The Arene Candide, ( it, Caverna delle Arene Candide, ''Cavern of the White sands'') is an archaeological site in

Finale Ligure Finale Ligure ( lij, O Finâ, locally ; la, Finarium) is a ''comune'' on the Gulf of Genoa in the Province of Savona in Liguria, Italy. It is considered part of the Italian Riviera. Geography Known for its white sand beaches and its views, Final ...

Liguria it, Ligure , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, Italy. Its name was derived from the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

dune of white (''candida'') sand (''arena'') that could be found at the base of the cliff until the 1920s in the ''Caprazoppa promontory'', where the Arene Candide cave is located. The cave is situated at above sea level on the upper margin of the former ''Ghigliazza stone quarry'' and has three wide openings that point towards the sea. Thanks to its position and to those openings the cave is well lit and relatively dry. It can be accessed from above within 30 minutes via a path from

Borgio Verezzi Borgio Verezzi ( lij, Bòrzi Veresso) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about southwest of Genoa and about southwest of Savona. Geography The municipality of Borgio Verezzi is compose ...

History

The cave is locally known as ''Grotta dei Frati'' or ''Armassa'', and received its popular name in 1864, when Arturo Issel visited it, who was the first in a long series of archaeologists and geologists and researchers. The Arene Candide gained international attention after the excavation campaigns in the years 1940 to 1942 and 1948 to 1950 in the south-eastern part of the cave, led by Luigi Bernabò Brea and Luigi Cardini. Their excavation brought a detailed

stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostra ...

sequence to light, that ranges from the

Upper Palaeolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

to the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

period. The favorable environmental conditions in the cave proved to be the key to the good state of conservation of the organic material like bone

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s and charcoal fragments. Due to their extraordinary preservation condition, the nineteen paleolithic burial pits, that were discovered in Arene Candide rank among the most significant funerary complexes in the world, as the material enabled researchers to conduct extensive and comprehensive anthropological studies in the framework of contemporary available scientific methods. Further excavations were carried out in the 1970s and the 2000s. The most remarkable and scientifically valuable burial is called the "Young prince" (''Giovane principe''), a male around 15 years old, dated to about 23,500 years BP, attributed to the

Gravettian The Gravettian was an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian circa 33,000 years BP. It is archaeologically the last European culture many consider unified, and had mostly disappeared by ...

culture. The body was positioned lying on its back on a layer of red ochre, below the surface sediment, looking to the south and accompanied by an extremely rich set of grave goods including a cap made of shells and deer canines, jewels made of shellfish, mammoth ivory pendants, four deer antler batons, and a stone

blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

in his right hand. The blade was crafted from

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

originating in the Forcalquier basin in south-eastern France. He died from a serious injury to the jaw and shoulder, possibly inflicted by a bear or big cat. This area was covered with yellow ochre before the final burial. Isotope analysis of the teeth revealed that approximately ¼ of the juveniles diet consisted of marine protein. Excavation discoveries are on display in several Italian museums, including the ''Museum of Ligurian Archaeology'' in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Pegli Pegli is a neighbourhood in the west of Genoa, Italy. With a mild climate and a sea promenade, Pegli is mainly a residential area with four public parks and several villas and mansions. It is also known as a tourist resort with some hotels, campi ...

, the ''Archaeological Museum of Finale'' in

and the

Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography The "Luigi Pigorini" National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography is a public and research museum located in Rome, Italy. Established in 1875 and opened in 1876 by Luigi Pigorini, from 2016 it is one of the four museums inside the Museum of Ci ...

in Rome.

References

{{Navbox prehistoric caves Archaeological sites in Liguria Caves of Italy Landforms of Liguria Province of Savona Prehistoric sites in Italy