600 BC, including the Early Sican period, more ancient, where various Mediterranean influences are mixed in the Neolithic population and would be localized more in the central and occidental part of the island. Much of our knowledge concerning the ancient Sicilians comes from the Greek literature, by famous writers such as Diodorus of Sicily, but little is said about the Sicani. Besides, the Greek historian Thucydides (460-394 BC), father of scientific history and political realism, considered the Sicani as a tribe coming from Iberia. There would be linguistic factors indicating it, and there is the Sicano river in Spain, but this thesis has no definite proof. Their name probably comes from the word "Sika", designating the chalcedony that has been found in great amount in the valleys where they lived; they used it to stylize their Neolithic tools. It is known that they were installed in autonomous confederations, that they had close exchanges with the Minoan civilization (4,000 to 1,200 BC) in Crete and with the Mycenaean (1,450 to 1,100 BC). It is also known that the Minoan civilization with which the Sicani were thus linked knew a sudden rapid development around 2,000 BC and took the lead of the European cultures. A theory indicates that it was thanks to Egyptian refugees escaping troublesome periods, bringing with them their techniques and their commercial links to Mesopotamia. Moreover, during that same time the Minoans invented a form of writing based on a hieroglyphic system. But according to Thucydides, it was the Sicani who defeated the Giants Cyclops... and that before the arriving of the Sicels or the prehistoric people from whom they descended, they certainly occupied all of Sicily. Around 1,400 BC there was a big migration coming from the Calabrian shores to the Italian Peninsula: the Sicels (:Si'keloi) rushed into Sicily, pushing back the Sicani to the West. They settled mainly in Oriental Sicily. Greek historian Philistus from Syracuse (4 BC), author of History of Sicily (Sikelikà), tells that this invasion would originate from Liguria, guided by Siculo, King Italo's son, whose people had been thrown out by tribes of Sabines and Umbri. Some current researchers think that Siculo and his people would originate from even further away, from the East. In Sicily Professor Enrico Caltagirone and Professor Alfredo Rizza have even figured out that in the modern Sicilian language there would be more than 200 words coming directly from the Sanskrit… Then there is the other Sicilian people during the Bronze Age and Classical Antiquity: the Elymians, migrated from Anatolia, who would originally descend from the famous “Sea Peoples”. West of Anatolia was then occupied by non Indo-Europeans. Thucydides says they are refugees from Troy. Indeed a group of Trojans would have survived the defeat of Troy (they escaped by sea) and would have settled in Sicily and mixed with the Sicani. Virgil even writes that they would have been led by hero Acestes, king of Segesta in Sicily, who would have helped Priam and Aeneas, and had Anchises buried in Erix (current Erice).

 

Sight from the heights of Erice where Anchises would have been buried

 

Thus they concentrated around the town of Segesta and Erice. The specialists still find interpreting their language problematic and I do not believe this Trojan origin to be imaginary as some wrote it; to be completely sure, it would be enough to carry out DNA analyses of bones. In any case they were powerful enough to fight and resist the expansionist pressures exerted by the Greeks of Selinunte, whom they succeeded in containing; they also bounded with the Carthaginians.  And in the 8th Century BC, colonization of Phoenicians from Carthage begins in Sicil; the latter were allied with the Cretan, by the Greeks, Corinthians, Ionians and Megariens.

Thus we see here that to distinguish between these three people, builders of the Pyramids (that I will now speak about), is not an easy thing…



The Pyramids around Mount Etna:

The first thing to consider when studying these Sicilian Pyramids is that most of them are gathered in a semi- circle around Mount Etna Volcano… …

Mount Etna's circumference where the Sicilian Pyramids of Piedimonte Etneo are located, until after Randazzo.

