Grotte di Armetta or Grotta dei Puntali
Cavity with paleontological and anthropozoic deposit, prehistoric pottery and rock art. (Source: Landscape Guidelines)
The name Armetta refers to a group of cavities dug in a shore line; the largest cave is the Grotta dei Puntali, in ancient Praianeto. The cavity is divided into a succession of rooms, for a total of about 250 meters, which stop for an impassable crack but which allows for further environments hosting a colony of bats. Around 1869 the geologist GG Gemmellato dug large trenches in the second room without leaving any reports. It was an excavation that involved no less than 200 square meters, for an estimated thickness of 1,50 m with which the soil strewn with stalagmites (tips) was reached. The finds brought to light by Gemmellato were studied in 1893 by Pohlig while Schweinfurth, in 1907, published a stratigraphy of the Puntali determined by E. Engel of the Royal University of Palermo. From top to bottom he recognized (roughly):
1-Blackish earth with recent pottery.
2-Argile brown with different bones of a very dark color particularly of horse and of
deer (archaeological layer).
3-Layer of ossami of large souls, especially of Elaphants but also of Bos primigenius and bison
priscus.
(Text source: Giovanni Mannino Piero Galati: Carini Archaeological Map)
In-depth documents:
Giovanni Mannino Piero Galati: Carini Archaeological Map. Download file: NOTES_FOR_THE_ARCHEOLOGICAL_CARTA_CAR
Giovanni Mannino: Guide to the Prehistory of Palermo - List of prehistoric sites in the province of Palermo - Sicilian Institute for Political and Economic Studies - 2008 - Publication produced with the contribution of the Regional Cultural Heritage Department,
Environmental and Public Education. Download the document: Guide-Prehistory-of-Palermo_10c8pt2p
Bibliography and further in-depth documents:
100) FIRST SICILY - AT THE ORIGINS OF SICILIAN SOCIETY - volume first edited by Sebastiano Tusa Palermo 1997.
198) D. Petruso - V. Forgia - L. Sineo: The human population of Sicily: an interdisciplinary review in the Archive for Anthropology and Ethnology - Vol. CXLIV (2014)
Download file: SINEO et al
200) Gioconda La Magna (edited by) Between Etna and Simeto - Archaeological research in Adrano and its territory - Proceedings of the study meeting for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Adrano Museum Adrano, 8 June 2005 - Library of the Regional Province of Catania 2009. Download file: The_Neolithic_in_Valle_del_Simeto
Ignazio Caloggero:
History of Sicily - 1.2. Paleolithic and Mesolithic:
History of Sicily - 1.2.1: Religious sentiments and burials in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic
History of Sicily - 1.2.2: Art in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic
History of Sicily - 1.2.3: Archaeological sites of the Sicilian Paleolithic and Mesolithic
Bibliography and in-depth documents:
Ignazio Caloggero: Sicily between History, Myths and Legends. Vol. 1: From Prehistory to the Phoenicians. First edition 2018 - Revised and updated edition of 2022
History of Sicily - 1.3.1: Neolithic and the birth of agriculture in Sicily
History of Sicily - 1.3.2: Religiosity and Burials in the Neolithic Period
History of Sicily - 1.3.3: Art in the Neolithic
History of Sicily - 1.3.4: Neolithic Sites List
PRESS: Well cataloged but partially geolocated. We invite you to provide your contribution by providing us with useful information that will allow us to geolocate the listed asset. See also "Cultural Heritage to be Geolocated"
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Photos: Google
Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero Web
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