The Grotta del Romito it is one of the most important examples of prehistoric art not only in Italy but in all of Europe. It is located at the foot of Mount Ciavola, part of a naturalistic environment of charm and value, with typical characteristics of the karst landscape such as caves, shelters and sinkholes. We are located in Nuppolara in the municipality of Papasidero, in the Lao River Valley, in the province of Cosenza; the Grotto owes its name to the frequentation of the monks of the nearby monastery of Sant'Elia who used it as a hermitage.
Geographical configuration of the site
The site consists of two parts: the actual cave about 20 meters long and certainly once well illuminated by daylight, and the shelter which extends for about 34 meters. The deposits of the cave and the shelter constitute a single large formation in which suggestive stalagmites and stalactites can be admired; inside there is also a still unexplored gallery.
Site of fundamental importance for Calabrian prehistory together with the Grotta della Madonna in the nearby coastal town of Praia a Mare, it constitutes one of the most important Italian deposits of the upper Paleolithic (30.000-10.000 years ago) and attests more recent visits dating back to the European Neolithic (7.000 - 4.000 years ago). And it is precisely in this cavity that he lived "the man of the Romito”, Probably a Cro-Magnon man, who did not know how to breed animals and did not know agriculture and pottery.
Later it was Homo Sapiens who inhabited the cave intensely, leaving countless testimonies of its passage with its lithic and bone tools, with the wonderful graffiti and with the remains of its skeletons.
The discovery of the cave
The cave was discovered on the property of Agostino Cersosimo, in the spring of 1961, by the then director of the Municipal Museum of Castrovillari Agostino Miglio on the recommendation of two Papasideresi during an agricultural census. The great discovery was then entrusted to an internationally renowned archaeologist, Paolo Graziosi dell 'University of Florence, who directed the works until 1968. In the last decade, starting from 2000, the care of the site has been entrusted to one of his disciples, Fabio Martini, who teaches at the same University.
The numerous archaeological discoveries returned from the site offer scholars numerous elements useful for the historical reconstruction of the activities of the hunter-gatherer communities who inhabited the site, the living conditions of prehistoric human groups, their interaction with the surrounding environment and landscape.
Indications on the fauna and on the conditioning suffered by the communities from the climatic dynamics that occurred from the end of the Paleolithic to the Neolithic: the presence in the cave of a stream, prior to 24.000 years ago and having alternating phases of enlargement over the centuries, has allowed human attendance following the drainage and remediation interventions.
Referable to the Neolithic period, for example, is the discovery of obsidian which suggests the "Romito area" as a center of exchange and transit, between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian areas, of the volcanic glass coming from the Aeolian Islands, confirming the importance of the Neolithic populations of Calabria in the trade and control of this material.
The findings of human remains
The deposits of the Riparo first came to light: the remains of a man and a woman lying in a small oval pit on top of each other, then two other couples buried in similar positions. A couple of these skeletons are exhibited at the Museum of Prehistory in Florence; another is exposed to the National Museum of Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria and the third is still being studied by the Italian Institute of Prehistory and Protohistory of Florence in their laboratories.
During the excavations some single burials were also found. Among all, an elderly person of 35 years (corresponding to today's 100) who, from the investigations of the case, was found to have been hit by many diseases, hunting injuries and falls. From the very abraded teeth it was concluded that, probably, it made itself useful to the community by working the skins with the use of teeth, in exchange for subsistence.
Rock engravings
In addition to the important human remains, what characterizes this archaeological site are the famous ones rock carvings, affecting two large collapse stones at opposite ends of the shelter. The first is that of the so-called "Linear signs”, A boulder of about 3.50 meters, with simple straight or slightly curved sections, more or less deeply engraved, arranged in all directions, without any apparent meaning.
The second is that of "Boulder of the Bulls”Which is found at the mouth of the cave and has three profiles of Bos Primigenius, a wild animal ancestor of domestic cattle, engraved on different levels. It represents one of the most important representations of rock art of the Upper Paleolithic: it is so perfect in design and perspective, as in the choice of the rock surface that gives it a three-dimensional sense, that Professor Graziosi affirms that he is facing "the most majestic and happy expression of Mediterranean Paleolithic realism, due to a Michelangelo of the time ".
The site can currently be visited thanks to the intervention ofItalian Institute of Experimental Archeology, in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendence of Calabria and the Municipality of Papasidero, thanks to which interventions were carried out to guarantee access to the cave and the integrated use of the archaeological site. Illustrations inside the cave, as well as geomorphological artwork, are open to guests along with replicas of the skeletal figures.
