Chapter 12 The lost settlement of Halikyai and excavations at Cappasanta, Salemi, Sicily Michael Kolb, P. Vecchio, G. Mammina & Caroline Tyers INTRODUCTION Archaeological and historical research frequently lays bare the profound impacts that result from colonial confrontations with indigenous societies (recent critical studies include Kelly 1997; Lightfoot 1995; Lyons & Papadopoulos 2002; Stein 1999); power relations that result in mixed outcomes of social symbiosis, marginalisation, acculturation, accommodation, amalgamation, domination, and even extirpation. Many such conflagrations are well documented in the annals of ancient Sicily, where indigenous peoples consolidated, traded, and made war upon each other and against arriving Greek and Phoenician immigrants (for recent discussions see Holloway 2000; Leighton 1993; 1999; Pugliese Carratelli 1996; Tusa 1992; 1997). However, the complex tapestry of most of these encounters remains hidden to us. Its actors — Greeks, Phoenicians, and Sicilians — are all but invisible now; its events — battles, defeats, and alliances — all enigmas of a fragmented and scanty history of indigenous peoples recorded by Greek historians. Our research in Salemi, western Sicily (fig. 1), has provided crucial evidence regarding one such colonial encounter at a significant indigenous centre in interior Sicily, a site that may be the ancient Elymian town of Halikyai. The Elymi occupied various hilltops of western Sicily; a mountainous area punctuated by isolated but well-drained valleys suitable for agricultural exploitation (Tusa 1996; 1997). The timeframe spans the Archaic (c. 700–480 BC), Early Classical (480–400 BC), Late Classical (400–323 BC), and Hellenistic (323–30 BC) periods. In this paper we present data recovered from excavations beneath the modern city of Salemi after a series of tantalising Greek ceramic finds were uncovered by community officials. Here we report the stratigraphy, chronology, and artefact analysis from our excavation unit located at Piazza Cappasanta. We follow with a discussion of how our findings influence our thinking regarding the cultural sequence of the indigenous Elymian peoples. author first names please Holloway 2000 not in Biblio