La Grotta dei Moscerini in località Don Simone (Canino, VT): prima campagna di scavo

The Moscerini cave is located in northern Latium along the Fiora river, in an area known as Don Simone locality. The site has been identified during an archaeological survey carried out in 2019. The preliminary results of the first stratigraphic investigation conducted at the entrance of the cave in 2021 are presented in the paper. The upper part of the deposit can be dated back to the modern period, thanks to scarce material culture recovered. A hearth has been uncovered at the top of a concentration of material culture: impasto pottery sherds, pebbles – some of them showing use traces –, fragments of speleothems and some knapped flint tool. At the entrance of the cave the area around the fire place has been organized as walking surface (presence of fine sediments and small artifacts) and the deposit below as drainage arrangement (stones, speleothems fragments, pebbles). The material culture found fits into the repertoire of the Early Rinaldone facies, referring to the Early Copper Age (3700-3300 BC). The deposit, still under excavation, appears different from the typical Rinaldone assemblage of grave goods and more similar to a household (or ritual?) context.