Tutela e ricerca in un contesto carsico. Il caso della Grotta del Diavolo o Grotta dei Cauri a Prata Sannita (CE)

Grotta del Diavolo, also known as Grotta dei Cauri, is
located in Prata Sannita, near the boundary with Fontegreca in
the province of Caserta. The cave opens in a gorge on the
southwestern outer slope of the Matese massif: it can be reached
by a challenging traverse of the slope or by ascending the gorge
directly. The entrance is 3 m high and about 1 m wide and opens
along a vertical rock face. The cavity develops internally with a
narrow corridor leading into a first small room, from which via a
short narrow passage a much larger chamber is reached.
Additionally, the cave is a temporary resurgence: during rainy
periods, it releases large amounts of water and serves as the
overflow of a spring. The Cave, already known from reports of
fortuitous discoveries made by cavers during the 1980s, was the
subject of a new amateur report in 2020 determining an
intervention by the competent Superintendence. During repeated
inspections of the cavity, carried out in collaboration with the
speleological association Cocceius, the Superintendence
ascertained the existence of anthropic frequentation, specifically
in the innermost space of the cave. Here, a small stratigraphic
survey was carried out, which allowed the identification of human
remains, faunal remains, ceramic fragments, two amber beads
(one fragmentary and one intact) and fragments of carbonized
wood. The presence of human bones associated with ceramic
material and amber ornaments allows us to hypothesize a
funerary use of the cave to be dated to the Middle Bronze Age 3,
based on the analysis of the ceramic finds. The brief framing
made of the Campanian attestations, regarding rituals and/or
traces of funerary practices in the cave, allows us to frame the
frequentation of the Grotta dei Cauri in the context of widespread
cult practices related to the presence of hypogeal waters.