Mount Etna, (Aïtné in Greek, Latin Aetna, Munce Beddu (White Mount) in Sicilian, Mongibello in Italian (Beautiful Mount), Jebel Utalamat in Arabic (Mountain of Fire) is the world's oldest active volcano. It covers 1190 km², with a 165 km² circumference. Depending on the eruptions, its height varies between 3326m and 3350m. It has a ½ km-wide central crater. It is a strato-volcanic volcano with the town of Catania at its foot. 700,000 years ago, the current plain of Catania was occupied by a gulf because Mount Etna was born at that time (the Quaternary Period), during multiple underwater eruptions and thus gradually filled Catania Gulf. It's important to remember that Sicily underwent the effects of three tectonic plates colliding at the same time: that of Eurasia, Arabia and Africa. It is known that in 6,000 BC a tsunami caused by an eruption of Mount Etna would have left marks in the Mediterranean East; in 396 BC its eruption stopped an invasion of the Carthaginians on their way to attack Syracuse. It is also known today that ashes from this volcano are found more than 800 km from there, in Rome for example. So how come there are small pyramids surrounding such a volcano?

Various shapes of pyramids all built in the same way

Knowing initially that approximately ten of these small pyramids had already been photographed from a certain distance by Italian photographers, I decided to go with my team and see them on field (information on the subject is missing badly). Indeed one could only find available about ten snapshots, taken from the same angle and sometimes from far away, of small pyramidal structures, practically without any explanation or detail of the place. I also tried to make a satellite recognition before leaving, but it didn't give much result, so uneven is the dark lava ground, sometimes covered with fruit trees and vine… Settling in Catania for several days, then in Giardini Naxos, we spent our days, from 9am to 3pm, covering all the area by car, systematically scanning each zone by stopping in average 300 times a day, in order to get off, to take small tracks by foot, to climb hills, to photograph and to take notes and some measurements… I currently have approximately 2,000 pictures of about thirty pyramids! It hasn't been easy, for many pyramids are located in private properties with difficult access; others are hidden under the vegetation; still others are partially or almost completely destroyed by bulldozers; or houses are even built above them, benefitting from perfect stability of their platforms! I had thought I would just find the pyramids that had already been photographed, thinking these were the only ones, but it was with great surprise that I discovered many more! Perfect little pyramids made of lava stone, apparently never identified! Very quickly, while getting closer, walking around them, observing them at different hours of the day, an evidence appeared: all the pyramids built around the sides of Mount Etna had been built by the same civilization, with the same type of lava stones, those being arranged in the same way, with the same handling of angles; various types of these pyramids could be detected, well spread around the volcano. From Piedimonte Etneo to Linguaglossa, from Passopicciaro to Randazzo and Bronte, until Adrano, we could thus enumerate rectangular step pyramids, step pyramids with a square basis, pyramids with a rectangular basis and round angles with round-angled steps, sometimes with altars at the top, and conical round step pyramids. We also observed numerous narrow paths, paved with lava stones, that had not been used for a very long time and wedged between two low stone walls assembled in the shape of scales, covered by cactus fields and thorny bushes connecting small pyramids to certain points near old villages, looking like a network of narrow and sinuous lanes marking the boundary of myriads of small enclosed fields surrounded by four-metres high walls, sometimes including spots for doors and windows… We also noticed hills elaborated with very old systems of drains and irrigation, and narrow stone chisels forming a kind of theatre that doesn't seem to be Greco-Roman, on the slopes of hills facing Mount Etna… Thus, already in Catena, after Linguaglossa on the other side of the road going North at the end of a modern alleyway surrounded by houses and small farms, one suddenly finds on the left a sinuous path paved with very old jet-black lava stones

The strange sinuous procession path made of lava stones, reaching Catena Pyramid with its typical low walls. (picture by Gigal)	The special procession path made of little lava stones, leading to Catena Pyramid Picture byGigal

surrounded by two low walls that leads under a group of trees where suddenly appears a small perfect step pyramid

The small Catena Pyramid (picture by Gigal)

l	Gigal in front of Catena Pyramid

that they tried to destroy without success, and that bears even to the West a still visible access ramp. All of it is surrounded by sections of ruined walls, part of a unity and getting lost under the wild vegetation. Going back on the same path but carrying on straight towards the hills, one is constantly walking by low walls of a particular making, wide and thick, only found near the small pyramids.

