The Grotta del Cavallo or Cavallo Cave (Italian:"Cave of the Horse") is a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

cave in the region of

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, near Nardò south of

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

. The cave is about above present sea level. It has a rounded entrance, wide and high opening toward the sea. The cave was rediscovered in 1960 and two waves of excavations ensued. The first wave spanning from 1963 to 1966 and the second from 1986 to 2008. The cave was disturbed by looters during the period between the two waves of excavations, damaging the layers corresponding to 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 ...

; because of this, the cave entrance is covered by a gate and is closed to the public. Benazzi, S., Katerina Douka, Cinzia Fornai, Catherine C. Bauer, Ottmar Kullmer, Jiří Svoboda, Ildikó Pap, Francesco Mallegni, Priscilla Bayle, Michael Coquerelle, Silvana Condemi, Annamaria Ronchitelli, Katerina Harvati & Gerhard W. Webe
"Grotta del Cavallo: Description of the site and history of excavations."
''Nature: Supplementary Information'', Nature Publishing Group, 02 Nov. 2011, retrieved 12 Nov. 2015

Archaeology

Stratigraphy

The cave contains a rich

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: lithostrati ...

succession with a depth of , that is deposited on top of an

interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene in ...

beach foundation. The most notable section of this sequence covers the

Middle Palaeolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleoli ...

, associated with the

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the latt ...

culture and recently discovered subsequent strata that were associated with the earliest known appearance of

Anatomically modern humans Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH) are terms used to distinguish ''Homo sapiens'' (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from extin ...

in Europe.

Discoveries

In 1964 two deciduous molars were discovered in the cave. In 1967 researchers described the teeth as of

origin and assumed that the accompanying

stone tool A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

s and shell bead ornaments were typical of a Neanderthal culture, that was subsequently termed the '' Uluzzi culture''Callaway, Ewen
"Who were Europe’s first humans?"
'' Nature blog'', Nature Publishing Group, 02 Nov. 2011, retrieved 12 Nov. 2015 as it closely resembles the

Châtelperronian The Châtelperronian is a proposed industry of the Upper Palaeolithic, the existence of which is debated. It represents both the only Upper Palaeolithic industry made by Neanderthals and the earliest Upper Palaeolithic industry in central and sou ...

. However, the association of the Châtelperronian culture with ''Homo neanderthalensis'' is subject of ongoing debate.Higham T, Jacobi R, Julien M, David F, Basell L, Wood R, Davies W, Ramsey CB.C (2010). Chronology of the Grotte du Renne (France) and implications for the context of ornaments and human remains within the Chatelperronian. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Mellars P. (2010). Neanderthal symbolism and ornament manufacture: The bursting of a bubble? Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. In 2011, a team of researchers led by Stefano Benazzi of the Department of Anthropology at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

published a study in the journal ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' which concluded that the teeth are not of Neanderthal origin, but from an early ''Homo sapiens'' and date from 45,000 to 43,000 years BP. According to Benazzi these results allow the support of the hypothesis that the Uluzzi culture is not to be attributed to

Neanderthals Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...

but to modern humans. Benazzi, Stefano, Katerina Douka, Cinzia Fornai, Catherine C. Bauer, Ottmar Kullmer, Jiří Svoboda, Ildikó Pap, Francesco Mallegni, Priscilla Bayle, Michael Coquerelle, Silvana Condemi, Annamaria Ronchitelli, Katerina Harvati & Gerhard W. Webe
"Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour"
''Nature'', V.479, pp. 525–528 Nature Publishing Group, 02 Nov. 2011, retrieved 12 Nov. 2015 Although the Human provenance of these teeth is contended, no evidence contradicting this claim has been put forward and it has gained some acceptance. However, the attribution of the entire Uluzzi technology to Anatomically Modern European Humans is more contentious. Zilhão, Joã, William E. Banks, Francesco d’Errico, and Patrizia Gioia
"Analysis of Site Formation and Assemblage Integrity Does Not Support Attribution of the Uluzzian to Modern Humans at Grotta del Cavallo"
''PLoS ONE'', 10(7): e0131181. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131181

References

External links

Virtual Tour Grotta del Cavallo
{{Navbox prehistoric caves 1960 archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites in Apulia Caves of Italy Landforms of Apulia Prehistoric sites in Italy Paleoanthropological sites Mousterian Neanderthal sites