| Grotta Paglicci (Paglicci Cave) | |
|---|---|
  Location of the caves in Italy | |
| Location | Rignano Garganico (FG,Apulia,Italy) |
| Coordinates | 41°40′00″N15°34′00″E / 41.66667°N 15.56667°E /41.66667; 15.56667 |
| Elevation | 590 m |
| Geology | Karst cave |
| Entrances | 1 |
| Access | Public |
| Website | Official website |
Paglicci Cave is an archaeological site situated in Paglicci, nearRignano Garganico,Apulia, southernItaly. The cave, discovered in the 1950s, is the most important cave ofGargano. The cave is an attraction of theGargano National Park.
In the cave, situated near Rignano Garganico, there are more than 45,000 individualfinds, includingPaleolithic tools, human and animal bones. They are currently housed in Rignano Garganico's Museum. Evidence of Paleolithic oat harvesting dating to 30,600 BC was linked to a pestle recovered from the cave.[1]
The cave contains also somePaleolithic mural paintings, depicting horses and handprints. Images of goats, cows, a serpent, a nest with eggs, and a hunting scene have also been found engraved on bone.
Two human skeletons have been found as well, belonging to a boy and a young woman, both wearing deer bone or teeth ornaments.
Paglicci cave contains the earliestAurignacian andGravettian remains of Italy, dated to c. 34,000 and 28,000BP (uncalibrated).[2]
In 2008 Italian archaeologists made a plea to the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to dedicate funds to save the cave which is at risk of imminent collapse.[3]
Caramelli et al. (2008) tested human remains fromPaglicci 23 dated 28,000 BP (before present), and found that the individual had the human mitochondrialhaplogroup H, specifically the rather commonCambridge Reference Sequence. The result was exhaustively tested for possible contamination and replicated in a separate test.[4]
Fu et al. (2016) found that 31-35 thousand years old human remains fromPaglicci 133 carried Y-DNAhaplogroup I (not I1) (CTS674+, CTS9269+) and mtDNAhaplogroup U8c.[5]
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| Geographic | |