Stone lava wall behind Catena Pyramid (picture by Gigal)	Stone lava wall behind the Pyramids in Mauritius (picture by R. de Saint Simon, for Giza for Humanity), the resemblance is striking

The amazing thing is that it's exactly the same walls that we found in Plaine Magnien (Mauritius), near the Mauritian Pyramids! Then one can see, on at least three hills, an organization in steps and in arc of a circle evokes a real theatre with at the bottom a clear paved site with large flagstones, facing perfectly majestic Mount Etna..

One can see the steps and the theatrical arc of a circle	Majestic Mount Etna as seen from the semi-circle's steps in Catena

The steps are very narrow, not really encouraging any culture, although today they try, with much difficulty, to acclimatize vine and some olive-trees; the angles are perfect, the stacking of stones very skilful… This place is a remarkable example of what could have been a place of worship dedicated to the volcano.

 

Mythology of the places

Let us not forget that the word Etna is the name of the Sicilian nymph who became a goddess: Aetna (Aitnê, Aitna) which comes from the Greek Aitne; aithô: “I burn”. She was also called Thalia. 

Aetna was the Daughter of Gaia: the Earth and of Ouranos: the skies, who would have given birth to the Giants, Titans, Cyclops (one of whom is called Bronte, like the city in the East of Etna) and Furies (one of them being Megaera, who also gave its name to a Sicilian city). Aetna had twins from Adrano (Adranus), a god who had many shared characteristics with god Hephaistos: he lived under the volcano, and certain researchers even liken him to the gods Adar in Phenicia and Adramelech in Persia, all personifying the Sun and Fire. Adrano, god of the Sicel people settled around the volcano, was worshiped in the whole of Sicily and particularly in Adrano, the city that bears his name, located on the sides of Mount Etna, where the construction of the pyramids ends. Being jealous, Hera had Aetna's twins swallowed by the Earth, but the latter restored them; this is why these Chthonian children are called: “Palici” (from the Greek palin: "still", and ikein: "to come"), “the twice-born ones” (see in Ovide and Virgile) and they became the Sicilian "patron saints” of agriculture and navigation while more locally still being considered as the gods of the geysers and of the volcano's underground world. It is interesting to note that the myth of the twice-borns also exists in the Near East and in Sanskrit (Dvija). In any case it is known that in a temple dedicated to Adranus, the Sicels would maintain an everlasting fire; according to Roman author Aelianus, in the past about a hundred sacred dogs were kept close to this temple… Thus it is clear that very important worships must have been organized around the volcano, even before the Greeks and the Romans.

Still on Mount Etna's contour

On the other side of Linguarossa, on Mount Etna's Northeast side, a myriad of sinuous alleyways can be found on several km², surrounded by walls enclosing small gardens, sometimes reaching 4m high and 80cm wide; this can't be found anywhere in Sicily, and is of the same making as the lava stone pyramids, with the same wear-out and the same layout.

Very thick 2-metres high walls, in the age-old sinuous alleyways

2.10 to 4-metres high walls, running alongside winding lanes

These walls are really impressive. Today, fields thus enclosed by these walls are sometimes built; we saw pyramidal structures being used as the base for small houses. It is difficult to see exactly what is in the small enclosed fields: these are private properties, now covered with trees and market cultivations..

