The Prehistory and Protohistory Hall

Findings from Capri’s prehistoric period are on exhibit in this hall. In Campania, the earliest periods of the Paleolithic Age have only come to light on the island of Capri and in Marina diCamerota (SA). Both sites boast the presence of bifacial tools typical of the Lower Palaeolithic Age (Acheulean), worked from large flints or pebbles. The Cerio Collection houses entire and fragmented bifacial tools as well as a few unifacial and bifacial choppers, fragments of nuclei and flints.

The same site where the “fauna del Quisisana” were found was also where artefacts indicative of lithic industrial activity in the Lower Palaelithic (Acheulean) Age were found. The discovery of both materials and the recognition of the important of the site dug by Ignazio Cerio captured attention on an international scale and was the subject of heated debate among palaeoethnologists of the time. Details of his research are provided in a collection of correspondence at the Centro Caprense which were published in 1999. In addition to the Palaeolithic site at the Quisisana, Ignazio Cerio was also responsible for having discovered an area dedicated to the making of obsidian tools in the areas of the Parate and Grotta delle Felci, both dating back to the Neolithic Age some 2000 years ago. The latter of these sites was also used in the Bronze and Iron Ages.