0000000001052934

AUTHOR

L. Bonfiglio

Bio-chronology of pleistocene vertebrate faunas of sicily and correlation of vertebrate bearing deposits with marine deposits

The rich Pleistocene fossil record of Sicily allowed the construction of a fairly detailed bio-chronological frame that is dated by correlation of vertebrate bearing deposits with marine deposits by geochemical and radiometric dating too. Actually, an important category of deposits is representative of transitional and neritic environments, frequently associated with a lagoon or swamp. Limnic deposits related to small freshwater basins also occur, often in relation to coastal and fully marine deposits. Numerous relationships have been found between the vertebrate bearing deposits and marine deposits, which can be correlated with the δ18O isotopic record and the main palaeogeographic events …

research product

A revision of medium and small sized deer from the Middle and Late Pleistocene of Calabria and Sicily

The remains of Megaceroides calabriae from Middle Pleistocene deposits at locality Bovetto (Southern Calabria) and of Megaceroides carburangelensis from the late Middle and Late Pleistocene locality Cimillà (South-eastern Sicily) are revised. These deer were considered as endemic species of strongly reduced size, related to genus Megaceroides (=Praemegaceros), which evolved in insular environment similarly to the endemic megaceroids from Sardinia, Corsica and Crete, M, cazioti and M. cretensis. The comparison of M. calabriae and M. carburangelensis with representatives of genera Megaceroides and Dama, carried out in the present study, shows that the Calabrian and Sicilian deer belong to Dam…

research product

A new late pleistocene vertebrate faunal complex from Sicily (S. Teodoro Cave, North-Eastern Sicily, Italy)

Previous excavations at the S. Teodoro Cave were carried on mainly in the upper unit, Late Glacial in age, containing late Upper Palaeolithic stone artefacts and no endemic mammals remains belonging to the Castello Faunal complex, the youngest of the Pleistocene Sicilian faunal complexes. This unit overlies an older deposit of clay and sands which contain Pleistocene endemic mammal remains. During 1998 excavations a maximum depth of m 1.50 over an area of about 12 sq. m has been exploited. Scarce evidences of the Late Glacial have been encountered during excavations. The investigated lower unit (unit B) is made of clayey sands and gravels containing a highly diversified assemblage of verteb…

research product

The New Finding of a Mycenaean Tholos in the Alluvial Deposits of the Messina Coastal Plain (north-Eastern Sicily): Stratigraphic and Palaeoenvironmental Consequences

research product

The land bridge between Europe and Sicily over the past 40 kyrs: Timing of emersion and implications for the migration of Homo sapiens

The submerged Sill in the Messina Strait, which is located at a depth of -81 m m.s.l., represents the only possibile connection between Calabria and Sicily during the last lowstand, when the sea level was at about -126 m m.s.l. This multidisciplinary research aim at documenting times and modes the bridge between Calabria and Sicily was emerged, during the last 40 ka BP. The analysis carried out on morphobathymetric, lithological and relative sea level change (both isostatic and tectonic) data allow to hypothesize the continental bridge emerged at least between 21.5 ka and 20 ka cal BP. Moreover, considering erosion processes due to very strong marine currents, it could be emerged for a long…

research product

Vertebrate biological events and Pleistocene biogeographic history of Sicily

research product