This season’s research at Grotta Scaloria focused on the upper chamber denominated the “camerone Quagliati” crossing a section of collapse in the area of the ancient entrance and the area immediately below. A number of small blocks were removed below which two new trenches were opened (trench 12 and trench 11) investigated by cutting a transect transversely to the line of the “Camerone”, in a north-south direction, for an overall length of c. 5 m (fig. 2).

Micro-stratified sondages were dug within the transect and samples taken for micro-morphological, pedological and granulometric analyses, in order to gain a more detailed picture of the sequence of levels forming the deposit and evaluate the importance of several carbonaceous concretions whose position was of some interest.

The sequence was formed as follows:
1) geological formation of the inter-stratum cavern;
2) formation of the archaeological deposit between the end of the Pleistocene period and the Metal Age;
3) partial blocking of the cavern entrance caused by the detachment of elements from its ceiling;
4) the cavern is totally cut off from the outside world until its rediscovery.

While the sampling undertaken in 2007 concentrated on the most recent transformation dynamics of the cavern – in particular the analysis of a stalagmite that had formed on the last collapse showed a first phase relating to a well-lit environment that was open until 1170 years ago, dated by U/Th, and a second phase of a stable environment, without any contact with the exterior. The 2013 investigations examined the nature and entity of the prehistoric occupation of the complex.

The thickness of the archaeological deposit varied between 20 and 60 cm and it was buried by the material from the vault collapse. It was thus ascertained that the Scaloria branch was occupied from the end of the Pleistocene period until at least the early part of the Metals Age, as attested by the numerous fragments of a small reconstructable vase of the Laterza facies found in the area close to the transect entrance. The types of occupation in this chronological range will have to be ascertained, in particular for the permanent and recurrent settlement forms with traces of domestic use of the space: occupation surfaces, multiple sequences of hearths and evidence for animal stalls.
Resistivity survey was carried out both outside the cavern and in its interior. To the exterior, the results indicated the existence of a far more complex morphology than known to date that confirmed the close link with the Occhiopinto branches of the cave system. In the interior, this method was also seen to be efficient in providing information about the diverse typologies of the occupation deposits inside the cavern itself.

It can now be confirmed that the cavern was blocked following a massive collapse covering about 40 m and about 7 m thick, made up of great stone masses that broke away from the cavern’s vault and earth that had penetrated from the exterior in a situation of greater morphological complexity than had been documented thus far.