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Excavation

  • Grotta di Pozzo
  • Pozzo di Forfora
  •  
  • Italy
  • Abruzzo
  • Province of L'Aquila
  • Ortucchio

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)

  • As planned, the late Pleistocene levels in various quadrants of rows 6, 9, 10, and 11, were excavated.
    Row 6. In J6, K6 and L6, the upper part of the late Pleistocene sequence constituted by occupation level PS1 was removed, which together with an ashy lens indicated the presence of a combustion structure. A number of small limestone blocks and cobblestones can also be attributed to this structure. A large amount of material was recovered. The excavation stopped at the roof of PS6, on top of which were earlier combustion structures, attesting a continuity of seasonal occupation.

    Row 8. In H8 the removal of level PS6C, with ashy lens, revealed another occupation level. Excavations stopped at PS6D.

    Row 9. In G9, residual patches of occupation levels and detritus associated with eroded layers, re-deposited and hypothetically attributable to the “PSα” levels, were removed. Underlying lenses were removed down to the roof of PS13, in situ and on whose surface blocks from the collapse of the vault rested. In H9, a similar sequence was excavated, down to PS13, where a collapsed block was also identified. A modest amount of material was recovered.
    In J9, a larger scale intervention removed the deposits forming the earliest Pleistocene sequence (PS7, PS8, PS9, PS10, PS11, several lenses of PSα and various levels of the PS13 group, attributable to diverse periods of occupation). Excavation halted at the roof of the layer of detritus PS14.
    In K9, layers PS12 and PS13. In the latter, part of a probable combustion structure was uncovered. Both layers produced a substantial quantity of lithic finds.

    In L9, layers PS13, PS14, and PS15 were removed, and a moderate quantity of materials recovered. These layers overlay the earliest occupation levels, PS16/PS18, attested by very slight traces of charcoal, and burnt bone. The excavation stopped at the collapses-gravels relating to a period immediately after the last, Würm glaciation).

    Row 10. Excavation in I10 began at PS13, with traces of combustion for four occupation phases, down to PS14. The absence of levels PS15, PS16, PS17 meant that PS18 was reached directly.
    Row 11. In I11, opened for the first time, the removal of the heavily disturbed Holocene levels and underlying layer of detritus, revealed an accumulation of 26 small limestone blocks and cobblestones, showing signs of exposure to heat. These formed an intact, sub-circular structure, not altered by subsequent interventions, flanked by an accumulation of ash, which was part of layer PS1 at which the excavation was halted.

    The campaign provided further evidence of the area occupied during the Late Glacial periods. Further evidence for the various moments of early and final Epigravettian occupation was also documented. The re-colonization of the site and therefore of the mountain area after the UGM, as early as the 19ka bp (23cal BP) onwards was also confirmed.

  • Margherita Mussi - Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche dell’Antichità, Sezione di Paleontologia 

Director

Team

  • Rita T. Melis - Università degli Studi di Cagliari
  • Emanuela D’Angelo - Università di Roma “La Sapienza”

Research Body

  • "Sapienza" Università di Roma
  • Università degli Studi di Cagliari

Funding Body

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