About 6km outside the town, the Pulo di Altamura, without doubt the most imposing karst phenomenon in Alta Murgia, is a deep sinkhole that falls from a height of 477m to a depth of 92m. With two deep valleys and a vertical cliffside filled with cave dwellings inhabited by man for at least 5,000 years, the Pulo is a natural amphitheatre, silent and ancient. The north side has an important botanical system with interesting flora and fauna.
The sinkhole appears to have been used by man throughout the Middle Ages and in modern times, as a place for religious practice or as a natural resource for extraction and production, as the human remains, engraved ceramics and the precious fossil cowry shell attest. The steep vertical walls of the northern end are studded with caves and openings, including the main caves, Grotta I and Grotta II, which were used by the hominoids who, through natural evolution, would later produce the species known as Altamura Man, Neanderthal precursor.
Apulia Film Commission
Cineporti di Puglia/Bari — c/o Fiera del Levante - Lungomare Starita 1 — 70132 Bari
Phone: +39 080 9752900
Fax: +39 080 9147464
Email: email@apuliafilmcommission.it
