Paleo-landscapes along the Ionian coast of Salento

Land, 2022

Landscape evolution over the last 8000 years in three areas located along Tuscany, Latium, and Campania coasts (central Tyrrhenian) has been deduced through a morphological, stratigraphical, and historical approach considering the physical evolution and human activity. Between 8000 and 6000 yr BP, the Sea Level Rise (SLR) dominated and, near the river mouths, inlets occurred. In the Tuscany area, Mt. Argentario was an island and to SE of the Ansedonia promontory a lagoon occurred. The areas were covered by a dense forest and the human influence was negligible. Between 6000 and 4000 yr BP, humans organized settlements and activities, and a general coastline progradation occurred. A tombolo linked Mt. Argentario to the mainland. In the Tiber and Campania areas, coastal lakes and a strand plain developed. Between 4000 and 3000 yr BP, near Mt. Argentario, two tombolos enclosed a wide lagoon. At the SE of the Ansedonia promontory, the lagoon split into smaller water bodies. In the Tiber ...

The Holocene, 2009

Quaternary International, 2018

Using morphological, stratigraphic, paleoecological and geoarcheological data, as well as radiocarbon datings, we reconstructed the evolution of the coastal plain of Mondragone, in the northern sector of the Campania Plain, during the last 40 kyr. The Late Pleistocene-Holocene morphodynamics of this coastland were mainly dictated by mutual interaction between tectonics, sea-level fluctuations, Quaternary volcanic eruptions, and subsidence. These processes also influenced the dynamics of prehistoric and proto-historic human populations. Actually, the discovery over the last 25 years of several archaeological sites referable to Upper Paleolithic-Early Iron Age as well as the recent finding of artifacts, fauna and, for the third time in Campania, of Neanderthal human remains in the Roccia San Sebastiano cave, demonstrates that the coastal plain of Mondragone had always hosted human settlements. This constant frequentation is confirmed by, both emerged and submerged, ruins of Roman age and Middle Ages, and the high level of urbanization of the modern town. The interpretation of four borehole stratigraphic sequences down to 22 m bgl, of microfossils analysis and sediment facies highlighted the succession of transition, from marine to freshwater, and continental paleoenvironments in this coastal plain. These wetlands developed in climatic conditions that varied from glacial (Würm) to postglacial phases. Some deposits are interpreted as marshy sediments accumulated in shallow, elongated ponds behind sandy beach or dunes, which existed almost up to the present. The reconstruction of landscape morphodynamic evolution shows that after the "super eruption" of the Campanian Ignimbrite (~39 kyr BP) the physiography abruptly changed. A wide gulf characterized by grey tuff cliffs and facing northwest formed, along the littoral between the Garigliano and the Volturno river mouths during the volcanic stasis of the Phlegrean Fields, which lasted about ten thousand years after the violent ignimbrite eruption. In this period, the presence of Neanderthal and of a settlement in the Roccia San Sebastiano cave, at the foot of Mt. Massico, is proven by the findings of an excavation. Later (~20 kyr BP-Holocene), subsidence and sea-level rise activated strong erosion processes due to the postglacial marine ingression, with a consequent rapid shoreline recession and the genesis of transition environments. Finally, according to the results of previous multidisciplinary research carried out on other Campania coastal plains, adjacent or not to the studied area, distinct generations of post-Campanian Ignimbrite-Holocene coastal lakes (lagoons, ponds) and waterlogged environments (marshes, quagmires) were recognized, slightly below and at the current sea-level.

