Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T17:41:57.701Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon Dating the Exploitation Phases of the Grotta Della Monaca Cave in Calabria, Southern Italy: A Prehistoric Mine for the Extraction of Iron and Copper

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Gianluca Quarta ,
Felice Larocca ,
Marisa D'Elia ,
Valentina Gaballo ,
Maria Macchia ,
Giuseppe Palestra  and
Lucio Calcagnile
Gianluca Quarta*
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Felice Larocca
Affiliation:
Centro Regionale di Speleologia “Enzo dei Medici,” via Lucania 3, Roseto Capo Spulico (CS), Italy
Marisa D'Elia
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Valentina Gaballo
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Maria Macchia
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Giuseppe Palestra
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Lucio Calcagnile
Affiliation:
CEDAD-Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
*
2Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Grotta della Monaca is a karstic cave in Calabria (southern Italy) that plays an important role in reconstructing the oldest strategies for the acquisition of mineral resources in the Mediterranean. In fact, systematic archaeological excavations carried out by the University of Bari allowed the identification of intense prehistoric mining activities aimed at the exploitation of iron and copper ores. Archaeological evidence suggests different phases of frequentation of the cave spanning from the Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, Copper and Bronze ages up to the Middle Ages. In order to establish an absolute timeframe for the different phases, a radiocarbon dating campaign was carried out and the results presented in this paper.

Type
Archaeology of Eurasia and Africa
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 55 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 2) , 2013 , pp. 1246 - 1251
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, D'Elia, M, Rizzo, A, Gottdang, A, Klein, M, Mous, DJW. 2004. A new accelerator mass spectrometry facility in Lecce, Italy. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223–224:16–20.Google Scholar
Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, D'Elia, M. 2005. High resolution accelerator-based mass spectrometry: precision, accuracy and background. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 62(4):623–9.Google Scholar
D'Elia, M, Calcagnile, L, Quarta, G, Rizzo, A, Sanapo, C, Laudisa, M, Toma, U, Rizzo, A. 2004. Sample preparation and blank values at the AMS radiocarbon facility of the University of Lecce. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223–224:278–83.Google Scholar
Dimuccio, LA, Garavelli, A, Pinto, D, Vurro, F. 2005. Le risorse minerarie. In: Larocca, F, editor. La miniera pre-protostorica di Grotta della Monaca (Sant'Agata di Esaro - Cosenza). Edizioni Centro Regionale di Speleologia “Enzo dei Medici.” p 37–41.Google Scholar
Larocca, F, editor. 2005. La miniera pre-protostorica di Grotta della Monaca (Sant'Agata di Esaro -Cosenza). Edizioni Centro Regionale di Speleologia “Enzo dei Medici.” Google Scholar
Larocca, F. 2010. Grotta della Monaca: a prehistoric copper and iron mine in the Calabria region (Italy). In: Anreiter, P, Goldenberg, G, Hanke, K, Krause, R, Leitner, W, Mathis, F, Nicolussi, K, Oeggl, K, Pernicka, E, Prast, M, Schibler, J, Schneider, I, Stadler, H, Stöllner, T, Tomedi, G, Tropper, P, editors. Mining in European History and its Impact on Environment and Human Societies. Proceedings for the 1st Mining in European History Conference of the SFB-HIMAT (Innsbruck, 12–15 November 2009). Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press. p 267–70.Google Scholar
Larocca, F. 2012. Grotta della Monaca (Calabria, Italia meridionale). Una miniera neolitica per l'estrazione dell'ocra . In: Borrell, M, Bosch, J, Clop, X, Molist, M, editors. Xarxes al Neolitìc. Actes Congrés Internacional (Gavà/Bellaterra, 2–4 February 2011). Rubricatum, Revista del Museu de Gavà 5:249–56.Google Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230(5291):241–2.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Hajdas, I, Heaton, T, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, Manning, SW, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Southon, JR, Talamo, S, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4):1111–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar