The Phoenician and Roman settlement in Cuccureddus
End of the VII century B.C.-IV century A.D.

The Phoenician, and later Roman, shrine in Cuccureddus was set on a panoramic hill in the west entrance of Capo Carbonara, by the mouth of the stream “Foxi”, in those times navigable.

The Shrine’s geographic position assured an adequate protection from the winds and storms to the merchant ships that rounded Capo Carbonara, as well as a suitable intermediate stop in the trade routes that involved the west Mediterranean, where they could take on provisions and water and ask for help to the main religious gods during the travel.

It can be explained, in this way, the presence of places and objects dedicated to the cults, but also of the men who took care of the temple and the port which, probably, was at the bottom of the hill.

Among the objects found, the most interesting are the votive offerings, dating back the Republican age (II and I century B.C.), which reproduce human body parts such as phallus, ears, legs, arms, and whose meaning is certainly referred to the type of request asked to the worshipped deity.