In This Town People Still Live in 9000 Year Old Stone Age Homes
A remarkable story of continuous inhabitation since Neolithic times in Italy
Troglodyte, caveman, and cave-dweller are all derogatory terms that describe someone with a backward mindset. But in the Italian town of Sassi di Matera, they are a compliment because inhabitants take great pride in their Stone Age dwellings.
Sassi di Matera comprises the Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano districts in the Italian city of Matera. Their houses date back to 7,000 B.C. and are among Italy’s earliest human settlements.
You may be familiar with this village if you saw Wonder Woman (2017), as Sassi was the setting for Themiscyra, the mythical city of the Amazon warriors. Sassi was also used to film Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ and, more recently, the James Bond movie No Time to Die.
UNESCO designated the hamlet as a World Heritage Site in 1993. Sassi tells us about how humans lived before the first cities appeared. Let’s look at what makes this real-life Flintstone town unique.
Sassi di Matera: A living Stone Age town.
Sassi’s homes are built into calcarenite rock, a limestone form. They built the settlement upon the Gravina River’s ravine.
Streets often ran on top of dwellings, as usual in the time's proto-cities. We can also find streets on the roofs of homes at Çatalhöyük archaeological sites in Turkey, dated 7500-6400 B.C. These streets offer a look into the Stone Age era, when it was customary to enter a house from the top using a ladder.
The towns appear to be a maze of Stone Age huts with small lanes flowing over and around them. Although these settlements have existed since 7,000 B.C., Matera, as a city, was not built until 251 B.C.
Lucius Caecilius Metellus, a decorated Roman general from the First Punic War (the war between Rome and Carthage from 264 to 241 B.C.) and eventually the dictator of Rome, founded the town. Metellus named the city Matheola.
Matera was later ruled by the Goths, Saracens, and Romans yet again.
The area was a popular meeting spot for Benedictine and Basilian monks. One of the town’s most significant churches is the San Pietro Caveoso Church, also known as Saint Peter and Paul Church. San Pietro Barisano is the other major church that was recently restored. As the names suggest, both churches are dedicated to Saint Peter.
The town was named the capital of the new Italian province of Matera in 1927.
Sassi di Matera was not always the ideal setting for Hollywood films that it is now. Following World War II, the town was in disarray. The Italian government removed its population because poverty and malaria plagued the region. Many sections of Sassi remained uninhabitable until the late 1980s.
However, after being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, significant efforts have been made to renovate the town and promote tourism. Today, the buildings house taverns, hotels, pubs, and other successful businesses.
Sights and sounds
Matera and Plovdiv, Bulgaria, were designated as Europe’s cultural capital in October 2014.
Murgia National Park, near Sassi, was established in 1990 and is home to several prehistoric sites. These contain bat caverns dating back to the Paleolithic era known as Grotta del Pipistrelli. Besides the well-known San Pietro Caveoso, the Cave Church of San Luca may be found in Sassi.
This town contains several cisterns dating back to Roman times. The region’s cuisine is classic Italian Cucina Povera or peasant cuisine.
The most well-known dish is the “Pane di Matera,” a bread known for its intense flavor and conical shape. Pane di Matera received the Protected Geographical Identification status. Another dish from the local cuisine is crapiata, a soup made from lentils, beans, and wheat that dates back to the Roman period.
Another renowned regional cuisine is Peporone Crusco, a dry, sweet pepper. It is astounding that over 9,000-year-old dwellings are still in use in this historic town.
Many towns began as Stone Age communities and have evolved into modern metropolitan centers. What distinguishes Sassi Di Matera is that people still live in the same houses as their forefathers.
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I would definitely live in a Stone Age house.