ALTAMURA MAN REVEALS HIS SECRETS

Thirty years ago, three members of the Bari (Puglie) branch of the Club Alpino Italiano, stumbled on a unique treasure concealed in the depths of the Grotto of Lamalunga, a cave near the small town of Altamura (Bari). It was the perfectly preserved skull of a Neanderthal Man, thickly encrusted in deposits of pearly calcite crystals, eerily resembling the celebrated Damien Hirst diamond-studded sculpture.

Recently, the remains have been the object of an in-depth research programme by a scientific team, who have established that the man, a Neanderthal who lived sometime between 170,000 and 130,000 years ago, must have fallen down one of the karst sinkholes common in the area and, unable to extricate himself, had starved to death. His body had been untouched by hyenas or other animals and was intact. He had practically all his teeth and investigators were able to extract his DNA from his shoulder bone, confirming the theory that present-day Europeans conserve a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA in their bodies. The skull was so thickly covered in mineral encrustations and it was decided to leave it where it was to avoid damaging it

The Homo Neanderthals of Altamura, named by the locals “Cicillo”, is considered to be one of the oldest and best preserved Palaeolithic skeletons discovered so far in Europe.

The Altamura plain, which lies among the karst formations of the Murgia, Puglia's vast rocky highlands, has revealed other important finds in the past, such as a cache of hundreds of animal bones some 50,000 years old, as well as a number of 70 million years-old dinosaur footprints.

The site is pending approval from UNESCO listing as a World Heritage Site.

M. STENHOUSE

Info: www.comune.altamura.ba.it