Publication Date:
2020-02-24
Description:
Tephra layers from archaeological sites in southern Italy and eastern Europe stratigraphically associated with
cultural levels containing Early Upper Palaeolithic industry were analysed. The results confirm the
occurrence of the Campanian Ignimbrite tephra (CI; ca. 40 cal ka BP) at Castelcivita Cave (southern Italy),
Temnata Cave (Bulgaria) and in the Kostenki–Borshchevo area of the Russian Plain. This tephra, originated
from the largest eruption of the Phlegrean Field caldera, represents the widest volcanic deposit and one of
the most important temporal/stratigraphic markers of western Eurasia. At Paglicci Cave and lesser sites in the
Apulia region we recognise a chemically and texturally different tephra, which lithologically, chronologically
and chemically matches the physical and chemical characteristics of the Plinian eruption of Codola; a poorly
known Late Pleistocene explosive event from the Neapolitan volcanoes, likely Somma–Vesuvius. For this
latter, we propose a preliminary age estimate of ca. 33 cal ka BP and a correlation to the widespread C-10
marine tephra of the central Mediterranean. The stratigraphic position of both CI and Codola tephra layers at
Castelcivita and Paglicci help date the first and the last documented appearance of Early Upper Palaeolithic
industries of southern Italy to ca. 41–40 and 33 cal ka BP, respectively, or between two interstadial
oscillations of the Monticchio pollen record – to which the CI and Codola tephras are physically correlated –
corresponding to the Greenland interstadials 10–9 and 5. In eastern Europe, the stratigraphic and
chronometric data seem to indicate an earlier appearance of the Early Upper Palaeolithic industries, which
would predate of two millennia at least the overlying CI tephra. The tephrostratigraphic correlation indicates
that in both regions the innovations connected with the so-called Early Upper Palaeolithic – encompassing
subsistence strategy and stone tool technology – appeared and evolved during one of the most unstable
climatic phases of the Last Glacial period. On this basis, the marked environmental unpredictability
characterising this time-span is seen as a potential ecological factor involved in the cultural changes
observed.
Description:
Published
Description:
208–226
Description:
3.5. Geologia e storia dei sistemi vulcanici
Description:
3.6. Fisica del vulcanismo
Description:
4.3. TTC - Scenari di pericolosità vulcanica
Description:
JCR Journal
Description:
reserved
Keywords:
Campanian Ignimbrite
;
Early Upper Palaeolithic
;
Codola Plinian eruption
;
south-eastern Europe
;
04. Solid Earth::04.08. Volcanology::04.08.05. Volcanic rocks
;
04. Solid Earth::04.08. Volcanology::04.08.08. Volcanic risk
;
05. General::05.02. Data dissemination::05.02.03. Volcanic eruptions
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
