The Pertosa Caves, today also known as the Pertosa-Auletta Caves, constitute an important karst system in the Campania region (southern Italy). Crossed by the waters of a river that re-emerges on the surface, they have an overall development of about 3 km. Thanks to the width of the entrance, the excellent location along a natural communication route through the mountains and the natural availability of water directly on the site, the initial part of the cavity was frequented by humans, without interruption, from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages. During the protohistory, in particular, the moment of most marked human presence is recorded in the cave. In this phase an extensive pile dwelling system was built on the waters of the underground river. The system was probably created to make the location, subject to frequent flooding, suitable for human settlement. This structure today constitutes an archaeological unicum not only in Italy but throughout Europe. We briefly analyze its general characteristics providing the results of a radiocarbon dating campaign which allowed to assess the occupation phases of the different contexts and the life span of the wooden artifacts, which came to us in a very good state of preservation. Radiocarbon data allowed to assess the chronological range of the human frequentation of the caves and to date the exceptionally well preserved underground pile dwelling system.

中文翻译：

---

意大利南部坎帕尼亚“GROTE DI PERTOSA”的放射性碳年表


佩尔托萨洞穴，今天也称为佩尔托萨-奥莱塔洞穴，构成了坎帕尼亚地区（意大利南部）重要的喀斯特系统。穿过一条重新浮出水面的河流，它们的总长度约为3公里。由于入口的宽度、沿着穿过山脉的自然交通路线的优越位置以及直接在现场提供的天然水源，从史前时代到中世纪，洞穴的最初部分一直是人类经常光顾的地方年龄。特别是在原始历史时期，最明显的人类存在时刻是在洞穴中记录的。在这个阶段，在地下河的水域上建造了一个广泛的桩住宅系统。该系统的创建可能是为了使这个经常遭受洪水侵袭的地方适合人类居住。今天，这个建筑不仅在意大利而且在整个欧洲构成了考古学的独特之处。我们简要分析了其一般特征，提供了放射性碳测年活动的结果，该活动可以评估不同背景下的占领阶段和木制文物的寿命，这些文物的保存状态非常好。放射性碳数据可以评估人类经常光顾洞穴的时间范围，并确定保存完好的地下桩居住系统的年代。