In September 2018 the excavations of the Sapienza University of Rome have been carried on at Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Lecce, Apulia). This site is not only of great interest for archaeology and palaeontology, but can be considered also a key-site to study the climate and paleoenvironmental changes occurred during the Middle-Late Pleistocene in the Mediterranean area. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach of the excavation and study is really needed. Besides the “traditional” methods applied to provide new data on the chronology of the deposit, new lithic tools and fossils, updated analytical methods, such as photogrammetry, were used to create a 3D model of the cave, with the aim of using it as a “powered” database for research, documentation and educational purposes.

During 2018, the fieldwork activity included the following points: – identification, photography and preliminary analysis of the panels with petroglyphs, positioned on the walls and vault of the cave;
– excavation in the sectors: area South and area North;
– topographical survey using an ETS Leica Laser GHM007/GHT196, updating the plan and the creation of longitudinal and transversal sections;
– stratigraphic seriation of the brown and red soils and lower contexts in the south and north areas;
– sampling of the layers (both “terre brune” and “terre rosse” in order to define in detail the deposit micromorphology of the south, west and north areas;
– photographic survey of the territory and cave using a NIKON D700 camera, CMOS full frame sensor, 12.1 Mp, RAW format; – sampling of the stalagmitic levels for geo-chemical analyses; – sampling of the south area for tephrochronostratigraphic analyses; – sampling of the fossil remains from the brown soils for radiocarbon dating and of the staligmatic levels for U/Th dating; – sampling for palaeobotanical analyses in the north areas; – collection and labelling of the archeological and paleontological remains.