Search results for " dating"
showing 10 items of 230 documents
Environmental evolution and mid–late Holocene climate events in the Valencia lagoon (Mediterranean coast of Spain)
2016
Integration of geomorphological, stratigraphic, malacological, sedimentological and micropalaeontological techniques and14C dating allows us to characterise the processes and evolution of the coastal barrier–lagoon system of Valencia (Spain), from the middle Holocene to the historical epoch, as well as the responses to global climate events. Four stages are recognised. Phase 1: around 8240 ± 80 cal. yr BP, a brackish lagoon of moderate energy and in restricted environment was formed, with an energy peak that could correspond to the maximum Holocene marine transgression. Dating (8240 ± 80 cal. yr BP) carried out in peat corresponds to a cold cycle and low water levels in inland lakes of the …
Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer subsistence in Mediterranean coastal environments: an isotopic study of the diets of earliest directlyt-dated huma…
2011
Abstract The subsistence of hunter-gatherers in the Mediterranean Basin has been the object of few studies, which have not fully clarified the role of aquatic resources in their diets. Here we present the results of AMS radiocarbon dating and of isotope analyses on the earliest directly-dated human remains from Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The radiocarbon determinations show that the Upper Palaeolithic (Epigravettian) humans from Grotta di San Teodoro (15 232–14 126 cal. BP) and Grotta Addaura Caprara (16 060–15 007 cal. BP) date to the Late-glacial and were possibly contemporary. The diets of these individuals were dominated by the protein of large terrestrial mamma…
Timing the Western Mediterranean Last Hunter-Gatherers and First Farmers
2017
The spread of domestic plants and animals from the Near East towards the Western Mediterranean region is analysed using the current radiocarbon dataset relating to the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers in the area. In order to do this, we have selected radiocarbon dates and built summed probability distributions and density maps, as a means of investigating the processes involved in the expansion of food production economies throughout this wide territory, in a ‘longue duree’ view, in accordance with a multiscalar approach covering both the general and the regional scenarios. This approach allows us to visualise the time of the expansion in this broad area, starting at the beginni…
Evidence for Holocene sea level and climate change from Almenara marsh (western Mediterranean)
2017
AbstractIn the Almenara marsh (western Mediterranean), four cores were analyzed to establish the relationship between the marsh record of the Almenara marshlands and the environmental factors responsible for its evolution during the Holocene. One hundred and eighty-six samples were collected for sedimentologic and paleontological study: 63 for biomarker analysis; 5 for amino acid racemization (AAR) dating; and 5 for 14C dating. Litho and biofacies analyses identified distinct paleoenvironments, with the presence of a marsh environment alternating with inputs of alluvial material and marine sediments. Biomarkers indicated the constant presence of terrestrial (herbaceous) plants, together wit…
Radiocarbon dates, climatic events, and social dynamics during the Early Neolithic in Mediterranean Iberia
2016
Abstract Our goal in this paper is to examine the socioecological dynamics of the Early Neolithic period in Iberia in order to test the usefulness of temporal probability curves built from dated sites as a relative proxy for exploring possible links between trends in population patterns and climatic fluctuations. We compare the information for the entire Iberian Peninsula with four Mediterranean regions, investigating the climate–population relationships that emerge when we zoom into particular regions. We evaluate climatic and other possible causes of similarities in the shapes of temporal probability curves across the Peninsula, associated with demographic changes in the Early Neolithic s…
Late Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in the Central Mediterranean: New archaeological and genetic data from the Late Epigravettian burial Oriente…
2019
AbstractGrotta d’Oriente, a small coastal cave located on the island of Favignana (Sicily, Italy) is a key site for the study of the early human colonization of Sicily. The individual known as Oriente C was found in the lower portion of an anthropogenic deposit containing typical local Late Upper Palaeolithic (Late Epigravettian) stone assemblages. Two radiocarbon dates on charcoal from the deposit containing the burial are consistent with the archaeological context and refer Oriente C to a period spanning about 14,200-13,800 cal. BP. Anatomical features are close to those of Late Upper Palaeolithic populations of the Mediterranean and show strong affinity with Palaeolithic individuals of S…
Impact of human activities on the central Mediterranean offshore: Evidence from Hg distribution in box-core sediments from the Ionian Sea
2008
The Palermo and Augusta urban/industrial areas (Sicily) are examples of contaminated coastal environments with a relatively high influx of unregulated industrial and domestic effluents. Three sediment box-cores were collected offshore of these urban/industrial areas in water depths of 60–150mduring two cruises (summers 2003/2004), dated by 210Pb and 137Cs, and analysed for total mercury concentration and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages were also examined (in terms of their distribution and morphology) to assess the potential use of benthic foraminifera as bioindicators of pollutant input and environmental change in these Mediterra…
Coastal Evolution in a Mediterranean Microtidal Zone: Mid to Late Holocene Natural Dynamics and Human Management of the Castellò Lagoon, NE Spain
2016
We present a palaeoenvironmental study of the Castelló lagoon (NE Spain), an important archive for understanding long-term interactions between dynamic littoral ecosystems and human management. Combining geochemistry, mineralogy, ostracods, diatoms, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal and archaeo-historical datasets we reconstruct: 1) the transition of the lagoon from a marine to a marginal environment between ~3150 cal BC to the 17th century AD; 2) fluctuations in salinity; and 3) natural and anthropogenic forces contributing to these changes. From the Late Neolithic to the Medieval period the lagoon ecosystem was driven by changing marine influence and the land was mainly exploited …
Possible impacts of Hg and PAH contamination on benthic foraminiferal assemblages: An example from the Sicilian coast, central Mediterranean
2007
The Palermo and Augusta urban/industrial areas (Sicily) are examples of contaminated coastal environments with a relatively high influx of unregulated industrial and domestic effluents. Three sediment box-cores were collected offshore of these urban/industrial areas in water depths of 60-150 m during two cruises (summers 2003/2004), dated by (210)Pb and (137)Cs, and analysed for total mercury concentration and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages were also examined (in terms of their distribution and morphology) to assess the potential use of benthic foraminifera as bioindicators of pollutant input and environmental change in these Med…
Late Mesolithic burials at Casa Corona (Villena, Spain): direct radiocarbon and palaeodietary evidence of the last forager populations in Eastern Ibe…
2013
Abstract Current knowledge about the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in the Central and Western Mediterranean European regions is deeply limited by the paucity of Late Mesolithic human osteological data and the presence of chronological gaps covering several centuries between the last foragers and the first archaeological evidence of farming peoples. In this work, we present new data to fill these gaps. We provide direct AMS radiocarbon dating and carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope analysis were carried out on bone collagen samples of two single burials from the recently discovered open-air Late Mesolithic site of Casa Corona (Villena, Spain). The results shed new light on the…