Sebastiano Tusa (1952-2019): the Near East, Sicily and Soprintendenza del Mare, Libya
This paper traces in detail the career of Sebastiano Tusa, from his early education to his activity as University researcher and professor, and as official and later assessore in the Regione Siciliana (autonomous Italian region). This reveals a scholar, always at the forefront in the field of prehistoric archaeology and curious about all the other disciplines and a reconstruction of the ancient world which includes facts and events from ‘lesser’ history. He lived in trenches, participating in a impressive number of excavation campaigns in Italy, especially Sicily, and abroad (Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Malta, Turkey, Congo, Japan, Libya). He displayed great skills on several fronts: teaching, protection of the territory, archaeological explorations, scientific research, dissemination and communication. From 1997 on, Tusa conceived the project for an autonomous regional organism that would be responsible for the archaeological heritage of the sea which led, in 1999, to the creation of GIASS (Gruppo d'Indagine Archeologica Subacquea Sicilia) and finally, in 2004 of the Soprintendenza again, from 2012 to 2018, when he assumed the position of assessore ai Beni Culturali of the Regione Siciliana. To Tusa
we owe fundamental works on Sicilian prehistory and protohistory, as well as sensational archaeological discoveries such as the Satyr from Mazara del Vallo (1997-1998) and the naval rams from the battle of the Aegates islands (2005-2018).
Parole chiave/ Keywords
Preistoria mediterranea, archeologia del Vicino Oriente antico, Sicilia, archeologia subacquea, Cirenaica
Mediterranean prehistory, Near Eastern archaeology, Sicily, underwater archaeology, Cyrenaica
