The Umbrian cave of Grotta Bella. The diachronic evolution of a meeting place
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The Umbrian cave of Grotta Bella. The diachronic evolution of ameeting place Arianna Zapelloni Pavia– Felice Larocca ABSTRACT In the absence of broad Italic ethnicities and clear-cut territorial boundaries, sanctuaries played avital aggregative role in the life of peoples, oÁen acting as poles around which local communities formed. Sanctuaries in antiquity, especially in the pre-Roman period, were rarely manmade structures. Evidence of early ritual activity can be found in or near watercourses, lakes, mountains, and caves. By virtue of their liminal and otherworldly characteristics (obscurity, humidity, permanency, and silence), able to condition humans’ psycho-emotional sphere, caves stand out from other places within the landscape. ey inspire imagination and trigger the innate human curiosity to explore hidden spaces. Perhaps not coincidentally, Plato used the evocative context of anatural and dimly lit cave to allegorically represent the intelligible nature of human life. Caves are not only geographic features but also cultural constructs that can become highly charged symbols in identity construction and in the development of communal complexity and territoriality. Using new speleological and archaeological data as well as across-cuing temporal approach, this paper analyses how the cave of Groa Bella, in Umbria, Central Italy, functioned as aplace of human gatherings across time: first as atemporary dwelling, then as afunerary space, and, lastly, as asacred space. In this last phase, and possibly also due to the long-lasting memory of its previous functions, the cave appears to have had adistinctive connection to the surrounding territory, anchoring the identities of those who participated in the ritual that took place within this underground space. KEYWORDS Cave archaeology; sacred spaces; votive offerings; pre-Roman Italy. INTRODUCTION e investigation of cult places presents aunique opportunity for understanding broader issues of cultural continuity and change. As has been widely demonstrated by scholars working on the ancient communities of central and southern Italy, the people that lived in the areas surrounding sacred spaces and the fortified centres nearby, used those spaces not only to express their religious sentiments but also to gather together as acommunity (Bradley– Glinister 2013; Di Fazio 2018).1 Inspired by De Polignac’swork on Greek sanctuaries (De Polignac 1995), numerous scholars have maintained that sacred spaces in central and central-southern Italy functioned 1 Some sanctuaries, such as Lucus Feroniae on the border between Ager Capenas and the Tyrrenian port sanctuaries at Gravisca and Pyrgi, Sabinum seem to have held prominent roles as gathering points between different cultural groups. Some others had the function of strengthening the political bonds between entire communities. Well-known examples include the Temple of Jupiter Latiaris on the Alban Hill, the Fanum Voltumane at Orvieto (ancient Volsinii), and the sanctuary at Pietrabbondante. STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/2, 39–54
40 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/2 as markers of the territorial boundaries of certain communities.2 is interpretation seems, however, to overlook the difficulties of tracing ethnic boundaries in the archaeological record. As recent work has emphasized, ethnic boundaries in pre-Roman Italy were blurred, and local cultural identities appear to have been more predominant than ethnic and political ones (Jones 1997; Scopacasa 2018; Perego 2014; Lomas 2009; Bradley 2000b). Indeed, in the absence of clear-cut ethnic boundaries and full-fledged urban centres, sanctuaries appear rather to have functioned as poles of aggregation around which communities formed. Acase can be made for this role in Umbria where cemeteries and votive objects existed before the formation of urban centres between the 4th and the 2nd centuries BCE. In this paper, we report the results of archaeological and speleological work that we conducted in the cave of Groa Bella, in the Italian region of Umbria, tracing the diachronic development of this multi-functional space. Evidence of votive activity performed in pre- -Roman times highlights the connection between the sacred space and the community living in the nearby territory. Our research further supports the possibility that the use of local sanctuaries may have strengthened asense of belonging to specific communities and may even have played arole in the formation of communal identity. GEOGRAPHIC SETTING AND DESCRIPTION OF THE CAVE e site lies on the north-eastern slope of the Monte L’Aiola (756 m.a.s.l.). is mountain is the easternmost extension of the Monti Amerini chain, between Monte Castellari to the south and Monte Pianicel Grande to the north. It now makes up the territory of Avigliano Umbro, eight kilometres from the town of Amelia (ancient Ameria) and some two kilometres east of the village of Santa Restituta (Pl. 1/1). Aslanting depression on the slope of the mountain constitutes the cave entrance, which is hidden from view due to the thick vegetation growing on all sides (Pl. 1/2). e entrance of the cave leads to avast area of collapsed layers, illuminated by the daylight that enters from the surface (Larocca 2022). is first room is massive: the major axis measures 40 m and the minor axis 30 m; its average height is about 10 m. In the innermost sector, ahole opens on