Pantelleria : Italy
To the south-east, in the district known as the Cunelie, are a large number of tombs, known as sesi, similar in character to the nuraghi of Sardinia, though of smaller size, consisting of round or elliptical towers with sepulchral chambers in them, built of rough blocks of lava. Fifty-seven of them can still be traced. The largest is an ellipse of about 60 by 66 ft (18 by 20 m), but most of the sesi have a diameter of only 20 to 25 ft (6 to 7.5 m). The identical character of the pottery found in the sesi with that found in the prehistoric village proves that the former are the tombs of the inhabitants of the latter.
This population came from Africa, not from Sicily, and was of Iberian or Ibero-Ligurian stock. After a considerable interval, during which the island probably remained uninhabited, the Carthaginians took possession of it (no doubt owing to its importance as a station on the way to Sicily) probably about the beginning of the 7th century BC, occupying as their acropolis the twin hill of San Marco and Sta. Teresa, 2 km (1 mi) south of the town of Pantelleria, where there are considerable remains of walls in rectangular blocks of masonry, and also of a number of cisterns. Punic tombs have also been discovered, and the votive terra-cottas of a small sanctuary of the Punic period were found near the north coast.
