How to Detect Ritual in Middle Bronze Age Italy? A Contextual Approach at Pastena Cave

The archaeology of central Italy is characterised by over a hundred Middle Bronze Age (second millennium BC) caves, most yielding evidence of cultic practice, including burial. The majority of these sites were excavated decades ago, with unsystematic investigations often resulting in incomplete documentation and publication. Although caves have been easily shown as highly symbolic places, archaeological studies confirming the validity of such assumptions with scientific evidence remain rare. This chapter provides a clear example of how and why the caves of central Italy can be considered to be ritual in nature, using a multi-disciplinary approach to describe the context and the wider cultural framework of Grotta di Pastena. Comparison with other case studies from the same area sheds light on ritual variability in Middle Bronze Age central Italy, whilst indicating how aspects such as repetition, fertility and construction of identity are unifying threads across the cave sites.