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A RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY FOR “GROTTE DI PERTOSA” IN CAMPANIA, SOUTHERN ITALY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2023

Felice Larocca ,
Francesco Breglia ,
Lucio Calcagnile ,
Marisa D’Elia  and
Gianluca Quarta Open the ORCID record for Gianluca Quarta [Opens in a new window]
Felice Larocca
Affiliation:
University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Gruppo di ricerca speleo-archeologica, Bari, Italy Centro di ricerca speleo-archeologica “Enzo dei Medici”, Roseto Capo Spulico (CS), Italy
Francesco Breglia
Affiliation:
Centro di ricerca speleo-archeologica “Enzo dei Medici”, Roseto Capo Spulico (CS), Italy Department of Geosciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Lucio Calcagnile
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Centre of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics, Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio de Giorgi”, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
Marisa D’Elia
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Centre of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics, Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio de Giorgi”, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
Gianluca Quarta*
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Centre of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics, Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio de Giorgi”, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email: gianluca.quarta@unisalento.it
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Abstract

The Pertosa Caves, today also known as the Pertosa-Auletta Caves, constitute an important karst system in the Campania region (southern Italy). Crossed by the waters of a river that re-emerges on the surface, they have an overall development of about 3 km. Thanks to the width of the entrance, the excellent location along a natural communication route through the mountains and the natural availability of water directly on the site, the initial part of the cavity was frequented by humans, without interruption, from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages. During the protohistory, in particular, the moment of most marked human presence is recorded in the cave. In this phase an extensive pile dwelling system was built on the waters of the underground river. The system was probably created to make the location, subject to frequent flooding, suitable for human settlement. This structure today constitutes an archaeological unicum not only in Italy but throughout Europe. We briefly analyze its general characteristics providing the results of a radiocarbon dating campaign which allowed to assess the occupation phases of the different contexts and the life span of the wooden artifacts, which came to us in a very good state of preservation. Radiocarbon data allowed to assess the chronological range of the human frequentation of the caves and to date the exceptionally well preserved underground pile dwelling system.

Keywords

AMScavesItalian PrehistorySouthern Italystilt house
Type
Conference Paper
Information
Radiocarbon , First View , pp. 1 - 11
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of University of Arizona

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 24th Radiocarbon and 10th Radiocarbon & Archaeology International Conferences, Zurich, Switzerland, 11–16 Sept. 2022

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