Grotta Romanelli has been considered a key site for prehistoric studies in Italy, since the beginning of XX century. The cave, located on the Adriatic coast of southern Apulia (Italy), was discovered in 1871, but only in 1900 P.E. Stasi realised the importance of the site as the first evidence of the Palaeolithic in Italy. In 1914, G.A. Blanc started a pioneering excavation campaign, during which the first systematic paleontological and stratigraphical study with scientific methods was performed. The cave and its deposits were object of extensive studies until the end of the seventies, when the site fell in a sort of oblivion.
The stratigraphic section of Grotta Romanelli lays on a marine terrace referred to the Tyrrhenian Stage (MIS 5), which constrains the whole sequence to the Late Pleistocene. The infilling deposits can be subdivided in two main parts: (1) the upper complex, the Terre Brune bearing Upper Paleolithic lithic tools and a cold vertebrate fauna including Pinguinus impennis; (2) the lower complex (including Terre Rosse) bearing a diversified vertebrate fauna and limestone artifacts.
Despite decades of researches many open issues need to be investigated and clarified, especially the contradictions between age and geomorphological evidences, the features of faunal assemblages and limestone artefacts from the lower complex.
In 2015, the opening of excavations broke the spell of inactivity in the field after 42 years. The multidisciplinary team had to face several conservation issues linked to natural processes and human activities. The main aim of the project is to get new archeological and paleontological data within a well-established stratigraphical framework, in order to clarify the context of human presence in the cave. The new data gathered within the past Grandi Scavi projects indicate a late Middle Pleistocene age for the lower complex, putting new lights into faunal assemblage, limestone artifacts and morphological features of the cave.
Italy has played and plays a role of great importance in the study of prehistory and geology and Quaternary palaeontology, both for the presence of internationally renowned scholars as early as the end of the 19th century, and for the quality of its geological deposits and its fossil records, as well as for its "strategic" position in the heart of the Mediterranean. The Italian sites have enabled the international community to define chronological schemes, palaeobiogeographical models and to develop new methods of investigation. This territory is of great importance for the study of the environmental changes that occurred during the Pleistocene and Early Holocene, when the climatic oscillations have profoundly influenced the terrestrial ecosystems and its components. Yet, there is a real risk that this heritage, still able to provide new important research topics, could be forgotten, especially as regards the central-southern regions of the country.
The hominids have played a major role in shaping the ecosystems and are the subject of lively scientific debate. The Grotta Romanelli deposits have the potential to provide the key elements to clarify the time and mode of the Homo neanderthalensis-Homo sapiens transition, through excavations and research with a strong multidisciplinary character. The analyses of the fauna, human artefacts and sediments recovered from the stratigraphic sequence of Grotta Romanelli for too many years did not receive adequate attention, despite the wealth of documentation and material from the cave. Moreover, the studies have focused only on some aspects and, although of great interest, they left many questions still open. The undertaken resume of the excavations and research will therefore provide numerous data of scientific interest on an international scale. For example, during the revision of the historical fossil collection performed in 2018-2019, a tarsal bone from the Terre rosse has been attributed to a pre-modern human, which represents the first fossil of Homo found in the lower complex.
The cave constitute not only an extraordinary site for multidisciplinary research but also a major opportunity to be used as a veritable open-air museum, an element of great cultural and tourist attraction for the development of the area. In this regard, the project aims to provide tools for the conservation and use of geo-paleontological and archaeological evidences of such a special area. The adoption of innovative techniques for virtual models of both the site and elements such as fossils, artefacts, engravings is here presented as a possible answer to these needs and therefore also a great potential for economic applications. Both the sediment and the walls are subject to erosion caused by increasingly frequent storm surges and water percolation actions. The presence of an active microflora causes a continuous attack to archaeological and paleontological materials in hypogean environment. The new excavations suggests that the "traditional" stratigraphical scheme for the deposit has to be deeply modified. The revision of the literature and five years of sampling and lab analyses provides a more articulated framework if compared to that depicted by Blanc in XX century. Such data are of great interest because Grotta Romanelli has been considered as a reference for the archaeology not only of the Salentine peninsula, but also of the Mediterranean region and at European scale. The new chronological scheme extends the time span of the sequence from the late Middle Pleistocene to latest Pleistocene. Therefore, the new age provided for the lower complex suggests an early occurrence of Neanderthal in the region (and the possible occurrence of late H. heidelbergensis), and, on the other hand, the latest human occupation of the cave should be related to final Upper Palaeolithic. This new look will have a deep impact on the traditional models of human occupation of the area and climatic changes. The main aim of the 2021 campaign will be to refine the chronology of the stratigraphical succession, with new 14C dating for the Terre Brune, the U/Th and OSL dating for the lower complex. However, such a complex issue can be faced only by a multidisciplinary approach. In particular, in order to investigate the climatic changes, two different analyses never performed on the deposits will be carried out: the palaeontological study of the small mammals, with particular focus on the lower complex, and the palaeobotanical study of the succession. Finally, the detailed map of the parietal rock art in the cave has been completed, including the revision of the published zoomorphic and geometric figures as well as others never detected before. Previously, Grotta Romanelli has been considered a main reference site for the "Mediterranean artistic province" for both parietal and portable art. The new analysis provides an alternative model for the Euro-Mediterranean area rock art.