A man who lived between 14,200 and 13,800 years ago, whose genes tie him to the hunter-gatherers of western Europe: this is the find that turned the Grotta d'Oriente into one of the key sites for Sicilian prehistory. Cut into the rock of the island of Favignana, the cave holds traces of human visits that recurred, on and off, across thousands of years.
What to see
The cave falls into two spaces: a small chamber and a wide gallery. It was here that archaeologists read a stratigraphy spanning very different ages — the late Upper Paleolithic, or Epigravettian, the Mesolithic and the Bronze Age. Excavations, begun in 1972 and resumed on firmer scientific footing in 2005 under a project of the University of Florence and the city's Museum of Prehistory, brought to light the remains of at least three individuals, named Oriente A, Oriente B and Oriente C. Alongside them came hearths, worked artifacts and the bones of animals both of the land and of the sea — the record of short stays, fed in turn by the fields and the water.
Visiting
What sets the Grotta d'Oriente apart is the exchange between archaeology and genetics. DNA analysis showed that Oriente C belonged to the Western Hunter-Gatherers, while Oriente B, later and of Mesolithic date, shows affinities with the Epigravettian groups of the Italian peninsula. These findings place the island within the wider routes of European settlement and make the cave a reference point for scholars.
Our editors' tip
This is not a cave that impresses by size or by its formations: its worth lies in what the rock kept. Anyone who reaches Favignana wanting to understand the archipelago's prehistory should fix the names Oriente A, B and C in mind before stepping inside — knowing you are walking where a hunter rested 14,000 years ago changes the visit. It is worth checking on access ahead of time, since this remains, above all, a place of research.