Sometimes, walls with passageways and perfect angles	Walls stretching on kilometres between small pyramids and Mount Etna

Higher, still on the North side of Mount Etna, at 887 m high, behind the walls of a private property, we could observe an extraordinary stone lava step pyramid, measuring around 35m high

The rectangular step pyramid with stairs on the side, at 880 m high on the North side of Mount Etna

 

	Enlarging of the access stairs

because the last levels have fallen apart, the base measuring 23 m wide with very steep stairs on the side giving access to the higher terraces. At the foot of this pyramid there are all kinds of terraces forming a structure around it. Today the vines and olive-trees partly cover the complex. Interestingly enough, as our observations progress we will see that all the pyramids have either stairs or an access ramp leading to the top. The same thing happens between Linguaglossa and Randazzo where one finds among other things, in the vine, a perfect rectangular pyramid with six steps, and small precise stairs going along the width of the pyramid; it presents its side to Mount Etna.

Perfect rectangular pyramid presenting narrow access stairs on its side

 

 

	Today the bricks are piled on the pyramid's sunny side in order to dry

Entre Passopisciaro et Francavilla de Sicilia on peu observer une remarquable pyramide de forme rectangulaire, oblongue, aux gradins bien droits comme tirés au cordeau, qui forment à l’intérieur de la pyramide comme un chemin sinueux d’accès car les angles de cette pyramide sont incroyablement ronds et l’on trouve un petit escalier au sommet pour atteindre la plateforme finale.

Pyramid with very straight steps, and small stairs at the top	The six steps are easy to discern

 

Look at the round angles of this otherwise rectangular pyramid. Beautiful crenellations on the 4th step.

And thus the pyramid in itself forms a processional path where one can go around and over..

South round angle of the pyramid (picture by Gigal)	Opposite angle (North), still round (picture by Gigal)
The pyramid's spiral top with openings for rigulets (picture by Gigal)	West side of the same pyramid (picture by Gigal)

West side of the rectangular pyramid (picture by Gigal)

Some kind of crenellations with rigulets can also be seen (to enable the water to flow out). It is quite clear that one could go over it in order to turn around until reaching the summit facing the volcano. On the way between Randazzo and Bronte, several small pyramids can be found, all with the classical pyramid shape (we have counted about ten of them, sometimes very damaged), lost in the vegetation around Mount Etna, all with access ramps enabling a procession on the pyramid.

Road between Randazzo and Bronte with other pyramids, snow on the peak of Mount Etna

 

Small pyramid on this road with an access ramp in ruin	Small pyramid with its access ramp in ruin (picture by Gigal)
The access ramp can be clearly seen on the right (picture by Gigal)	Idem photo Gigal

Then going on towards Adrano, small pyramids are found high up on very sloping grounds; here as well it is possible to access their terraces.

Small rectangular step pyramid in the direction of Adrano, on the steep side of Mount Etna (picture by Gigal)

We also observed complicated terrace structures that seem to date from the same epoch as the pyramids; they seem to be used for a very old irrigation system. A spring is collected at the bottom and little channels go down from the high steps and pour water by streaming. These steps do not seem to have originally been used for agriculture because it is extremely difficult to grow anything there: just a few vines at the top, and some olive-trees at the very bottom, but the majority of the steps remain without any culture.

Steps serving for the streaming of water (picture by Gigal)

We have also noticed that many pyramids are located near important megalithic sites and standing stones..

Megalithic site near Castiglione di Sicilia and near pyramids (picture by Gigal)

Essential observations

Despite the pyramids' different shapes, we thus observed that they all had access ramps or stairs leading to the top with an exceptional view of the peaks of Mount Etna, and that they were all positioned around the volcano just where the latter was most dangerous because of its lava flows. What a surprise for us to notice many times that gigantic lava flows were abruptly stopped, frozen only a few steps away from these pyramids. This is an observation we made after having studied the ground of some 27 pyramids.

