Due to the abundance of geological, palaeontological and archaeological evidence, scientific research in the Fumane Cave requires complex studies, which can only be carried out through collaboration between the researchers and specialists from diverse institutions. Therefore, one of the first steps taken by the University of Ferrara and the University of Milan was to create a research team able to reconstruct the relations between man, the environment and its resources.
The team’s competences range from sedimentology, which studies the formation processes of deposits, to anthracology – analysis of charred plant remains – to paleontology – determination of the vertebrate skeletal remains and their processes of fossilization, and further on to determine the more direct evidence of human presence, represented by a wide range of artifacts, from stone and bone tools to ornamental objects and other forms of artistic expression.
As for the dating of the deposits, the collaborations are with the Facilities of Oxford, Milan, Paris and, previously, Utrecht and Lecce. Both the field research and at laboratories are promoted and supported by the University of Ferrara and Milano, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture and by a group of institutional bodies such as the Lessinia Mountain Community and the Municipality of Fumane, the Cariverona Foundation and various private supporters (Roberto Gardina Impresa di Costruzioni e Restauro, Albino Armani viticoltori dal 1607, Banca di Credito Cooperativo della Valpolicella).
Research Institutions
University of Oxford (United Kingdom): Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), Research Laboratory for Archaeology
Contact: Dr.Thomas F.G. Higham
Link: ORAU
National Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum “L. Pigorini”, Rome (Italy): Department of Quaternary Palaeontology and Archaeozoology
Contact: Dr. Antonio Tagliacozzo
Link: Museo Pigorini
Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis (France): Cultures et Environnement Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Age (CEPAM)
Contact: Dr. Isabelle Théry Parisot
Link: CEPAM
La Sapienza University, Rome (Italy): Department of Ancient World Studies, Museum of Human Origins
Contact: Prof. Cristina Lemorini
Link: Department of Ancient World Studies
University of Turin (Italy): Department of Anatomy, Pharmacology, Forensic Pathology
Contact: Prof. Giacomo Giacobini
Link: Department of Anatomy, Pharmacology, Forensic Pathology
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany): Department of Human Evolution
Contact: Prof. Jean Jacques Hublin
Link: Department of Human Evolution
University of Milan (Italy): Department of Earth Sciences “Ardito Desio”
Contact: Prof. Mauro Cremaschi
Link: Department of Earth Sciences
Université de Bordeaux 1 (France): De la Préhistoire à l’Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA)
Contact: Dr. Marian Vanhaeren
Link: PACEA
University of Cambridge (United Kingdom): McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Contact: Dr. Emanuela Cristiani
Link: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Neanderthal Museum (Germany)
Contact: Prof. Gerd Christian Weniger
Link: Neanderthal Museum