ETHNO-PREHISTORY MUSEUM "ALFONSO PICIOCCHI" - CAI NAPLES A museum on prehistory and on pastoral, rural, mountain culture in Campania and Southern Italy

Where Museum items were found by CAI Naples Speleologists

In this section findings are sorted by Finding place.

In the early 1980' Alfonso Piciocchi set the Museum windows layout in chronological order (Paleolithic / Mesolithic / Neolithic)
• the purpose was to best "narrate" the evolution of working techniques throughout time,
• but information about finding places was lost.

Using the Photo Archive, we can recover such information, sorting the images by finding place rather than by museum window.

The main finding places where Naples CAI speleologists have been working are:

• Nardantuono Cave in Olevano sul Tusciano. It is located on the left bank of Tusciano river, that flows from Picento Mountains (Monti Picentini) and reaches the sea in the Sele Plain.

• Ausino Cave (a part of the karstic system of Castelcivita Caves, located in the Alburni Massif). It is placed on the right bank of Calore river.

• Castelcivita Cave. It is located near Ausino Cave. Clearly, this area has been frequented at least since the Middle Paleolithic.

• Carmine Valley in Cannalonga located on the slopes of Tuzzi of Plane Mount (Tuzzi di Monte Piano).

Besides the 3 sites Olevano, Castelcivita, and Cannalonga, we will introduce the Coast between Marina di Camerota and Scario, though the Speleological Team activity has been limited. This area is extremely important for studying Paleolithic age in Southern Italy.

In summary, our geographic and geological context is the Hills and Mountains surrounding the Sele Plain, and the whole Cilento mountain range.

In the last 2-3 million years the Apennine Chain, after emerging from underwater where it had been formed, has been slowly rising. The climatic regimes stronly influenced the landscape.

In the last million years the rising rate has been increasing, and the ancient landscape is being undermined and eroded.

From: Calcaterra D., D'Argenio B., Ferranti L., Pappone G., Petrosino P. "Campania and Molise." Series: Regional Geological Guides of Italian Geological Society, 2016 in Italian)

Looking below at the simplified geological diagram we can say:

• Nardantuono Cave is located in Tusciano Valley (limestone area).

• Ausino Cave is located along the Calore river course, on the slopes of Alburni limestone Mountains.

• Carmine Valley (Cannalonga) is placed in an area of sandstone rocks, rich in quartz.

• The Coast between Marina di Camerota and Scario (Lower Paleolithic) is located in an area of sandstone rocks rich in quartz, but there is also Mount Bulgheria, a limestone mountain where some flint nodules can be found.

Simplified Gelogical Diagram (from "Grotte e Speleologia della Campania", Regione Campania) Caption: 1) Quaternary (from 1.81 millions years to present). Deposits in coast planes and inter-mountain hollows; volcanic rocks. 2) Syn-orogenic lands. Miocene / Lower Pleistocene (23.8 million years – 1.81 million years) Terrigenous sediments in mountain depressions. 3) Pre-orogenic lands. Mesozoic / Tertiary (250 million years / 24 thousand years)       a) Carbonatic platforms (limestone)       b) from bacins (sandstone rocks rich in quartz)

Studying what kind of rocks is available in the finding areas of prehistoric items, is important to establish how the raw material supply areas, necessary to make tools, varied throughout time.

Another factor worth considering is the evolution of tree cover in tha Area, especially when we take into account the effects of temperature rising after the end of the last glaciation, estimated 14 thousand years ago.

The article "Anthropological analyses in Castelcivita Cave", published in the volume edited by Paolo Gambassini "Paleolithic in Castelcivita: culture an environment" (in italian only) is very relevant on this topic.

The authors (L. Castelletti and A. Maspero)

• analyze plant residues found in the stratigraphic study of the debris cone in Castelcivita Cave

• and reconstruct the arboreal environment that surrounded the cave in different times, connecting it

      ○ to the profound climatic variations due to the last glaciation, with its mazimum around 18 thousand BC.

      ○ to the progressive rise in temperatures in the following period.

The authors use schemes to show the present diffusion of essences, whose traces have been found in the carbons of the debris cone.

As an example, see below the present diffusion of the Silver fir.

Present diffusion of Abies alba (Silver fir)

Recently, while collecting descriptions of the Albrurni Area, we visited the website of Association Alburni Trekking (alburnitrekking.it).

In the section "Origins" we found this note (in Italian):

"Walking along the Italy Trail, leading to Panormo Peak at 1742 m above sea level, one usually stops to get refreshed at 1500 a.s.l. near the Perennial snowfield. Nearby, one can meet the Prince of the Forest, the centuries-old White Fir, the only specimen in Alburni Mountains."