This season’s research in the Scaloria grotto concentrated on carrying out micro-morphological sampling of the exposed deposits and sections of the excavations that took place between 2013 and 2016.

The sampling was carried out in two separate areas: transect 2 and a nearby area.
Two samples were taken from the stratigraphic deposit in transect 2:
1. Tr. 2 Sample A, deposit above US 207 and 701 on the make-up of stones, datable to the late occupation of the cave, presumably in the Eneolithic period. The sampling aims to complete the deposit’s occupation sequence. The sample was taken at the north-western edge of this sector of the excavation (figs. 1 and 2).

2. Tr.2 Sample B, deposit underneath boulder G between US 208 and 211; the sampling aimed to reconstruct the transition between the dark horizon underlying the levels with make-ups for housing large vases and the redder layer deposited on the substratum (figs. 2 and 3). During cleaning of the section for sampling, the head of a human femur appeared, situated at 0.57 cm from point 0 left in situ. In the same transect, a sample was taken of the terracotta cordon bordering one of the holes identified in 2016.

The other area sampled was close to transect 2, adjacent to the burials in trench 10. This was a level of soils characterised by an abundant presence of human skeletal remains, with fragmentary bones. The latter were investigated and sampled in order to compare them with the sediments from different zones in the cave with regard to the concretionary crystals. These samples were taken in order to understand whether the bones deposited in trench 10 underwent transitions or movements in successive depositions in other parts of the cave.