Caves of Addaura in Palermo
The Caves of Addaura in Palermo are a complex of caves, located about 70 meters above sea level on the northern slope of Monte Pellegrino, evidence of the most ancient human settlement in today identified in the Gulf of Mondello, referring to a group of Paleolithic hunters who lived here from the final Epigravettian to the Mesolithic.
The complex is made up of four main cavities: the Grotta Perciata , the largest, Grotta Caprara , Grotta delle Incisioni and the < b> Grotta dei Bovidi or Antro Nero.
All the caves are of archaeological interest: Grotta Caprara and the Antro Nero are rich in flint and quartzite tools used for hunting and fossil bones from the Pleistocene period such as dwarf elephants and hippos; the Perciata and Caprara Caves present karst phenomena ; the Grotta delle Incisioni and the Grotta dei Bovidi present graffiti and engravings dating back to around 14,000-20,000 years ago. In the Black Antro cattle, deer and wild horses are depicted, while in the Grotta delle Incisioni the highest testimony of Upper Paleolithic wall art is present due to the presence of human figures particular, both for the realism with which they are traced and for the enigmatic meaning of the scenes represented.
On the left wall many graffiti have been eroded by the Paleolithic ones to superimpose other graffiti, thus erasing the more ancient depictions of which only the deepest furrows remain. The graffiti represented on this last wall are the ones that have aroused the greatest interest: eleven human figures and one animal are depicted, linked together in two compositions.
In the first composition there are ten male and one female figures, considered as such because it has an incision at the height of the breast that does not appear in the other figures. The male figures are all naked, in the act of dancing, with well-defined buttocks, legs and calves. There are no hands and feet altogether. Eight of these figures have their heads covered with a bird's beak mask or a pointed beard and thick hair. At the center of the scene there are two itiphallic characters in a lying position or in an aerial vault. Their bodies are slimmer, their heads bald, their penis larger than the other figures. There are different interpretations of this scene, it is believed that an initiation rite or a rite for fertility or an acrobatic competition or even a human sacrifice can be represented. The female character is motionless, attends the scene and has something between her legs, perhaps an empty sack.
In the second composition, a male figure appears behind a large galloping deer, with his hind legs strongly folded as if he were climbing; Behind there is the pregnant female figure carrying a sack on her shoulders, and two other male figures walking in the opposite direction to each other. Below are several animals scattered on the wall. These graphical representations do not have the same value as human ones, both for the quality of the stroke and for the expressiveness of the figures.
