LE ANTICHE CAVE COSTIERE DI LE CASTELLA (CROTONE)

This study aims to provide a focus on Le Castella, a site known in Roman times as Castra Hannibalis, along whose coast, located at the southern edge of the Crotone peninsula, several traces of a vast open-pit extraction area of biocalcarenites and biocalcirudites are found. This exploitation dates back to the Greek period and, with interruptions, has continued until almost the present day. The evidence pertaining to these quarrying areas is particularly noteworthy for being distributed not only near the cliffs but also on the adjacent seabed, thus providing useful elements for examining the causes and effects of the changes in local shorelines that occurred during the Late Holocene. The geomorphological and lithostratigraphic characteristics of the sedimentary deposits in this stretch of coastline make Le Castella the most important extraction area on the Crotone coast, from which both blocks and disc-shaped elements could be obtained. Part of the quarry was indeed used to extract the blocks employed in the phrourion placed to control the southern sector of the Crotoniate chora, and whose remains were later reused on the islet in the structures of the Aragonese castle. The material extracted at Le Castella could easily be transported by sea, on barges or other types of vessels suited for the purpose, using the natural harbor system available at the site, a topographical overview of which is provided in the article.