the vault in the rock. It rejoins the surface aÁer afew metres, although only through cracks inaccessible to humans. If, at immediate contact with the entrance, the hall is relatively flat, along the southern perimeter it declines steeply with aseries of dips and abrupt drops. is underground sector is characterized by alarge number of calcite concretions: stubby stalactites hang from the walls and the rocky vault, causing intense dripping water during rainy seasons; below, in the innermost depths of the cavity, there are numerous stalagmite formations, stalactite-stalagmite columns and abundant patches of white calcite. From the most sunken sector of the Entrance Hall, three distinct tunnels continue on into the cave. Each of them has been given aconventional name: 1) Via delle Streoie (Narrow Passages Route); 2) Ramo Delle Firme (Signature Branch); and 3) Condoa Preistorica (Prehistoric Passageway). e Via delle Streoie is abranch characterized by asequence of low walkways, which can be crossed only by experienced speleologists. It flows into atunnel of significant size, only recently explored and for this reason still absent from the plan shown in Fig. 1. 2 According to de Polignac, extra-urban sanctuaries of the 8th and 7th centuries BCE were founded to assert territorial control and mark boundaries between separate communities. Comparable interpretations that follow this territorial model have been put forth for central and central-southern Italy.
41ARIANNA ZAPELLONI PAVIA– FELICE LAROCCA Fig. 1: Planimetry and cross sections of the cave derived from the most recent topographic survey (drawing by F. Spiganti and F. Breglia).
42 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/2 e Ramo delle Firme is one of the deepest parts of the cave. is passage owes its name to the curious fact that almost all of the rock walls are covered with signatures and inscriptions, leÁ by former visitors to the site as areminder of their underground descent. ough decades and, in some cases, even centuries have passed, names and dates are mostly still clearly legible. e Signature Branch ends inside the so-called ‘Santa Restituta Hall’, which lies at adepth of 30 m compared to the entrance elevation. e Condoa Preistorica owes its name to the identification of macroscopic traces of human frequentation found in the collapse layers on the ground and walls. Here, abundant remains of impasto poery can be linked to the first use of the cave in the prehistoric period, when human groups descended down this branch – completely obscure due its distance from the surface – and went on to reach even deeper areas. ese include the so-called Sala dello Scheletro (Skeleton Hall), asmall chamber used as aprehistoric burial ground, as recent research has highlighted. e Sala dello Scheletro, further discussed below, is located at 31 m below the entrance elevation and represents the deepest underground area among those known today. New topographical investigations in the cave allow the assessment of an overall planimetric development of 238 m (the spatial development is 262 m), with 31 m of maximum vertical drop with respect to the entrance. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND SPELEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS e dates visible in the Signature Branch show that Groa Bella has been continuously visited throughout the past three centuries. e first known historical reference to the cave’sexistence, however, dates to 1902, when the geologist Bernardino Loi had the opportunity to visit it. In anote, he briefly described the underground rooms and mentioned the discovery of asmall terracoa head from the Roman period that he found in the Entrance Hall. In addition, he recalled the presence of some tunnels located in the deepest part of the cave that he did not dare to explore alone (Lotti 1902). e first scientific exploration of the cave and its innermost recesses took place half acentury later. At the end of the 1950s, the site aracted the aention of the Gruppo Groe Pipistrelli CAI of Terni (cavers from Terni, Umbria). e speleologists from Terni, in addition to visiting most of the hypogeal environments, carried out the first topographical examination of the space and surveyed the site in the Catasto delle Groe dell’Umbria (Cadaster of Umbrian caves, identification position: 19 U/TR). As aresult of the speleological investigation, the cave was thoroughly described. At the same time, the presence of ancient artifacts, revealed by clandestine diggers, spurred professional archaeological interest for the first time (Mattioli 1968). In 1970, the Soprintendenza alle Antichità dell’Umbria in collaboration with the Department of Human Paleontology and Palethnology of the University of Milan began the first archaeological investigation of the cave. During four consecutive campaigns, the research effort was concentrated on one external trench and three internal ones. In one of these internal trenches, the excavation of adeep stratigraphic sequence, explored to adepth of seven metres from the surface, allowed for the identification of three phases of occupation of the space (Guerreschi etal. 1992). e site had been inhabited from Neolithic times (5000–3000 BCE) until the late Bronze Age (1200–1000 BCE) and became acult place from the Archaic to the end of the Imperial period (6th century BCE to 4thcentury CE). From the 1st century CE to the 4th century CE, however, the votive offerings noticeably decreased compared to the previous centuries, suggesting more episodic use of the sacred space.
