In the heart of the historical centre of Ostuni, inside San Vito Martire church attached to the former Carmelite monastery, is the the Pre-Classical Civilization Museum of Southern Murgia.
The museum collects findings discovered in the territory of the white city, as a testimony of the very ancient origins of the town, which goes back to the Paleolithic Age.
At that times people lived in the grottoes, houses didn’t exist, and in Ostuni countryside have been recovered many interesting archaeological finds and one of the most important of which is surely the Ostuni woman or Ostuni 1.
The woman, also named “the mother of the world” as she was pregnant when she died, she was about 20 years old and dates back to 25-28 thousands years ago. She was found in a crouched position with a hand placed under her head and the other hand on her belly, as if to protect the creature never born.
The Ostuni woman died almost at the end of her pregnancy, because of pre-eclampsia, maybe when she was 32-33 weeks pregnant, and her body was embellished for burial with a red ochre hat made of shells, a bracelet of cyprea shells and some utensils that remind her membership to a hunters group.
The ritual of the burial had been very accurate, it could be considered almost a propitiatory rite and be related to the Great Mother worship, a female goddess who represents the source of life of the humanity and the nature: the birth, the fertility, the death and the regeneration. In some way the female figure is the element between the human world and the divine and the woman is very respected and accepted as she can be a mother who creates life and can guarantee the survival of the group.
It’s very interesting to admire the Paleolithic remain and learn about the burial ritual dedicated to that woman and her archaelogical find.
If you are interested to a guided tour in Ostuni, among panoramic views and white houses, don’t hesitate to contact me.
viaggieitinerari... in Puglia by Valeria Dicarlo 