Grotta di Fumane site features

The stratigraphy

The visible section is the point: fine layers stacked in order, with the Neanderthal levels below the modern human ones.

The painted stones

Ochre-painted slabs from the collapsed roof, around forty thousand years old and among the earliest figurative images in Europe. The originals are not on site.

The shelter itself

A wide overhang in the limestone valley side, which is what made it habitable in the first place.

The valley setting

The site sits above the Fumane valley, with the Valpolicella vineyards below and the Lessini above.