Italian Commission of Speleology in Artificial Cavities – CNCA
Artificial cavities are Cultural Heritage which, due to their peculiarities, require interdisciplinary studies to which all the different scientific skills, forces and professional fields must contribute. The Italian Speleological Society ETS is a privileged interlocutor of the bodies responsible for the protection of the environmental and cultural heritage, being able to contribute, thanks to its National Commission for Artificial Cavities, to the knowledge of the artificial hypogeal heritage, to its protection and safeguarding, to the design of underground itineraries that can also be used by non-speleologists, destined to enrich the cultural and tourist offer, not only in Italy.
he investigations that the speleologist carries out in artificial cavities are aimed at the geographical and typological identification of the hypogeum, the analysis of the design techniques and the tools used for the construction, the understanding of the primary and secondary purposes that motivated the creation of these works, the comparison between the current state and that prior to the changes that took place.
The rediscovery, study and documentation of forgotten underground structures, sometimes because they are now unused or because they have changed their initial intended use, is of increasing interest. Not infrequently, we rediscover works that from ancient or ancient times continue to provide a valuable contribution to the control of the territory, in urban and extra-urban areas, in relation to water management and the mitigation of related risks (floods, instability, washouts, clogging of buried streams, etc.) and in particularly fragile rocky areas.
GThe studies that speleologists carry out in artificial cavities allow the knowledge, documentation, recovery and analysis of important testimonies of the past that, otherwise, would risk disappearing.
The National Commission for Artificial Cavities of the Italian Speleological Society ETS coordinates the technical, scientific and educational activities of this discipline in Italy and promotes international exchanges.
Since the early 50s of the last century the scientific, technical and organizational experience gained in the exploration of natural caves has developed substantial synergies with other disciplines, integrating into the research, study and documentation of artificial cavities. In 1981 the National Commission for Artificial Cavities (CNCA) was established as a permanent body of the Italian Speleological Society, adapting the initial definition of “urban speleology”, now obsolete compared to the high number of cavities surveyed even in extra-urban environments, into the current “speleology in artificial cavities“, which better indicates the multisectoral and interdisciplinary nature of this study activity.
In the following years, the method of studying the artificial underground world, set up in Italy by our Commission, has also spread to the rest of the world.
