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Excavation

  • Grotta delle Nottole
  • Fondarca
  • Fondarca
  • Italy
  • The Marches
  • Pesaro and Urbino
  • Cagli

Tools

Credits

  • The Italian Database is the result of a collaboration between:

    MIBAC (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per i Beni Archeologici),

    ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione) and

    AIAC (Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica).

  • AIAC_logo logo

Summary (English)

  • This was the second excavation campaign in the Grotta delle Nottole in the locality of Fondarca, near Peia, in the territory of Cagli (PE – Marche). The grotto, situated on Monte Nerone in the northern Marche, is an important context for evidence about the natural cavities used for ritual purposes by the Bronze Age populations of central Italy. Following research undertaken by the University of Tuscia between 2001 and 2005, research resumed in 2013. The excavations confirmed that this cavity was associated with the group of caves in the Sentino gorge, with elements suggesting relationships in the context of the Grotta Nuova facies along the mid-Tyrrhenian strip and use until the Late Bronze Age. The 2015 campaign, which aimed to extend the excavation area, confirmed the periodic occupation of the cave and the absence of burials and dwelling structures. The presence of numerous hearths in a chamber dominated by dripping water and the presence of fauna constituted by sheep/goat, cattle, and in one case bear, with clear butchery marks for the selective use of the meat, suggest the cave was used for cult purposes. It is likely that this natural chamber, with its particularly evocative context, was chosen for occasional feasting activities, probably in specific periods of the year. The archaeo-faunal and archaeo-botanical analyses will further clarify these aspects and help define the cave’s actual function. The modest amount of pottery found covered a period between the Early Bronze and Late Bronze Age, but the 2015 excavations produced the only body sherd with a “hollow bugna”, a profile typical of Copper Age vases. This could indicate an earlier use of the cave.

  • Gian Maria Di Nocera - Dipartimento di Scienze dei Beni Culturali, Università degli Studi della Tuscia (VT) 

Director

Team

  • Fabio Rossi - Museo della Preistoria della Tuscia e della Rocca Farnese
  • Patrizia Costa - Università della Tuscia
  • Azzurra Mascelloni - Dipartimento di Scienze dei Beni Culturali (VT)
  • Giorgio Brocato
  • Filippo Bozzo

Research Body

  • Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, delle Comunicazioni e del Turismo, Università della Tuscia - Viterbo

Funding Body

  • Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche, delle Comunicazioni e del Turismo, Università della Tuscia - Viterbo

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