This season’s campaign aimed to continue the investigation of the Mousterian remains in layers 111 and 1004, therefore the removal of the sterile layers between layers 111 and 150, in order to extend the excavation area of the latter. Three distinct sectors were investigated: “Area A” (H6, H7, I5, I6, I7, L4/I-II, L5, L6, L7, M4/II-III, M5/II-III, M6/II-III, M7/II-III),“Area B” (D8, D9, E8, E9, F8, F9, G8) and “Area C” (D5, E4, E5, F3, F4, F5, G2, G3, G4, H2, H3, H4).
In Area A, the excavation of layer 111 (removing 111/2 and 111/3) was completed. These spits contained evidence of various combustion structures, some very well-preserved, that were individually recorded and, where possible, sampled for micro-stratigraphic studies. In this same sector, the sterile layers 120 (clay) and 121 (fine grained sand) were also excavated, reaching the top of 125 (medium grained sand with anthropological evidence and coprolites).

In the adjacent Area B, it was possible to link the layers of ‘cobbled surfaces’ and the ‘area for marrow extraction’, respectively, with the base of layer 110 and layer 111/0, identified during the previous campaign, in Area A. The excavations continued and identified the first anthropic surface in layer 111 in the quadrants towards the rear of the cave, while in the rest of the area (quadrants towards the cave entrance) layer 110 was seen to rest directly on 1004. Indeed, in this sector the entire sequence becomes flattened, resting on large collapsed blocks that rise towards the right side of the cave. Lastly, in Area C sondages were opened in the first anthropic levels in layer 1004. Once the first thin sterile layer was removed, the first surface was exposed (1004A) containing a large amount of anthropic materials, which covered a complex sequence of levels connected by lateral contacts, probably relating to a large palimpsest of hearths.

This season, the established national and international collaborations continued (University of Pisa, Institute of Human Palaeontology – IsiPU and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig). This involves a series of studies mainly aimed at further defining the site’s chronology (radiometric dating on vegetal carbon, OSL on sediment samples), identifying possible ancient DNA residue (possibly Neanderthal) conserved in the sediments and the study of the micro-morphology of the hearths through thin-sectioning.

During the 2016-2017 campaigns, the technological and functional study of the lithic industry continued together with the tassonomic and taphanomic study of the faunal remains from levels 150 and 110. The resulting data has been analysed using a specifically designed GIS platform.
More generally, the palaeo-geographic, palaeo-climatic, and palaeo-environmental profiles are also the subject of research, in particular the ancient sea level and therefore the cave’s distance from the coast.