SICILIAN PEOPLES - Prehistory

While the Elymians, at least in their remote origins, were probably west Asian, the Sicels of eastern Sicily were probably Italic.

Unlike the Sicels, the Elymians appear never to have sought independence from the Greeks who colonised their corner of Sicily, nor did they engage in open conflict with the Phoenicians who established coastal outposts at Motia, Palermo and other places. The most credible explanation for this is that the Elymians embraced the benefits of increased trade, and already bore much in common with these newer arrivals.

Their language, like that of the Sicels (but unlike that of the Sicans), was Indo-European, offering the possibility for easy communication with the Phoenicians and Greeks.

Known Elymian civilisation bears a few traces of contact with Minoan cultures, though the implications are inconclusive: One theory suggests that the Minoans may have shared some remote roots with the Elymians, and probably traded with them.

Certain theories regarding the historically elusive Elymians have found their way into popular thought, yet remain unproven and, at best, circumstantial. We do not know whether the Elymians were the first to introduce the use of large horses in Sicily, and we do not know if they were the first Sicilians to use copper and bronze. In view of the facts as we know them, it may be more appropriate to attribute both developments to the Sicanians who were already here when the Elymians arrived, and had been influenced by other Mediterranean civilizations.

Scholars identify Sicily's Bronze Age with the Sicanians, citing 2500 BC as a credible date. The date of the Elymians' arrival in Sicily is also debated. While 1100 BC is generally agreed by scholars to be the most recent likely period of their arrival, the Elymians may have been present in northwestern Sicily centuries earlier. (It is sometimes difficult to distinguish early Elymian archeology from that of Sicanian civilization; the Sicanians appear to descend from the Neolithic peoples who once inhabited all of Sicily, including the areas later occupied by the Elymians and Sicels.)