L'importanza del cervo nell'economia degli abitanti di Roca nell'età del Bronzo

This work highlights the importance of the deer in the economy of the inhabitants of Roca in the Bronze Age. The use of deer as food and as a raw material for the creation of ornaments and artifacts are considered. For the protohistoric age, these aspects find different comparisons also in other sites that are the subject of study (Grotta dei Cervi, Apani and Scalo di Furno). A Roca most of the deer remains are associated with ritual depositions in pits, also connected to foundation rites. For this sphere, the various representations of deer hunting with a bow present on protogeometric vases of the Final Bronze Age and engravings found on the walls of the cave sanctuary of the "Poesia" are representative. The Final Bronze Age is the phase with the greatest presence of deer, both as remains of meals and as residual portions and objects. In the Archaic and Hellenistic age, and also in the Middle Ages, the deer continued to be hunted. In this study, the traces of processing of some objects are analyzed and a series of hypotheses on their use are proposed.