Geoarchaeological Insights from the Neolithic to the late Bronze Age archaeological sequence in Grotta Battifratta (Central Italy)

Grotta Battifratta is a key archaeological significant site located in the municipality of Poggio Nativo (Rieti, Central Italy), recently investigated by Sapienza University of Rome. The cave lies along a mid-Pleistocene travertine escarpment on the Riano River's left bank, a minor Farfa River tributary, in the Sabina area and has been the focus of a multidisciplinary research project since 2021. This project combines archaeological excavations with geoarchaeological analyses to reconstruct the depositional and post-depositional processes responsible for shaping the archaeological stratigraphy, with the broader aim of linking these dynamics to human occupation phases and late Quaternary climatic variability. Ongoing fieldwork has revealed a well-preserved stratigraphic sequence documenting a long-term human presence at the site, extending from the Middle Palaeolithic through the Neolithic until the Bronze Age. Evidence from the Neolithic layers suggests a predominant focus on ritual and funerary activities, which persisted into the Bronze Age, when subsistence-related practices also became attested. From a geoarchaeological perspective, the formation of the Neolithic deposits is associated with multiple alluvial episodes that produced alternating clayey to silty organicrich layers—containing charcoal, bone, and ceramic fragments—and reddish to brown sandy-silty sterile horizons. These sedimentary alternations reflect climatic instability, with phases of intense rainfall causing soil erosion, sediment influx, and reworking of earlier archaeological materials. These high-energy events were followed by quieter depositional phases, marked by intermittent, lowintensity water flow within a confined basin environment inside the cave. This integrated investigation highlights the critical role of geoarchaeological approaches in disentangling the complex relationships between human settlement dynamics, climatic fluctuations during the late Quaternary, and anthropogenic landscape transformation. Grotta Battifratta thus represents a key case study for reconstructing occupation continuity and environmental change in Central Apennines upland cave contexts.