Matera’s Old Quarries: Geological and Historical Archives That Need Protection and Valorization

The Sassi of Matera, UNESCO site since 1993, represents a human settlement completely integrated in the natural landscape. There, the development of the community is closely connected to the geology since prehistoric times. The Calcarenite di Gravina, a Pleistocene poorly lithified limestone onlapping a large area of the Apulian foreland in southern Italy, is the building stone that people used to carve their houses inside, and build the town outside. The use of calcarenite for housing began in the prehistory with the first human settlement, deepening natural caves which served as dwellings, while the mining activity began in the third century B.C., increasing until the nineteenth century in connection with the urban development of Matera. The calcarenite was carved out on site and used to build houses. In the eighteenth century, the great urban development of the city gave way to large mining activities in the northern area of Matera. Geomorphological analysis through aerial photographs and a geological survey in this area have been carried out to investigate the historical quarrying activities. In the present study, six quarry areas along the Appia Antica road are valuated: the Madonna delle Vergini topographic high; Cava della Palomba; Parco Scultura–Cava Paradiso; Cava del Sole, the Monumental Quarry Remains; Via Ridola inside the Piano, the highest area of Sassi. They represent peculiar and important examples to be safeguarded and valued. Their geomorphological, geostratigraphical and palaeontological elements provide useful information for understanding the territory evolution in the last two millennia.