Rendiconti Lincei, 2012

Available online xxx a b s t r a c t New data on the ancient landscape of Naples (southern Italy) during the middle and late Holocene from geo-archaeological excavations associated with public transport works were used to reconstruct the hill and coastal environment to the west of the ancient Graeco-Roman polis, where remains of human settlements date to the late Neolithic. The rich stratigraphic and archaeological records that emerged from the digs and from previous boreholes were measured and analysed by combining sedimentary facies analysis, tephrostratigraphy and archaeological data. Between the 5th and 4th millennia BP, a rocky profile with a wave-cut platform cutting across pyroclastites emplaced from the surrounding volcanoes was predominant in the coastal landscape. During the 3rd millennium BP, this rocky coast was progressively replaced by a sandy littoral environment primarily due to marine deposition, with a coastline located some hundred meters inland with respect to the modern one. The sedimentary record of the Greek and Roman periods indicates short-term fluctuations of the coastline, leading to the establishment of a backshore environment towards the end of the 6th century AD, when prograding river mouths and lobes of debris flows contributed to the advancing trend of the shoreline. The frequent archaeological remains from these periods indicate a stable settled area since Roman times. The shoreline was still subject to short-lived fluctuations between the 12th and 16th centuries, and attained its present position during the modern era with man-made reshaping of its profile. The construction of Relative Sea Level curves for two coastal sites reveals that the persistence of the foreshore environment in the Naples coastal strip during the 5th and 4th millennia BP was controlled by the counterbalancing effect of either the concurrent eustatic sea level rise or subsidence. On the other hand, the morpho-stratigraphic record for the last two millennia shows a significant correlation between sedimentation rate and settlement history, accounting for the dominant role of the anthropogenic forcing-factor in late Holocene landscape history. In particular, land mismanagement during Late Antiquity seems to have triggered a slope disequilibrium phase, exacerbating soil erosion and increasing the sediment accumulation rate in both foothill and coastal areas. Nonetheless, the environmental changes of the Chiaia coast during the last 2000 years clearly show volcanicetectonic perturbations influencing coastline development up to the modern era.

Journal of Maps

Since the 19th century, many scientists have tried to reconstruct the ground motions that occurred in the Campi Flegrei caldera, one of the most dangerous volcanos in the Mediterranean area. This study aims to assess the joint effects of vertical ground movements and anthropic forcing along the coasts of this volcanic area. A huge dataset of hundreds of archeo-stratigraphic boreholes was coupled with direct and indirect surveys of the main underwater archaeological sites scattered along the whole coastal sector and with the reinterpretation of bibliographic sources. Clear evidence of a differential volcano-tectonic behaviour (highlighted for the first time in this study) led us to divide the study area into three coastal stretches with homogeneous vertical ground movements. In each sector, a new relative sea-level (RSL) curve was reconstructed, by interpreting our stratigraphic and archaeological data in terms of SL markers covering a wider timespan compared to the previous studies, from the first Roman urbanization to the present day. The comparison between RSL curves and GIA models allowed estimating vertical ground movements (See Supplementary material 2) that occurred along the coast with decimetres accuracy. For each of the 5 recognized phase of uplift or subsidence, we also studied the subsequent effects in terms of coastal geomorphological change, and advantages or negative impacts on ancient human activities. We measured an overall subsiding trend that brought the RSL from -12 ± 1 m (4th century BC) to 7 ± 0.2 m during three different episodes between 5th and 15th centuries (1450-450 y BP), which was interrupted by short-lived falls (less of 100 years) of RSL. During the phases of RSL fall and/or volcano-tectonic stability, detected for the first time in the eastern and western part of the caldera (1st-2nd century AD and 3rd-4th century AD), a basinward shift of the coastline created newly emerged land even at the base of the local sea cliffs, where shore platforms emerged, favouring intense phases of urbanization on them along the Baia -Miseno sector and at the footslope of Rione Terra. This trend also favoured the closure of the Lucrino lagoon with an extended spit bar during the 2nd century BC, allowing the establishment of a large oyster farming system belonging to Sergio Orata. On the contrary, the subsiding phases resulted in the flooding of coastal areas and anthropic structures such as villas, nymphaea and ports inducing the construction of coastal protection structures. In the extreme case of Portus Julius, subsidence led to the abandonment of the military port and its move to nearby Miseno.