43ARIANNA ZAPELLONI PAVIA– FELICE LAROCCA In the 1990s, aÁer adecade in which the cave appears to have been widely forgoen and its stratigraphy disturbed by looters, it became aregular destination of the Gruppo Speleologico Todi. is group explored the entire underground system and discovered anumber of new areas. In particular, in the deepest parts of the cave they revealed the presence of aroom with alarge scaering of human skeletal remains. Here, they found askull embedded on the base of amassive stalagmite– hence the name Sala dello Scheletro (Skeleton Hall). Unfortunately, this discovery was not followed by athorough survey of the cave, and, once again, several decades passed before archaeological work in the cave resumed. In 2019–2021, archaeologists and anthropologists from the Regional Centre of Speleology ‘Enzo dei Medici’, an organization specializing in speleo-archaeological research, and the aforementioned Gruppo Speleologico Todi investigated anew the Sala dello Scheletro. ey ascertained the archaeological importance of the site and rekindled scientific interest in the historical stratification of the cave. HUMAN FREQUENTATIONS IN THE PRE-PROTOHISTORIC PERIOD Human frequentation from the preand protohistoric period, between the 5 th and the 2 nd millennium is evident both in the first rooms (entrance and Entrance Hall) and in the deepest rooms (secondary branches). e excavation campaigns carried out in 1970–1973 in the Entrance Hall revealed adual phase of Neolithic frequentation of the site; the oldest connected to the Sasso di Furbara culture and the most recent to the Ripoli culture. Evidence for the Early Bronze Age (Umbro-Tosco-Latium facies) and for the Middle to the Final Bronze Age emerged from the ensuing stratigraphical layers (Guerreschi etal. 1992). e morphology of the site, with avast and hospitable hall adjoining the entrance, must have been deemed suitable for habitation by the first human groups that came into contact with the cave. e general condition of the main underground environment (the present Entrance Hall), in fact, lent itself well to human habitation, temporary or permanent. e factors which seem to have most facilitated human occupation in this space are the almost flat terrain, the diffuse light coming from the near surface, the shelter-effect created by the rocky vault, and even the possibility of an on-site water supply in certain seasons (due to the dense dripping from the stalactites hanging from the vault and walls) (Pl. 1/3). Indeed, evidence of trichrome painted wares, stone millstones, worked flints and obsidian, polished stone tools, and even afew metal tools (from the protohistoric phases) as well as the presence of several hearths near the entrance and faunal remains of leÁover meals, point to the residential function performed by this sector of the cave (Pl. 1/4). Although remains of human bone from the Ripoli culture have been found in the initial part of the cave, they were scaered and by no means indicative of aburial. e most recent investigations, however, revealed that there was afull burial site in the cave, the aforementioned Sala dello Scheletro, and the contrast with the use of space above makes the room of exceptional interest. is hall represents one of the deepest underground districts of Groa Bella: this place, far from the surface and secluded, can only be reached by walking through aseries of completely dark tunnels. e room has amajor axis of 10 metres and aminor axis of 4, while the height varies from 2 to 5 metres. Heavy, dripping water caused concretions, resulting in an environment entirely filled with stalactites, stalagmites, and calcite flows. At the base of the stalagmites, the presence of bones points to the use of the area as aburial site. Ahuman skull covered by astalagmite has been the object of anthropological studies, which
