Grotta della Cala lies near Marina di Camerota on the coast road to the east of the town. The first excavations were carried out by A. Palma di Cesnola in 1966-1969; since then the research has becn continued by the Università di Siena in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Salerno, and is still continuing today.

The complex stratigraphic sequence at Grotta della Cala begins at the base with a marine deposit which is more than 4 metres thick, strongly cemented and predominantly constituted by conglomerate; it probably appertains to isotopic stage 7. After becoming cemented, this deposit was affected by a marked erosion; above the eroded surface there is a continental series with a total thickness of 3 metres. The first traces of human presence are referrable to the Mousterian , and the sediment is constituted by an alternation of stalagmites and breccias which are evidence of a warm climate. The area around the Grotta was occupied by a broad-leaved woodland (Quercus), while the inland mountain slopes hosted a conifer forest (Pinus sylvestris). Insectivores (Glis) were particularly diffuse. The lithic industry includes points and sidescrapers, many of them produced by the Levallois technique; this is probably a Typical Mousterian industry.

Industry from the Aurignacian levels

Above the Mousterian levels there is a thick level of concretion (stalagmite beta), which is sterile from the point of view of lithic industry, and which constitutes the base of the Upper Palaeolithic. In the external part of the cave, above beta, there are the Aurignacian levels dated to 29,800±870 BP.

The most characteristic component of the lithic industry is given by the endscrapers, which account for more than 20% of the tools, and which are characterised by carinated and nosed types; the burins are present in a markedly lower quantity and often have carinated biseaux. The substrate is very high, with many splintered pieces. The climate was that of a temperate Mediterranean type, with a mixed oak woodland around the cave and some lagoons on the coastal plain in front of the cave.

After a period of sedimentary stasis, the Gravettian levels form on top of the Aurignacian levels, with a series articulated in two principal members: at the bottom there is an alternation of sandy and concreted levels, and above an accumulation of bones with little sandy sediment. Here one recognises a first change in the climate, which becomes colder and above all more arid. The forest had wide open spaces which were dominated by herbaceous plants (Compositae), and retreated towards the inland mountain slopes were Man prevalently hunted red deer; this animal dominates the faunal assemblages throughout the Palaeolithic sequence. The lithic industry includes a large number of burins, especially retouched ones, of which there are some of the type known as "Noailles"; there are also numerous backed blades and points, and a notable incidence of microlithic forms. In the levels of the first Gravettian occupation one also finds some fire structures, such as a small kettle hearth and a ditch filled with stones. The radiometric age of the levels is around 27-28 kyr BP, which should however be evaluated with prudence given the high sigma value of the dates.

The transition to the overlying levels happens across an important lacuna, since the levels immediately above the top of the Gravettian date to around 16 kyr BP. Thus begins the sequence of levels with an Epigravettian industry, of which the oldest phase is lacking, in correspondence with the lacuna, while the evolved and final phases are present. There is a dynamic evolution which, on a generically Gravettian basis, sees the burins gradually diminish towards the top while the number of endscrapers increases; the backed points and blades are now joined by the first truncated backed types and then by triangles. These geometric elements characterise the final phase of the process. From a climatic point of view, during the Epigravettian the environment differs little from that seen in the underlying Gravettian levels. Towards 12 kyr BP there is however an important change, which was both environmental and cultural, and as a result of which Man hunted less ungulates and started to collect molluscs which were first terrestrial and then marine types. In the final phase of the Epigravettian the diet was supplemented by numerous birds. So far the Epigravettian cycle can be said to terminate with the alpha stalagmite, since the industry of the overlying level F is scarce and poorly known at the moment.