Archaeological Park of Santa Maria d’Agnano and the history of Ostuni

The Archaeological Park of Santa Maria D’Agnano is located about two kilometres from the White City, in a vast area. This area that has offered numerous finds, the most important of which, the skeleton of Ostuni1, a woman who died in childbirth 24,000 years ago at the age of 20, had the remains of a foetus inside.

The oldest mother in the world can be admired in the Museum of Preclassic Civilisations of the Southern Murgia in the historic centre of Ostuni. In the 19th century, the interior of the cave was visited by illustrious art historians: Diehl, Medea, Gabriele and De Giorgi, who described the magnificent frescoes.

In March, before the Marian cult, there was a crowded pilgrimage by hunters and farmers, who deposited flowers and fruits of the earth to obtain, from the pagan goddess Ceres, the ancient Demeter, abundant harvests and to keep calamities and famine at bay. Professor Donato Coppola, who together with a selected team of researchers has carried out systematic excavations both outside and inside the agricultural area, has paid close attention to the cave sanctuary, now also known as the Grotta della Materità (Maternity Cave). The results have been surprising, especially inside the cave, which Coppola himself has defined as “a sacred area, perhaps already in the Palaeolithic period, which bears witness to different eras from the Neolithic to the Metal Age”.

And the most sensational discovery was ‘the Upper Palaeolithic woman, called Ostuni 1’. The woman’s body was adorned with bracelets and a cap made of shells. The body was found huddled in a bed of pebbles, with her left hand under her head and her right hand resting on her stomach, as if protecting her unborn child. The discovery of this burial has interested scientists from all over the world, making Ostuni the focus of national and international press coverage and a destination for visitors from all over the world.