The relationship between Sicily and the eastern Mediterranean – namely Aegean, Cyprus and the Levant – represents one of the most intriguing facets of the prehistory of the island. The frequent and periodical contact with foreign cultures were a trigger for a gradual process of socio-political evolution of the indigenous community. Such relationship, already in inception during the Neolithic and the Copper Age, grew into a cultural phenomenon ruled by complex dynamics and multiple variables that ranged from the Mid-3 rd to the end of the 2 nd millennium BCE. In over 1,500 years, a very large quantity of Aegean and Levantine type materials have been identified in Sicily alongside with example of unusual local material culture traditionally interpreted as resulting from external influence. To summarize all the evidence during such long period and critically address it in order to attempt historical reconstructions is a Herculean labor. Twenty years after Sebastiano Tusa embraced this challenge for the first time, this paper takes stock on two decades of new discoveries and research reassessing a vast amount of literature, mostly published in Italian and in regional journals, while also address the outcomes of new archaeometric studies. The in-depth survey offers a new perspective of general trends in this East-West relationship which conditioned the subsequent events of the Greek and Phoenician colonization of Sicily.

中文翻译：

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西西里岛在希腊人之前。前殖民时代与爱琴海和黎凡特的互动

西西里岛和地中海东部（即爱琴海，塞浦路斯和黎凡特）之间的关系代表着该岛史前最吸引人的方面之一。与外国文化的频繁和定期接触是土著社区社会政治逐步发展的触发因素。这种关系早在新石器时代和铜时代就已开始，逐渐发展成为一种文化现象，由复杂的动力学和多重变量支配，范围从公元前3世纪中期到公元前2世纪末。在超过1500年的时间里，在西西里岛已经发现了大量的爱琴海和黎凡特风格的材料，并举例说明了不寻常的当地材料文化传统上被认为是外部影响所致。总结这么长时间内的所有证据并批判性地加以解决，以尝试进行历史重建是一项艰巨的工作。在塞巴斯蒂亚诺·图萨（Sebastiano Tusa）首次接受这一挑战二十年之后，本文总结了二十年的新发现和研究成果，并对大量文献进行了重新评估，这些文献大部分发表在意大利文和地方杂志上，同时还探讨了新的考古学研究的成果。深入的调查为这种东西关系的总体趋势提供了新的视角，这种趋势调节了后来希腊和腓尼基人对西西里岛定居的事件。本文总结了二十年来的新发现和研究成果，并对大量文献进行了重新评估，这些文献大多发表在意大利文和地方期刊上，同时也论述了新的考古学研究的成果。深入的调查为这种东西关系的总体趋势提供了新的视角，这种趋势调节了后来希腊和腓尼基人对西西里岛定居的事件。本文总结了二十年来的新发现和研究成果，并对大量文献进行了重新评估，这些文献大多发表在意大利文和地方期刊上，同时也论述了新的考古学研究的成果。深入的调查为这种东西关系的总体趋势提供了新的视角，这种趋势调节了后来希腊和腓尼基人对西西里岛定居的事件。