Elevation 590 m Access Public Province Province of Foggia Entrance 1 | Entrances 1 Website Official website Geology Karst | |
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Location Rignano Garganico
(FG, Apulia, Italy) Address Gargano National Park, Località Paglicci, 71010 Rignano Garganico FG, Italy Similar Pettakere cave, Arene Candide, Las Caldas cave, Abrigo del Pez, Gatecliff Rockshelter | ||
Paglicci Cave is an archaeological site situated in Paglicci, near Rignano Garganico, Apulia, southern Italy. The cave, discovered in the 1950s, is the most important cave of Gargano. The cave is an attraction of the Gargano National Park.
Contents
Description
In the cave, situated near Rignano Garganico, there are more than 45,000 individual finds, including Paleolithic 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.
The cave contains also some Paleolithic 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 earliest Aurignacian and Gravettian remains of Italy, dated to c. 34,000 and 28,000 BP (uncalibrated).
Risk of collapse
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.
Relevance in population genetics
In 2008, a scientific team led by David Caramelli tested human remains from Paglicci cave dated 28,000 BP (before present), named Paglicci 23, and found that the individual had the human mitochondrial haplogroup H, specifically the rather common Cambridge Reference Sequence. The result was exhaustively tested for possible contamination and replicated in a separate test.
In 2016 it was found that 31-35 thousand years old human remains from the cave named Paglicci 33 carried Y-DNA haplogroup I and mtDNA haplogroup U8c.