Opening a window on the past: paleo-horizons across Pleistocene and Holocene. Madonna della Grotta, Praia a Mare, Southern Italy

Authors

  • Stefania Cocco Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona
  • V. Caputo Barucchi Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente (DiSVA), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona
  • A. Negri Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente (DiSVA), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona
  • M. Giovannotti Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente (DiSVA), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona
  • A. Splendiani Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente (DiSVA), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona
  • T. Fioravanti Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente (DiSVA), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona
  • D. albertini Museo delle Civiltà - Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini di Roma - Piazza Guglielmo Marconi 14, 00144 Roma
  • Valeria Cardelli Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona
  • F. Courchesne Département de géographie, Université de Montréal
  • Giuseppe Corti Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2281-4485/7558

Keywords:

Salmo trutta, paleo-environment, human artifacts, climate change

Abstract

The goal of this study was to identify and characterize three paleo-horizons along a stratigraphic succession embracing sediments from Paleolithic to historic that has been preserved inside a grotto close to the Tyrrhenian Sea in southern Italy. The studied paleo-horizons date back to the transition period between Pleistocene and Holocene, when swift alternations of cold and warm phases profoundly altered the range dynamics of many organisms, including salmonids like Salmo trutta and, consequently, the behavior of the humans that occupied the grotto. Morphological observations and preliminary analysis were run to assess if the paleo-horizons preserved information of the human modified behavior. Results confirmed that one of the three paleo-horizons (Bud horizon, dating back to 10,300 cal YBP) had a strongly affected anthropic origin as it contains the rests of terrestrial (mammals, birds, and snails) and sea food (Salmo trutta and Patella spp.), and showed a hard compaction acquired via hydroconsolidation.

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Published

2017-12-22

How to Cite

Cocco, S., Caputo Barucchi, V., Negri, A., Giovannotti, M., Splendiani, A., Fioravanti, T., … Corti, G. (2017). Opening a window on the past: paleo-horizons across Pleistocene and Holocene. Madonna della Grotta, Praia a Mare, Southern Italy. EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality, 25, 33–38. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2281-4485/7558