CAVES IN BRONZE AGE CENTRAL ITALY: DIVERGING OR CONVERGING RITUALS?
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-10-22

Caves are the most common ritual sites in the Italian late Prehistory. Over 100 caves with a wide range of purposes are known for the Bronze Age in central Italy, many of which have also a funerary connotation and were often used ritually since the Neolithic. Archaeological caves of this period outnumber greatly the known settlements, which makes these rocky places even more crucial in reconstructing the social dynamics of this region. A critical review of the case-studies published over the last century, complemented and enriched by new multi-disciplinary research undertaken over the last decade in several caves of central Italy, has allowed to identify some recurring trends, while also highlighting the great variety of rituals undertaken in these sites. Caves have profound, differences in location, orientation, shape, illumination, speleothems and landscape features. Is such variability responsible for the different ritual manifestations in these sites, or are these diversified practices related to a diversity of systems of belief among the various communities? To what extent can these cavescapes and their archaeological deposits help describe and understand a human group’s social identity? Through the integration of theoretical and scientific approaches, this paper will analyse the ritual practices identified in the caves of Bronze Age central Italy, trying to clarify their significance in the framework of the local Bronze Age human lifeways.


Author(s): Silvestri, Letizia (Durham University, Department of Archaeology) - Achino, Katia Francesca (Quantitative Archaeology Lab, Department of Prehistory, Autonomous University of Barcelona; Institute of Archaeology ZRC SAZU) - Angle, Micaela (Soprintendenza Archeologia del Lazio e dell‘Etruria meridionale) - Mancini, Daniela (Ministero dell‘Istruzione, dell‘Università e della Ricerca) - Gatta, Maurizio (University of York, Department of Archaeology) - Rolfo, Mario Federico (Dipartimento di Storia, Patrimonio culturale, Formazione e Società, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”) - Skeates, Robin (Durham University, Department of Archaeology)