Romito Cave
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The Romito cave () is a natural
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
cave in the Lao Valley of
Pollino National Park Pollino National Park (Italian language, Italian: ''Parco Nazionale del Pollino'') is an Italian national park in the southern Italian peninsula, peninsula, in the provinces of province of Cosenza, Cosenza, province of Matera, Matera and province ...
, near the town of Papasidero in
Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
, Italy.
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: lithost ...
record of the first excavation confirmed prolonged paleo-human occupation during the
Upper Paleolithic 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 ...
from 17,000 years ago and the
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
from 6,400 years ago. A single, but exquisite piece of
Upper Paleolithic 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 ...
parietal rock engraving was documented. Several burial sites of varying age were initially discovered. Irregularly recurring sessions have led to additional finds, which suggests future excavation work. Notable is the amount of accumulated data that has revealed deeper understanding of prehistoric daily life, the remarkable quality of the rock carvings and the burial named ''Romito 2'', who exhibits features of pathological skeletal conditions (dwarfism).


Site

The ''Grotta del Romito'' was discovered by Agostino Miglio, then director of the Town Museum in Castrovillari in spring of 1961, who had received curious information from several local people. Excavations started in the summer of 1962 under the direction of Paolo Graziosi of the
University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'') (in acronym UNIFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The f ...
. The Archaeological Park contains a small museum that presents the documentation and ongoing research. The site consists of two distinct areas: an outer former rock shelter or overhang with a length of and the inner cave, embedded into the limestone formation with a length of and accessible via a narrow tunnel. The interior is graced with a number of curiously shaped
speleothems A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation made by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depend ...
and prehistoric graffiti.


Stratigraphy

Excavations in an enlarged trench performed in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007 exposed a long sequence of strata that forms seven main archaeological units (A–N) with episodes of intensive human occupation. The succession ranges from the Middle and Late
Gravettian The Gravettian is 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   ...
(units L-I-H-G) to the Early
Epigravettian The Epigravettian (Greek: ''epi'' "above, on top of", and Gravettian) was one of the last archaeological industries and cultures of the European Upper Paleolithic. It emerged after the Last Glacial Maximum around ~21,000 cal. BP or 19,050 BC ...
(unit F), Middle Epigravettian (lower unit E) and Late Epigravettian (upper unit E and units D-C-B). These cultural stages occurred between 26,000 and 10,000 years ago. Deposits near the entrance are about thick and consist of
clastic Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks by ...
sediments. Palaeolithic deposits, up to thick, underlie the middle
Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
layers, around thick and contain Middle and Late Neolithic pottery. Locally derived rock blocks up to in size rest on the talus slope in front of, and below, the entrance, indicating that there was originally an overhang that later collapsed. Deposits of human occupation contain numerous bones and stone tools, rounded out of size-exogenous pebbles and abundant charcoal detritus which is related to fireplaces. About fifty discovered pottery shards are evidence for occupation of the cave during the Neolithic/Iron Age transition.


Rock engravings

The bull, an
Aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius''; or ; pl.: aurochs or aurochsen) is an extinct species of Bovini, bovine, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of t ...
(''Bos primigenius'') is about long located at the mouth of the cave to the west and is engraved on three different levels of profiles. The stylistic scope is characteristic of the Mediterranean and the design of perfect proportions. The feeling of force transmitted from the overall design of the figure and the careful handling of the anatomical details amounts to the highest expression of Paleolithic realism in the region. In front of the rock another bovine figure has been cut, much more subtly, showing only the chest, head and part of the back. On the opposite end of the shelter sits another engraved boulder, covered with numerous linear signs. Both engraving are dated to between 14,000 and 12,000 BP.


Obsidian tools

The presence of large quantities of obsidian in a Neolithic layer suggests that the site was an intermediate base for the obsidian trade - that originated in the
Aeolian Islands The Aeolian Islands ( ; ; ), sometimes referred to as the Lipari Islands or Lipari group ( , ) after their largest island, are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, said to be named after Aeolus, the mythical ruler of ...
in the
Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...
to be transferred to the
Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
.


Burials

During the first excavations three graves were found, 9,200 years old and each containing a couple of human beings, placed in
epipaleolithic In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are someti ...
layers. One grave was found inside the cave, the other two underneath the adjacent rock shelter near the bull-engraved stone. The specimens were named ''Romito 1 - 6'' and all were between 15 and 25 years old and not taller than . P. Graziosi discovered the diminutive remains of ''Romito 2'' that turned out to be the earliest known case of
dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition of people and animals marked by unusually small size or short stature. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dwarfism is . '' ...
in the human skeletal record. The specimen, known as ''Romito 2'', exhibits features typical of
acromesomelic dysplasia Acromesomelic dysplasia is a rare skeletal disorder that causes abnormal bone and cartilage development, leading to shortening of the forearms, lower legs, hands, feet, fingers, and toes. Five different genetic mutations have been implicated in t ...
. ''Romito 2'' was characterized by unusually short forearms and lower legs, resulting in a rather short stature. Abnormal cartilage and bone development also affected other bones of the body, particularly those of the hands and feet. There was likely a limited extension of the elbows and arms and progressively abnormal curvature of the spine. Besides providing evidence for a greater antiquity of dwarfism than previously known, the fact that this individual reached late adolescence attests to tolerance of Upper Paleolithic groups for severely abnormal individuals and their ability to support members who were of limited economic value to the social group. To date, nine intact, well preserved burials have been recovered from stratigraphic layers dating from ca. 18,000 to 11,000 BP, the majority of burials corresponding to a period of climatic amelioration from ca. 15,000 to 13,000 cal BP (Final Epigravettian).


Footnotes


References


External links


Pollino Park info
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