Grotta del Genovese
 
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The Grotta del Genovese is a cave on the island of Levanzo , 12 km off the west coast of Sicily , which belongs to the Free Municipal Consortium of Trapani . The entrance to the cave is on a small ledge that overlooks the sea. In the back chamber, rock carvings that are 8,000 to 12,000 years old have been found in the cave , a time when the island was still connected to Sicily. In addition to the finds in the Addaura caves , they are the oldest in Sicily and the neighboring islands. On Levanzo, more artifacts were found in the neighboring Grotta dei Porci , the caves of Cala Tramontana and Punta Capperi. Remains of a cattle in connection with stratigraphic investigations allow a dating to 9680 BC. Chr. To.
The cave contains representations of four people and animals from the late Paleolithic . Under the rock carvings there are five red deer , ten bovids , mostly aurochs and twelve horses, more precisely Equus hydruntinus , and possibly a cat. The three less naturalistic than symbolic people appear to be wearing bird masks, similar to those found in the Addaura caves near Palermo . It is controversial whether the depiction is a ritual dance or a prayer scene. The man in the middle has a long beard, his arms are missing. A fourth person is only indicated by running legs.
More recent drawings also depict people, albeit in black and red, as well as fish, such as the tuna, which is thus becoming tangible in the region for the first time. At that time Levanzo was already cut off from Sicily by rising sea levels. The people of the Addaura Caves, however, did not eat fish, as bone examinations showed. The scratches mostly show the animals in profile and are extremely naturalistic. A deer calf can be seen turning its head sideways, as well as a bull following a cow.
The approximately 34 rock carvings were discovered in 1949/1950, the excavations in 1953 were directed by Paolo Graziosi.
literature
- Paolo Graziosi: Levanzo. Pitture e incisioni. Sansoni, Florence 1962.
- Sebastiano Tusa: La Sicilia nella preistoria (= Nuovo prisma. Vol. 13). Sellerio, Palermo 1999, ISBN 88-389-1440-0 .
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Sebastiano Tusa: La Sicilia nella preistoria. Sellerio, Palermo 1999, p. 106.
Coordinates: 38 ° 0 ′ 6.9 ″ N , 12 ° 19 ′ 18.8 ″ E