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.