Valley of the Temples reports new excavations on 10 November

Valley of the Temples (Valle dei Templi) in Agrigento has reported new excavations at the Temple of Concordia on 10 November 2026. A burial cut into the temple floor contained remains that an initial assessment attributes to at least three children.

The discovery concerns one of Sicily’s major archaeological sites and adds a new research angle to a monument that later served as a Christian church.

New excavations at the Temple of Concordia

The Archaeological and Landscape Park of the Valley of the Temples said the excavation campaign was promoted by the park on the initiative of director Roberto Sciarratta. Archaeologist Maria Serena Rizzo and biological anthropologist Roberto Micciché conducted the work.

The team will send the remains for laboratory analysis. The planned work will examine the burial date and seek information about the children’s living conditions and diet. The park’s stated aim is to establish when the Greek temple began to be used as a burial place after its conversion into a Christian church.

The official excavation report says that the new work follows investigations carried out in 2018 and 2019 under the project La valle dopo gli antichi.

What the burial adds to the monument’s history

Earlier radiocarbon analysis of remains from a tomb in the pronaos, the temple vestibule, placed that burial in the twelfth century, during the Norman period. Written evidence also records the church and monastery of San Gregorio in the area.

The park says tradition attributes the transformation of the temple into a church to Bishop Gregory between the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the seventh. That proposed date has not yet been confirmed by the archaeological finds described in the report.

The newly found burial therefore connects the Temple of Concordia’s preserved Greek architecture with a later phase of Christian use, while its precise chronology remains open. The laboratory results are expected to clarify whether the remains belong to the same broad period as the previously dated burial or to another phase.

The wider archaeological area preserves the remains of ancient Agrigento, founded as a Greek colony in the sixth century BCE. The UNESCO information page records its inscription on the World Heritage List in 1997 and describes the site’s Doric temples, later urban remains and evidence of early Christian burial practices.

Research continues beneath a preserved Greek temple

The excavation has a direct bearing on why the Temple of Concordia survived so well. Its later religious use forms part of the monument’s documented history, while the new burial may provide further evidence about the community that used the building after its Greek function had ended.

The reported find is a research result rather than a new exhibition or a special opening. The park’s announcement gives no public viewing arrangement for the burial and says that analysis is required before the remains can be dated.

Visiting Valley of the Temples: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• The relevant report was issued on 10 November 2026 and concerns the Temple of Concordia inside the archaeological park.
• The excavation announcement does not describe a closure, changed entrance or special access for visitors; it presents the burial as an archaeological investigation.
• The site is in Agrigento on Sicily’s southern coast, within the archaeological area inscribed by UNESCO in 1997.
• The Temple of Concordia is a Greek Doric monument later transformed into a Christian church, and the reported burial lies in the temple floor.

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Frequently asked questions about Valley of the Temples

What was found in the new excavations at Valley of the Temples?

The 10 November 2026 report describes a burial in the Temple of Concordia floor containing remains initially assessed as belonging to at least three children.

What is the Temple of Concordia?

It is a Greek Doric temple that was later transformed into a Christian church, with its later use forming part of the current archaeological investigation.

Where is Valley of the Temples and how do you get there?

The archaeological area is in Agrigento on the southern coast of Sicily. UNESCO identifies it as the archaeological area of Agrigento and records its World Heritage inscription in 1997.