The Copper Age (4,000–2,200 BCE). The cultural landscape in Sicily during the Copper Age was extraordinarily rich and complex, characterised by a variety of cultural traditions distributed across different areas of the island. Excavations at Chiusazza Cave, located approximately 12 km from Syracuse, have provided a solid stratigraphic framework for establishing the relevant chronology of many of the pottery types associated with this period. At the Sperlinga Shelter of San Basilio, the Copper Age deposit corresponds to Layer I. This layer contains pottery associated with the Sicilian cultural horizons of Pianoconte, Serraferlicchio and Chiusazza-Malpasso-Sant’Ippolito. These traditions developed side by side and often overlapped in a Sicily that was as dynamic as it was complex during the fourth and third millennia BCE. Evidence for a more permanent occupation of the Sperlinga Shelter of San Basilio can be seen towards the end of the Copper Age. Layer I is dominated by coarse pottery, the most characteristic form being the fruit stand with tall openwork foot. This vessel reflects the aesthetic culture of Chiusazza-Malpasso-Sant’Ippolito, which finds close parallels in the Aeolian culture of Piano Quartara from the same period.