Demography in the plain of Carini in Late Antique and Byzantine age. Case study of the catacomb of Villagrazia di Carini. Data and methodological considerations

The catacomb of Villagrazia di Carini was the early Christian collective cemetery used by the late antique settlement of San Nicola, which became the site of the Byzantine diocese of Hykkara / Carines. The catacomb was located along the ancient Via Valeria, and was continuously frequented from the Constantinian age up to the eighth century. As it contains the remains of the inhabitants of main settlement of Hykkara and those of secondary sites scattered in the Carini plain. The study of the trend of burials within the cemetery could be useful for studying the dynamics of population of this rural area of North Western Sicily.