Sebastiano Tusa was born on August 2, 1952, and passed away on March 10, 2019. He was an Italian archaeologist and politician who worked as a councilor for Cultural Heritage in the Sicilian region of Italy from April 11, 2018, until his death. Tusa also taught paleontology at Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples.

Biography

Sebastiano was the son of archaeologist Vincenzo Tusa. He earned a degree in literature with a focus on Paleontology from Sapienza University of Rome. Since 1993, he worked as the manager of the Sicilian Regional administration, overseeing the archaeological section of the Regional Center for Design and Restoration. In 2003, during excavations in Pantelleria, he discovered three Roman imperial portraits.

Later, Tusa shifted his work from field research to managing cultural heritage in Sicily. He led the superintendency of Trapani and, in 2004, became the first Superintendent of the Sea for the Sicilian Region’s Department of Cultural Heritage. He organized archaeological missions in Italy, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.

In 2005, he directed excavations at Motya, uncovering a submerged road leading to the island and structures that appeared to be ancient quays. In 2008, he and Folco Quilici created a documentary film about the prehistory of the Mediterranean on Pantelleria. Excavations he supported, led by Fabrizio Nicoletti and Maurizio Cattani, showed that Pantelleria was an important place for trade in ancient times.

In January 2010, he was named an honorary member of the National Archaeologists Association. In 2012, he returned to lead the Superintendence of the Sea for the Sicilian Region. In March 2012, he ran for the Palermo city council as part of FLI but did not win. After leaving the Superintendence of the Sea, on April 11, 2018, he was appointed as the councilor for Cultural Heritage by Sicilian Region president Nello Musumeci, replacing Vittorio Sgarbi.

Academic work

From the 2000s until his death, Tusa was a professor of Palethnology at the University School of Archaeological Cultural Heritage in Agrigento from 1992 to 1994. He also taught Marine Archeology as part of a three-year program in Marine Biology in Trapani, both at the University of Palermo. Additionally, he was a professor of Paleontology at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples and a lecturer at the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Bologna. In the academic year 2015-16, he served as a contract professor at the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany.

Death

Tusa was one of 157 people killed in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on 10 March 2019. The plane was flying from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. He was heading to Malindi, where he was invited to attend a conference organized by UNESCO. He was 66 years old at that time.

Tusa was survived by his wife, Valeria Patrizia Li Vigni, the director of the Palazzo Riso Museum of Contemporary Art in Palermo.

Published works

• Prehistoric Times in the Area of Trapani. Marsilio, 1990.
• Mozia. Publisicula, 1990.
• Prehistoric Sicily. Dario Flaccovio Editore, 1994. ISBN 88-7758-227-8.
• Sicily in Prehistoric Times. Sellerio, 1999. ISBN 88-389-1440-0.
• Archaeology and History in the Seas of Sicily. Magnus, 2010. ISBN 978-88-7057-252-0.
• Selinunte. L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2011. ISBN 978-88-8265-592-1.
• Archaeological Sicily. Edizioni di Storia e Studi Sociali, 2015. ISBN 978-88-99168-05-6.
• The First Mediterranean: Reflections on the Oldest Sea in History. Edizioni di Storia e Studi Sociali, 2016.
• The Peoples of the Great Green: The Mediterranean During the Time of the Pharaohs (in Italian). Ragusa: Edizioni Storia e Studi Sociali, 2018. ISBN 9788899168308. OCLC 1038750254.