 

Huge lava flow abruptly stopped near pyramids

Scientists from the team: www.gizaforhumanity.org have started to think about it, and our physicist in the field has started to put forward a theory that in future will be worth studying, deepening, and directly testing on the ground; this will definitely be a fascinating experience. Thus, according to this track and taking in consideration everything we have observed on the ground, we could put forward the following reflexion: when creating a spiral path with focusing properties on a pyramid or on a conical or cylindrical or semi-spherical heights, the unified field is materialized because a resonating cavity is created, i.e. an antenna. Each spiral has its own resonance. Consequently, the flow of time and the mass of surrounding things are perhaps distorted, on and around the spiral path, by activating the process when walking in a particular rhythm on the processional path, which thus creates a resonance. Maybe an old technology allowing to stop the lava? In any case it would be worth studying and testing. It is true that soldiers marching on a bridge can break the bridge, which is why they break their rhythm before getting to the bridge so that it doesn't start resonating. It is interesting to see, on an old map of Sicily, a circle shaped as a snake surrounding the volcano, just where the pyramids are located.

Old map of Sicily where , in the place where the pyramids are located a circular snake can be seen around Mount Etna

Other discoveries

Then, in addition to the pyramids of Alcantara Valley around Mount Etna, we went in the middle of Sicily in order to study a pyramid that had already been filmed: the Pyramid of Pietraperzia near Caltanisseta.

The white arrow points to Pietraperzia

Access to this Pyramid is very difficult, because one has to take narrow and chaotic dirt tracks on dozens of kilometres, but it was woth it. Not only did we discover in the middle of wheat fields a magnificent round step pyramid, with at the top two standing stones in two small roofless rooms and a spiral path; but we also discovered three other pyramids in the distance, perfectly similar and until now never identified.

Round step pyramid in Pietraperzia, with another one behind hiding under natural vegetation

The pyramid with its access stairs and its five terraces

The second round pyramid of Pietraperzia, seen from the first one

The Stone of Pietraperzia is seen from the first pyramid, beyond the car

The pierced Stone of Pietraperzia, in a straight line with the pyramids in the middle of Sicily	Inside the pierced Stone, where the sunray goes through and touches the pyramids at certain times of the year

It has also been noticed that these pyramids were in a line, going perfectly straight from the pierced Stone that gave its name to the place: Pietraperzia. Stone through which it would be possible to observe the sunbeam at the solstice. Besides, everywhere in this area are numerous structures lying under the grass, including a perfect triangular pyramid. The Ancients had chosen this particular place in the centre of the island, to set up a very important worship centre.

Two other round pyramids in ruin under the grass; in the middle in the distance, a perfect triangular pyramid

The triangular pyramid in the background would need to be dug up. We have noted that its summit was made of stone blocks.

 

"Petal" terraces on the round pyramid

We have observed that the round pyramids have terraces positioned in "petals" all around. On the top, everything relates to the number 2: two small roofless rooms, separated by stairs in which are two identical standing stones where a "Y" is carved; a bit higher, a two-people seat towers above it all... Perhaps in the name of the Palici twins, the twice-born, nymph Aetna's sons: the Sicilian gods of navigation and agriculture...

One of the small rooms at the top of the pyramid (picture by Gigal)	One of the standing stones (picture by Gigal)
along the wall of one of the small rooms at the top of the pyramid dIt is still possible to go higher,	A two-people seat at the top of the pyramid, with the remains of a narrow window overlooking directly the Pierced Stone in the distance (picture by Gigal)

In any case above the "seat" the remains of a narrow window, that overlooks directly and in a straight line the Pierced Stone, is proof of the presence of a sophisticated solstitial sun worship. In these days, witnessing a luminous sunbeam going through the structures must have been a privilege, a magnificent sight. Stone altars in ruin are also found spread here and there around the pyramids..

