Research > Excavations > National excavations > Grotta Battifratta - Farfa Valley Project. Caves, People and Past Environments
Director:Cecilia Conati Barbaro
External links:
https://www.instagram.com/farfa_valley_project
The Farfa Valley Project: Caves, People, and Past Environments is part of the Grandi Scavi Sapienza programme. Through a solid interdisciplinary approach, the project aims to reconstruct settlement dynamics and the palaeoenvironment of the Sabina region (northern Lazio) and central Italy throughout prehistory. It combines archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations, satellite analysis, and experimental archaeology, integrating digital technologies for the enhancement of cultural heritage. Excavations are being carried out in two caves selected as case studies: Grotta Battifratta and Grotta Scura.
Grotta Battifratta is located in the municipality of Poggio Nativo, on the left slope of the Riano River valley, a minor tributary of the Farfa. The cave opens along a rocky ridge composed of lithoid travertines deposited during the Middle Pleistocene and belonging to the Poggio Moiano Synthem. Thanks to the Gruppo Speleo-Archeologico Vespertilio, several smaller cavities have been identified in the area, some no more than narrow fissures, from which surface finds of pre- and protohistoric material have been recovered. Today, the cave has the form of a rock shelter from which a narrow tunnel leads into an inner chamber. Test excavations carried out in the 1980s by the Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana, under the direction of E. Naldini Segre and I. Biddittu, revealed a stratigraphy of anthropic layers alternating with abandonment layers, dating to the Early and Middle Bronze Age and to Middle Neolithic. New research began in 2021, conducted by the Department of Antiquity Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome, under the scientific direction of C. Conati Barbaro.
The excavation campaigns carried out so far have expanded the chronological range of human presence in the cave, bringing to light lithic tools and faunal remains dating back to the Middle Palaeolithic, as well as clarifying the complex dynamics involved in the formation of the archaeological deposit. Significant collapses of the cave vault have completely obstructed other entrances and internal chambers. The current entrance corresponds to the outlet of an ancient spring, which likely attracted human communities. Pottery, lithis, faunal and botanical remains indicates intensive use of the cave during the Early and Middle Bronze Age (2nd millennium BCE) and during the Middle Neolithic (late 6th–early 5th millennium BCE). Radiocarbon dates obtained so far have confirmed this chronological framework.
This research involves a large group of researchers, such as geologists, palaeobotanists, palynologists, archaeozoologists, biologists, anthropologists, with the aim of reconstructing the formation processes of the deposit, the composition and evolution of the local vegetation, the use of plants for food, the exploitation of animal resources, economic strategies and dietary habits, and the modes and significance of the cave’s occupation over millennia.
The first results of the excavations are on display at the Museo Civico di Rieti from 8 November 2025 to 11 January 2026, in the exhibition “Hidden Waters. Caves and Rituals of Prehistoric Sabina.”
Collaborators:
Elena Carletti Nadia Marconi Luca Forti Emma Chiarabba Daniele Moscone
- Bibliography
CONATI BARBARO, C. C., FIORUCCI, M., GRECHI, G., FORTI, L., MARMONI, G. M., & MARTINO, S. 2024, Safeguarding archaeological excavations and preserving cultural heritage in cave environments through engineering geological and geophysical approaches, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 60, 104868.
CONATI BARBARO C. et al. 2024, La frequentazione pre-protostorica della Grotta Battifratta (Poggio Nativo, RI). Primi risultati di una nuova ricerca interdisciplinare, Lazio e Sabina 13, Atti del 13 iincontro di studi 25-27 maggio 2022.
CONATI BARBARO C. 2021-22, Grotta Battifratta (Poggio Nativo, RI), in Notiziario di Preistoria e Protostoria 2021-2022, 8.I, 28-31.
RANIERI C. 2015, Nuove scoperte paletnologiche dalle Grotte del costone di Battifratta a Poggio Nativo. Speleologia del Lazio, Rivista della Federazione Speleologica del Lazio 8, 30-33.
SEGRE NALDINI E., BIDDITTU I. 1985, Ceramica dell’età del bronzo dal Costone di Battifratta (Rieti), Archeologia Laziale VII (QuadAEI 11), Roma, 26-33.
SEGRE NALDINI E., BIDDITTU I. 1988, Ceramica neolitica dalle Grotticelle del Costone di Battifratta (Rieti), Archeologia Laziale IX (QuadAEI 16), Roma, 369-371
Further details about this research:
- Research type: National excavation
- Location of the excatation: Grotta Battifratta (Poggio Nativo, Rieti)
- Research topic: Archeologia
- Fundings: Grandi Scavi Ateneo