Pleistocene cave paleosols and sediments in northern sicily. Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction

Identifier:  TDX:3155

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX3155

Authors:  Vita, Gerlando

Abstract:
Most of the paleontological and archaeological sequences of the continental Pleistocene of Sicily are found in caves and rocky shelters, but the deposits are often complicated to study because they present disturbances and alterations of various kinds. Geoarchaeological and paleoenvironmental investigations are very difficult in caves where fossorial animals such as hyenas lived. This thesis aims to study in particular two caves located in northern Sicily, inhabited by both hyenas and humans. These sites had a human occupation dating back to the first stable colonization of Sicily during the Epigravettian period. The wildlife associations and the results of the analysis of the sediments of the caves investigated contribute to providing stratigraphic documentation of the island's Pleistocene. The sediments and soils were studied using micromorphology for the genesis of the deposits, to find reworking signals, post-depositional minerals and to find any human traces. This technique served to understand depositional history, both natural and anthropic.