44 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/2 assigned it to ayoung person aged 6 to 12 years (Pl. 1/5).3 Other bones belonging to the same individual are still cemented under conspicuous calcium carbonate flows and can be discerned through narrow fissures between boulders and stalagmites. At ashort distance from the skull, additional skeletal evidence was uncovered scaered over an area of about 11 square metres. e evidence seems to relate to at least nine distinct individuals, five infants and four adults (Larocca 2022). e chronological horizon of these burials is most likely prehistoric, as suggested by anumber of artifacts found in the immediate vicinity: earthenware vessels laid along the rock walls, together with flint blades, and bone awls (the laer perhaps related to the clothing of the deceased or to the transportation systems used to transfer the corpses to this remote underground location) (Pl. 1/6).4 e evidence discussed above clearly shows the spatial division of the cave during the prehistoric period, with aliving area located at the entrance of the cavity and aburial area secluded in the deepest part of the cave. Above, in immediate contact with the surface, was the world of the living; below, the world of the dead, arguably not intended for open viewing, since it was situated in the deepest, darkest, and most restricted part of the underground cave. e location of the burial ground in the innermost part of the cave, reachable only by overcoming uncomfortable and winding paths, does not exclude, however, that the presence of humans in that part of the cavity could also have had acultic significance, ausage in line with interpretative trends on the human/cave relationship during prehistory and protohistory suggested by some authors. 5 To this point, however, we cannot give adefinite answer at present. Investigations are still at an early stage, and many useful elements for reaching areliable interpretation of the context (for example, aconsideration of the type of material culture found in association) still require further analysis. ARCHAIC PERIOD AÁer an interruption in use during the protohistoric age, the main chamber of the cave was given anew function starting in the 6th century BCE. e presence of votive deposits evidences atransition from aspace of habitation to atheatre of ritual practices connected to the psychic sphere and closely linked to religious sentiments. It is no wonder that the cave, with its liminal quality of aspace and located at the edge of inhabited landscapes– between above and below, inside and outside, the sacred and the profane– lent itself to highly ritualized activities that involved communication between two worlds.6 Furthermore, it is possible that the memory of earlier site occupation may have played an important role in the decision to use the cave 3Anthropological analysis was possible thanks to the direct on-site study conducted by Dr.Alessandra Cinti. 4 Radiometric dating of the funerary context is currently in progress. 5 Whitehouse 1992; Pacciarelli 1997. 6 From the Caribbean to the Mediterranean, caves have along history as centres of cult and religion and as such are acknowledged as asignificant part of the archaeological evidence. For an overview on the diachronic ritual of caves see: Moyes 2012. Athorough discussion on the meaning of cave spaces and votive materials in the 1st millennium BCE Greece and southern Italy see: Katsarou– Nagel eds. 2021. In the specific context of the Italian peninsula, the funerary and cultic frequentation of caves seems to begin in the Bronze Age (Tane del Diavolo near Orvieto and the Gola di Frasassi) to then decrease during the Iron Age. Starting in the 6th century BCE, cults in caves appear to be widespread until the Hellenistic period (Groa de Re Tiberio in Riolo Terme, Groa del Colle di Rapino in Chieti). In ancient Umbria, the only known sacred cave dated to these periods is Groa Bella. On these and other caves in ancient Italy, see Pacciarelli 1997. Although cults in natural
