Search

We present a high-resolution paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the last five millennia from a shallow water marine sedimentary record from the central Tyrrhenian Sea (Gulf of Gaeta) using planktonic foraminifera, pollen, oxygen stable isotope, tephrostratigrapy and magnetostratigrapy. This multiproxy approach allows to evidence and characterize nine time intervals associated with archaeological/cultural periods: Eneolithic (base of the core–ca. 2410 BCE), Early Bronze Age (ca. 2410 BCE–ca. 1900 BCE), Middle Bronze Age–Iron Age (ca. 1900 BCE–ca. 500 BCE), Roman Period (ca. 500 BCE–ca. 550 CE), Dark Age (ca. 550 CE–ca. 860 CE), Medieval Climate Anomaly (ca. 860 CE–ca. 1250 CE), Little Ice Age (ca. 1250 CE–ca. 1850 CE), Industrial Period (ca. 1850 CE–ca. 1950 CE), Modern Warm Period (ca. 1950 CE–present day). The reconstructed climatic evolution in the investigated sedimentary succession is coherent with the short-term climate variability documented at the Mediterranean scale. By integrating the planktonic foraminiferal turnover from carnivorous to herbivorous–opportunistic species, the oxygen isotope record and the pollen distribution, we document important modification from the onset of the Roman Period to the present-day. From ca. 500 CE upwards the documentation of the cooling trend punctuated by climate variability at secular scale evidenced by the short-term δ 18 O is very detailed. We hypothesise that the present day warm conditions started from the end of cold Maunder event. Additionally, we provide that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) directly affected the central Mediterranean region during the investigated time interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geomorphologic, stratigraphic, faunistic, palynological and carbon isotope analyses were carried out in the area of the Tiber river mouth. The results depict a complex palaeoenvironmental evolution in the area of the Roman town of Ostia, ascertain the changes of the Tiber river delta over the last 6000 years and support a re-interpretation of some archaeologic issues. The wave-dominated Tiber delta evolved through three distinct phases. In the first step (5000–2700 yr BP) a delta cusp was built at the river mouth, which was located north of the present outlet. Subsequently (2700–1900 BP), an abrupt southward migration of the river mouth determined the abandonment of the previous cusp and the progradation of a new one. The third step, which is still in progress, is marked by the appearance of a complex cusp made up of two distributary channels. The transition from the first to the second evolution phase occurred in the seventh century bc and was contemporary to the foundation of Ostia, as suggested by historical accounts. However, the oldest archaeological evidence of the town of Ostia dates to the fourth century bc, when human activity is clearly recorded also by pollen data. We suggest that the first human settlement (seventh century bc) consisted of ephemeral military posts, with the aim of controlling the strategic river mouth and establishing the Ostia saltworks. Only after the fourth century bc the coastal environment was stable enough for the foundation and development of the town of Ostia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Multidisciplinary investigations at Pagliare di Sassa (L''Aquila, central Italy) suggest that the local succession accumulated from the late Early to the early Middle Pleistocene in a lacustrine environment. In the upper part, clastic sediments are part of an alluvial fan prograding into the lake, grading to a braided fluvial system. The pollen record confirms that a significant glacial phase occurred just before the onset of the Jaramillo inversion. These data, coupled with evidence from the nearby but earlier Madonna della Strada sequence, allow reconstruction of part of the environmental evolution of L''Aquila basin before the Jaramillo Subchron. The mammal species of Pagliare di Sassa include Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis, mostly of open environments, already present at Madonna della Strada. The faunal turnover characterizing the Early to Middle Pleistocene transition is indicated by the appearances of taxa typical of the Italian early to middle Galerian faunas, such as Praemegaceros verticornis, together with Megaloceros savini. The occurrence of Mimomys savini together with Microtus ex gr. Microtus hintoni-gregaloides suggests that this assemblage is earlier than the Isernia La Pineta fauna. A flint implement and a fragmentary herbivore femur with impact scars probably linked to human activity give evidence of the human peopling of intramontane basins of the Apennine chain since the early Middle Pleistocene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]