Small altar in ruin under the trees at the foot of the pyramid

Potential origin of the Pyramids

Originally, the Sicani and their prehistoric predecessors have certainly occupied the whole of Sicily, before the arrival of the Sicels: proof of their culture is found more or less all over the island (like on Mount Kronio near Sciacca); it is thus a safe bet to say that they were the actual builders of the small pyramids, specially since the pyramids in the middle of Sicily (a specific area of Sicanian occupation) seem to be slightly anterior to those surrounding Mount Etna. Let us not forget that a Sicanian culture is only identifiable as from 1,600 BC, but they were already existing before that. Many things are still to be discovered about this people; their history is full of fabulous characters, such as the Sicani King Kokalos who gave refuge (against the King of Crete) to the famous architect and inventor Daedalus, in Inycus near the river Belice. Then Daedalus built fortifications, thermal baths, aqueducts, temples and reservoirs here and there in Sicily.But there is another possible thesis: the one of the famous "Sea Peoples", made up of a dozen tribes, including a mysterious group about which very little is known (the "Shekelesh" who would originate from Southeast Sicily, according to expert N.K. Sandars). Shekelesh, Sikala, Sikils, Siculi are a people who attacked Egypt both in 1220 BC and 1186 BC (Redford 1992 :148) under the reign of Pharaoh Merenptah and Pharaoh Ramses III. This is mentioned in the archives of Merenptah (who ruled from 1224 to 1214 BC), where it is said that he imprisoned 222 Shekeleshs; it is also mentioned in an inscription on the tomb of Ramses III (N°157/Thebes West), as well as in the Harris Papyrus that gives the list of the ethnic groups that made up the Sea Peoples (including the Shekelesh), and in the famous inscriptions of the Temple of Medinet Abou at the foot of the Valley of the Kings in Luxor (where the Shekelesh are described as being tall, with a headgear, a medallion on their breast, two spears and a round shield...) Another very interesting thing is that archaeologists found Shekelesh villages located as far as the Palestino-Syrian corridor in Tell Zeror; their identification as the Sicel people of Sicily would be proved by the discovery of amphoras on Mount Dessueri in Sicily and those found near Jaffa in Azor. This Sicilian people, who sailed everywhere on the seas, would have forged tripods and bronze cauldrons, would have used the wheel (fragments discovered in Piediluco) and would have manufactured ceramics (in Termitito)... In the XII Century BC...

Merkart statuette attributed to the Phoenicians, found in Sciacca in Sicily; the Egyptian influence can also be noticed	The Sea Peoples

And then Hittite King Suppiluliuma II warned Hammurabi, King of Ugarit, that the "Shikalayu people living on boats" was about to arrive; historians think it is the Shekelesh/Sicel people mentioned by Merenptah... This confirms that they were fine navigators; which explains why the same pyramids and structures from Sicily are found in Tenerife and as far as in Mauritius (cf articles on Mauritius by the same author); and certainly in other places yet to be discovered...

 

Text : Antoine Gigal

www.gigalresearch.com / www.gizaforhumanity.org

Pictures : Antoine Gigal

 

 

Références :

- , La Sicilia e l'arcipelago maltese nell'età del Bronzo Medio, D. Tanasi Pubblicazioni

del Progetto Kasa 3, (Officina di Studi Medievali), Palermo 2008

-« On the Thapsos Culture in the Syracuse Area: the Problem of the Aegean

Component » - by the author Gianmarco Alberti Thesis: 2001-02.

- « Histoire des origines de la Grèce ancienne » , Cannop Thirlwall,1832.

- « The Sea Warriors of the Ancient Mediterranean »Sandars, N.K.,London.

-« The Sea Peoples », The Cambridge Ancient History, vol II. Barnett, R.D.

-« Medinet Habu Inscriptions and Papyrus Harris in Pritchard, J.B.1969,Princeton University Press.

-« The Shekelesh », Michele MacLaren, CAMS.

-« Final Bronze Age Transmarine Migrations », Federico Bardanzellu.

-« Best of Sicily », : « Daedalu in Sicily »& « Sicilian People :The Sicanians »

par Vincenzo Salerno.

-« Storia degli Etruschi »,Mario Torelli, Roma-Bari, 1998

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