ADVENTURE DIVING - THE DEER CAVE - ALGHERO SARDINIA ITALY

Depth min.:	o mt
Depth max	-15mt
Entrance or Opening	2
Level	semi speleo
Difficulty	none
Other notes	High scientific importance

Under Punta Giglio (Lily Point) exists a rare system of caves at three levels in the internal section of the point and an adjoining external section that opens into a great arch at a depth of about 15-20 meters. The characteristic that makes it one of the most important caves of Sardinia and of all of the Mediterranean, scientifically speaking, is that it has conserved an niche of rock partially sticking out of its small internal lake, and preserved within a cast of calcite and stalactites, deposit fossils of Sardinian Deer, now extinct, with a myriad of bones, including several skulls with clearly visible horns. The discovery took place in September of ‘95 and actually was made during a tourist dive guided by Marco Busdraghi.

It is believed that the deer of this era were numerously populating the zone, in a period understood to be between approximately 120,000 and 75,000 years ago. The cave likely served as their protection from natural events such as harsh storms or strong winds, from which they accumulated within the cave, perfectly visible even now, well-preserved under the wall of Punta Giglio. A long and narrow opening in the internal section of the cavity was like a trap door for the animals, which would fall in great numbers into the cave. The cave then flooded by means of an externally-linked stretch of narrow passage. Throughout this time, the deposit was formed together by mud, sand, pebbles, rocks, and the bones of the deer. A driver of the solidification of this millennial phenomenon, which also structured the caves, was the solution of the calcatrated rocks from the water. In fact, at some points there are stalactites formed together, with white and delicate forms, which are rounded similar to profitterolles covered with whipped cream.

There was a periond during recent layers, in which the water level gradually jumped and the deposit was bathed by the dynamic action of the waves, and due to this, it remains only partially solidified. This also contributed to the formation of a small stalagmite that we understand was formed from the bottom and grew over a skull, which is still recognizeable to all due to the dental arch of the jaw and the dome of the cranium. To get to the platform and comfortably observe the deposit it is necessary to remove your BCD and fins. In the external section, the walls collapse at around 18-20 meters and cross a large opening penetrating an environment which holds diverse niches, some of which are still radiated by great quantities of coral, in some points concentrated and in others sparse and at times merging species such as leptosamnia and parazoanthus. Long ago, the internal hall was populated with Dusky groupers (Epinephelus marginatus) and brown meagres (Sciaena umbra) of great proportions, that still today, are possible to observe. In the period of May and June it is possible to meet diverse slipper lobsters of huge dimensions.

The fossil deposit of Megacerhus Cazioti.