Abstract: Grotta della Monaca is a karstic cave in Calabria (southern Italy) that plays an important role in reconstructing the oldest strategies for the acquisition of mineral resources in the Mediterranean. In fact, systematic archaeological excavations carried out by the University of Bari allowed the identification of intense prehistoric mining activities aimed at the exploitation of iron and copper ores. Archaeological evidence suggests different phases of frequentation of the cave spanning from the Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, Copper and Bronze ag...
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