45ARIANNA ZAPELLONI PAVIA– FELICE LAROCCA as aritual space, and perhaps even served to legitimize its sacralization.7 Further, as Tilley convincingly argued, the material properties of stone, from its varied texture and colour to its surface, must have had an impact on the way people experienced and interacted with the cave visually, acoustically, and sensorily.8 e cult place appears to have been connected to asystem of selements whose fortifications have been identified on the summit of the Amerine hills: on Monte Castellari and Monte Pianicel Grande. e fortified areas defined by these defensive walls controlled the east-west routes that connected the southern Umbrian centres of Tuder and Ameria with central Etruria. e fulcrum of this territorial organization was the Umbrian town of Ameria, where apermanent selement seems to have existed since at least the 6th century BCE. Amountainous path connected the cult place with both the Tiber valley and the pre-Roman routes that led to Ameria and was retraced by the Via Amerina in the 3rd century BCE. e votive material that aests to the new ritual use of the cave in the Archaic period consists of 24 pieces of aes rude and 289 figurines, mostly made out of bronze and afew of lead, published by Monacchi (1988) and more recently by Zapelloni Pavia (2020).9 Both the fragments of aes rude and the figurines were found by the excavators in disturbed layers, mixed with earlier and later objects. e vast majority of votive figurines belong to the so-called Esquiline Group, according to Colonna’sconventional classification of Umbro-Sabellic votive bronzes. 10 e 268 figurines of this group have flat, narrow, and relatively elongated bodies with stiff arms and legs.11 e legs are very slender and have pointed endings; the head is also elongated, with eyes indicated by two grooves and the mouth by an incision; the arms’ endings are sometimes characterized by transverse grooves to indicate the fingers. ere are 30 females, 203 males, and 35 warriors. Females are depicted wearing along tunic; males are naked with clear genital protuberances; warriors bear ahighly schematic crest on their heads and their right arms are pierced to make space for aspear. Asimilar schematic design characterizes 15 figurines representing animals. ese consist of six cows, one goat, two sheep, five pigs, and one unidentifiable animal. Standard features of the type are elongated bodies, pointed feet, and anatomical details rendered by grooves or by small circles carved in the bronze. Additionally, two figurines of the so-called Nocera Umbra Group represent warriors, identifiable by the presence of the helmet and ahole for aspear. eir bodies are filiform, flat, and presented schematically, with only the crest on the heads places are common in ancient Umbria, the only known sacred cave dated to these periods is Groa Bella: Amann 2015. 7e link between Umbrian archaic sanctuaries and earlier sites has been noted by Bradley (1987, 114; Bradley 2000a, 63) and Stoddart (1994, 152) who reasonably connected it to similar situations in Greece and Latium, where it was not unusual to legitimize the sacralization of aplace by appealing to its antiquity. 8 Tilley 2004. 9 e plain back of the figurines suggests that they were cast in aone-sided mould, see below Fig. 8. 10 Giovanni Colonna (1970) categorized votive groups according to their stylistic affinities and named the groups aÁer their find sites, even if this was not their likely place of manufacturing. ey go from alow level of sophistication, with figurines of the so-called ‘Esquiline Group’ (Colonna 1970, 103), ‘Amelia group’ (Colonna 1970, 90–93), and the ‘Nocera Umbra group’ (Colonna 1970, 100), to figures of the stylistically more sophisticated ‘Foligno Group’. Figurines of animals and anatomical parts are not considered by Colonna. 11 e number does not include small fragments whose aribution to specific figurines remains problematic.
46 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/2 Fig. 2: Bronze figurines representing males, females, and warriors; Esquiline Group (photos by A. Zapelloni Pavia and F. Larocca). Fig. 3: Bronze animal figurines (photo by A. Zapelloni Pavia).
47ARIANNA ZAPELLONI PAVIA– FELICE LAROCCA Fig. 4: Bronze figurines representing warriors, Nocera Umbra Group (photo by A. Zapelloni Pavia). Fig. 5: Bronze figurines representing heads and anatomical parts (photo by A. Zapelloni Pavia).
