Search results for "Late pleistocene"
showing 6 items of 16 documents
Human settlements in the Mediterranean and the sea level changes from 12 ka to the present
2012
Understanding past sea-level change plays an important role in determining the underlying causes, and also allows the extrapolation of past sea levels to locations and epochs for which there are no instrumental data. A compilation of global sea-level estimates based on deep-sea oxygen isotope ratios at millennial-scale resolution or higher was published since ‘70. These global sea level curves do not take in account isostasy and tectonics. Observed sea level change can be reconstructed from dated fossils, coral reef terraces, speleothems, emerged and forming terraces on coastal areas, archaeological and other markers well connected with sea level. Because of the lack of coral reefs in the M…
A new late pleistocene vertebrate faunal complex from Sicily (S. Teodoro Cave, North-Eastern Sicily, Italy)
2001
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…
L’histoire de La Balutie, un gisement oublié, voisin de Lascaux et de Regourdou
2023
Cette contribution a pour objet de retranscrire l’histoire du site paléolithique de La Balutie (Montignac-Lascaux, Dordogne, France). L’histoire de ce site très tôt oublié, n’est ni sensationnelle, ni exceptionnelle, mais s’avère retranscrire l’atmosphère caractérisant les débuts des explorations des gisements préhistoriques de Dordogne. On y retrouve de grands noms de la Préhistoire de Dordogne qui n’ont légué que peu d’écrits sur le site, du mobilier trié (surtout lithique) du Paléolithique moyen et supérieur qui a alimenté de nombreuses collections privées avant d’être dispersé au sein de diverses institutions, et un contexte local compliqué et agrémenté de conflits. Notre connaissance d…
Paesaggio culturale dei sistemi tradizionali: l'olivo in Italia
2005
We used a new sedimentary record to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation and fire history of Gorgo Basso, a coastal lake in south-western Sicily (Italy). Pollen and charcoal data suggest a fire-prone open grassland near the site until ca 10,000 cal yr BP (8050 cal BC), when Pistacia shrubland expanded and fire activity declined, probably in response to increased moisture availability. Evergreen Olea europaea woods expanded ca 8400 to decline abruptly at 8200 cal yr BP, when climatic conditions became drier at other sites in the Mediterranean region. Around 7000 cal yr BP evergreen broadleaved forests (Quercus ilex, Quercus suber and O. europaeo) expanded at the cost of open communities. The …
Late Pleistocene vertebrate - bearing deposits at San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily): Preliminary data on faunal diversification and chronology
2008
Abstract This paper deals with the chronology and the possible correlations among levels of different excavated areas in the Pleistocene vertebrate-bearing deposits at the large San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily). Two trenches have been excavated along the eastern side of the cave, located at a distance from the entrance, respectively, of 8 m ( α trench) and 28 m ( β trench) and at different depths. Lithological features, biometrical data from small mammals and ecological data from molluscs point to similar environmental conditions for the α trench deposits and those located along the eastern wall of the cave in the eastern part of the β trench. The same evidence, and the taphonomic fe…
Late Quaternary sedimentary evolution of the Castellammare Gulf (North-Western Sicily offshore)
2005
High-resolution seismic stratigraphy has been applied to the interpretation of the stratigraphic architecture of Late Pleistocene and Holocene successions on the continental shelf and upper slope of the Gulf of Castellammare, North-Western Sicily. The Late Quaternary type 1 depositional sequence is bounded by a regional unconformity and it is made up of four systems tracts, developed under fourth order relative sea level fluctuations, after the previous highstand of isotope Stage 5e. Systems tract are located in different parts of the basin, two being confined to the outer shelf and the upper slope, the other developed along the inner shelf. Facies associations, geomorphological elements, a…