Grotta di Santa Croce

Grotta di Santa Croce is a 130m-long horizontal karst cave near Bisceglie in Apulia, Italy, sitting at 120m above sea level along the course of a former underground river. First highlighted for its archaeological significance in 1937, test excavations by L. Cardini in 1938 confirmed Mousterian and Neolithic remains. A major 1955 discovery yielded a Neanderthal femur dating to approximately 80,000 years ago. Excavations have recovered over 2,200 flint tools from Mousterian and Gravettian periods, a braided mat of natural fibres dated to 6,500 years ago (the oldest in Italy), and Neolithic paintings discovered in 1955. Artifacts are displayed at the Museo Civico Archeologico in Bisceglie.