Quaternary Science Reviews, 2005

This paper reports a study carried out in an area in the vicinity of Coppa Nevigata archaeological site. The settlement, inhabited from the Early Neolithic to the Iron Age, was situated on the shores of a broad lagoon extended some 40 km from the Manfredonia to the Ofanto river mouth. This lagoon evolved into a marshland (now extensively reclaimed) that, in the area near to the site, took the name of ''Palude Frattarolo''. The data obtained from analysis of two sediment cores were integrated with archaeological information to reconstruct a complex sequence of past environments. The evolution of a lagoon-wetland environment was traced since the Late Neolithic. Previous analysis of data from sediment cores drilled near the margin of the settlement had suggested that throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages the wetland was subjected to several rapid changes due to anthropogenic activities. In contrast two other cores, obtained in the middle of the former basin, show a progressive closing of the lagoon environment. We show that studies carried out in different sampling areas of this basin, could produce very different data. If these sites were considered separately the data could lead researchers to draw inaccurate conclusions about the past natural changes that occurred in the physical environment. r

Journal of Maps

A 1:28,000-scale geoarchaeological map has been prepared for a large sector of the Ionian coastal belt of the Basilicata region, southern Italy, in order to investigate the relationships between the spatial distribution of archaeological sites of Greek settlement of Metapontum and the main landforms of this sector of the Bradano Foredeep. Archaeological investigation consists of an examination and a re-organisation of published data and new field surveys, which has allowed us to infer the relationships between landform elements and spatial distribution of about 1400 archaeological remnants of the Greek colony of Metapontum. Our results highlight a non-random distribution of the archaeological evidence and the strong influence of geomorphological features and processes on the settlement pattern.

The aim of this study is to shed light on plant physiognomy and landscape changes which have characterized the Abruzzo coast in the past, analysing different historical documents in order to join the information with those related to the actual vegetation focusing on some events and historical processes which influenced the modification of the landscape, causing a huge spillover on natural environment and relapse of the soil use. The existence of different types of coastal woodlands is documented by some texts and geographic maps showing that in the past centuries the Abruzzo coast was covered by thick and impervious forests named "selvae", which were integral part of the economy of local populations, mostly based on non-wood products. About the past plant physiognomy, most of the available information are fragmentary, but a few well detailed documents give an acceptable representation of some plant formations, as in the case of large coastal pine woods, which have been remodeled and reshaped over time, even with reforestation and are today restricted in small areas. Many documents are also important to prove the close link between these formations and the daily life of local people in the past, underlining at the same time their cultural and historical-environmental value. The study of this documentation is also useful for the analysis of those species whose presence status is nowadays considered critical or cryptic, as well as for the study of introduced species which are now historicized in the landscape and in some cases have become typical.

This contribution is based on reference study in combination with field work as a geoarchaeologist. Its aim is to confront the landscape evolution of the closely related deltaic plains of Rome and Grosseto, in the light of interpreting the distribution of the known prehistorical sites on late Quaternary land units, and of formulating a probability pattern for the unknown ones. The two areas have in common their wave-dominated deltaic character and their position along the Tyrrhenian sea. This means the presence of one or more large rivers, a gently sloping sea floor, a tombolo type shoreline and a narrow tidal excursion. In the last 20,000 years these areas have undergone surprisingly strong landscape changes. Until 6,000 years ago, the landscape development and more specifically the position of the coastline, was regulated strictly by the rising post-glacial sea level. When the sea reached more or less its present level the landscape was modelled mainly by the opposing forces of river sediment load and strength of the marine currents. The coastal landscape still underwent strong changes in historical times, both of natural and anthropical origin, leading to the burial and erosion of former landscapes. Apart from the similarities, the differences between the two areas are analyzed. The landscape map of the Grosseto area is proposed as a useful thematic map for analyzing the distribution of prehistorical finds and for archaeological survey planning.