54 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/2 Larocca, F. ed. 2017: Tra pietra e acqua. Archeologia delle groe di Pertosa-Aulea. Studi e ricerche 2004–2016. Pertosa (SA). Larocca, F. 2022: Groa Bella (Santa Restituta di Avigliano Umbro). Un nuovo progeo di ricerca speleo- -archeologica. In: E. Roscini (ed.): Fra tutela e ricerca. Indagini archeologiche in territorio amerino. Perugia, 135–150. Lloyd, J. 2021: e Spartan Lead Votives. New data from archival and scientific analysis. iasos. Rivista di Archaeologia e Architeura antica 10/2, 33–44. Lomas, K. 2009: Italy beyond Rome. In: A. Erskine (ed.): ACompanion on Ancient History. Hoboken, 248–259. Lotti, B. 1902: Sulla costituzione geologica del gruppo montuoso di Amelia (Umbria). Bolleino del Reggio Comitato Geologico d’Italia 33, 89–103. Mansuelli, G.A. 1983: Guida alla cià etrusca e al museo di Marzaboo. Bologna. Mattioli, B. 1968: Note sulla Groa Bella 19 UTR. Rassegna Speleologica Italiana 20, 178–181. Muskett, G. 2014: Votive offerings from the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, Sparta, in Liverpool collections. Papers of the British School at Athens 109, 159–173. Monacchi, D. 1988: Note sulla Stipe Votiva di Groa Bella (Terni). Studi Etruschi 54, 75–89. Moyes, M. 2012: Sacred Darkness. Aglobal perspective on the ritual use of caves. Boulder. Pacciarelli, M. ed. 1997: Acque, Groe e Dei. 3000 anni di culti preromani in Romagna, Marche e Abruzzo. Catalogo della mostra, Imola, 5 aprile–13 luglio 1997. Imola. Perego, E. 2014: Final Bronze Age and social change in Veneto. Group membership, ethnicity and marginality. Mélanges de l’École Française de Rome, Antiquité 126/2, 161–186. Roncalli, F. 1989: Antichità dall’Umbria aBudapest e Cracovia. Budapest, Museo di Belle Arti, 4 agosto–17 seembre 1989. Milano. Scopacasa, R.2018: Ethnicity. In: G. Farney– G. Bradley (eds.): e Peoples of Ancient Italy. Boston– Berlin, 105–127. Stefani, E. 1935: Gualdo Tadino. Scoperte varie. Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità n.s. 11, 155–173. Stoddart, S. 1994: Text and regional seing. In: C.A.T. Malone– S.K.F. Stoddart (eds.): Territory, Time and State. e Archaeological development of the Gubbio Basin. Cambridge, 172–177. Stoddart, S.– Redhouse, D. 2014: e Umbrians. Archaeological perspective. In: M. Aberson– M.C. Biella– M. Wullschleger– M. Di Fazio (eds.): Entre archéologie et histoire. Dialogues sur divers peuples de l’Italie préromaine. Bern, 107–127. Stopponi, S. 2011: Campo della Fiera at Orvieto– New Discoveries. In: N. de Grummond– I. Edlund-Berry (eds.): e Archaeology of Sanctuaries and Ritual in Etruria. Portsmouth, 16–43. Tilley, C.Y. 2004: e materiality of stone. Explorations in landscape phenomenology. Oxford. Whitehouse, R.D. 1992: Underground Religion. Cult and Culture in Prehistoric Italy. London. Zapelloni Pavia, A. 2020: Decentralizing human agency. Astudy of the ritual function of the votive figurines from Groa Bella, Umbria. In: I. Selsvold– L. Webb (eds.): Beyond the Romans. Posthuman Perspectives in Roman archaeology. TRAC emes in Roman Archaeology 3. Oxford, 41–54. Arianna Zapelloni Pavia Institute of Classical Archaeology Faculty of Arts, Charles University Celetná 20 110 00 Prague 1 [email protected] Felice Larocca Università degli studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’ Gruppo di Ricerca speleo-archeologica Piazza Umberto I, 1– 70121 Bari Centro regionale di speleologia ‘Enzo dei Medici’ Via Lucania, 3 – 87070 Roseto Capo Spulico (CS) [email protected]
165PLATES Pl. 1/1: Map of the area with the location of GroÇa Bella (drawing by F. Breglia). Pl. 1/2: e entrance to the cave (photo by F. Larocca).
166 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/2 Pl. 1/3: View of the so-called ‘Entrance Hall’, the largest room in the cave (photo by F. Larocca). Pl. 1/4: Neolithic-age vessel with trichrome decoration, Ripoli culture (photo by F. Larocca, National Archaeological Museum of Umbria).
167PLATES Pl. 1/5: Human skull from the so-called ‘Skeleton Room’, in the deep rooms of GroÇa Bella (photo by F. Larocca). Pl. 1/6: Skeleton Hall. On the le¢: small impasto poÇery vessel forming part of afunerary equipment (inside white circle); on the right two flint blades with trapezoidal cross-section found in the burial area (photo by F. Larocca).