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Pandolfi, Luca
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Pandolfi, Luca
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- PublicationRestrictedThe Bucobello 322 ka-fossil-bearing volcaniclastic-flow deposit in the eastern Vulsini Volcanic District (central Italy): Mechanism of emplacement and insights on human activity during MIS 9(2020)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; We present a multidisciplinary study of a fossiliferous site located in the Vulsini Volcanic District, on the western side of the Tiber River Valley north of Rome, highlighting the peculiar geologic factors that contributed to the origin and preservation of an outstanding archaeological record testifying of the early human frequentation in this region. Mighty explosive eruptions since at least 500 ka affected the investigated area eventually culminating in the formation of the huge Bolsena caldera. Tectonic deformation accompanying volcanic activity caused large fault displacements, shaping the ground surface and contributing to route the path, and possibly to trigger, the catastrophic emplacement of volcaniclastic flows. A sedimentary trap originated by fault scarp cutting through a streambed was likely the cause for the large accumulation of bones and stone artifacts ripped up and carried by a volcaniclastic flow at 322 ka. The analysis of the fossil assemblage reveals both gnawing traces by carnivores and cut-marks from the percussion tools employed by humans to butch the carcasses. However, the occurrence of retouched and unretouched blanks within the lithic assemblage also testifies for provenance from a wider area of human activity, which included hunting and scavenging, probably at a nearby butchering site.95 2 - PublicationRestrictedA novel multidisciplinary bio- and geo-chronological approach for age determination of Palaeolithic bone artifacts in volcanic settings: An example from eastern Sabatini, Latium, ItalyIn this study, we provide combined biochronologic and chronostratigraphic constraints to the fluviallacustrine succession cropping out near the village of Rignano Flaminio, 35 km north of Rome, where two bone instruments have been recovered along with several vertebrate fossil remains. The presence of bone tools is characteristic of the Latium region, whereas it is rare in the rest of Italy, but very few sites in which such artifacts occur have precise geochronological constraints. In the investigated site, the presence of Cervus elaphus eostephanoceros, among other taxa, indicates a time interval limited to Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 13 and MIS 11. The occurrence of the Tufo Rosso a Scorie Nere pyroclastic-flow deposit, dated 449 ± 2 ka, at the base of the sedimentary deposits hosting the faunal assemblage allows us at restricting the interval to MIS 11. Moreover, applying a recently validated conceptual model accounting for an aggradational mechanism linked with sea-level rise during glacial termination for the sedimentary successions of the Tiber River and its tributaries in a relatively wider area around Rome, we further constrain the age to 430e405 ka. Following this approach, we present a review of the archaeological sites of Latium yielding bone instruments, remarking that only other four sites have been recently provided with geochronological constraints, through the application of the multidisciplinary methodology applied here.
77 2 - PublicationOpen AccessThe Aggradational Successions of the Aniene River Valley in Rome: Age Constraints to Early Neanderthal Presence in EuropeWe revise the chronostratigraphy of several sedimentary successions cropping out along a 5 km-long tract of the Aniene River Valley in Rome (Italy), which yielded six hominin remains previously attributed to proto- or archaic Neanderthal individuals, as well as a large number of lithic artefacts showing intermediate characteristics somewhere between the local Acheulean and Mousterian cultures. Through a method of correlation of aggradational successions with post-glacial sea-level rises, relying on a large set of published 40Ar/39Ar ages of interbedded volcanic deposits, we demonstrate that deposition of the sediments hosting the human remains spans the interval 295±220 ka. This is consistent with other well constrained ages for lithic industries recovered in England, displaying transitional features from Lower to Middle Paleolithic, suggesting the appearance of Mode 3 during the MIS 9-MIS 8 transition. Moreover, the six human bone fragments recovered in the Aniene Valley should be regarded as the most precisely dated and oldest hominin remains ascribable to Neanderthal-type individuals in Europe, discovered to date. The chronostratigraphic study presented here constitutes the groundwork for addressing re-analysis of these remains and of their associated lithic industries, in the light of their well-constrained chronological picture.
102 60 - PublicationRestrictedReassessing the sedimentary deposits and vertebrate assemblages from Ponte Galeria area (Rome, central Italy): an archive for the Middle Pleistocene faunas of Europe(2014)
; ; ; ; ; ; ;Marra, F.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia ;Pandolfi, L.; Università Roma 3 ;Petronio, C.; Università La Sapienza ;Di Stefano, G.; Università La Sapienza ;Gaeta, M.; Università La Sapienza ;Salari, L.; Università La Sapienza; ; ; ; ; The Ponte Galeria area is part of the larger "Campagna Romana" and hosted the inner delta of the Tiber River since the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, allowing the deposition of a series of glacio-eustatically controlled fluvial-lacustrine sedimentary successions very rich in fossil mammal remains. Due to its richness of fossiliferous sites, this area represents an exceptional archive for the study and understanding of the biochronological, paleobiogeographical and paleoenvironmental evolution during the Middle Pleistocene in Europe. A series of recent studies, using the 40Ar/39Ar ages of tephra intercalated within the sedimentary deposits, provided a large amount of geochronological data linking these aggradational successions to the different Marine Isotopic Stages. In the present paper we present a complete review of the faunal assemblages identified so far in the Ponte Galeria area, and we constrain the ages of the faunal units by placing them within the new chronostratigraphic scheme. By means of this interdisciplinary approach, we re-calibrate the mammal assemblages collected in this area and reconstruct a new biochronological and paleobiogeographic framework for the Italian peninsula during the Middle Pleistocene. In particular, we distinguish six well-defined biochronological units (Slivia, Ponte Galeria, Isernia, Fontana Ranuccio, Torre in Pietra, and Vitinia) in the studied area covering a time span of ca 0.6 Myr, from the Early to Middle Pleistocene transition to at least marine isotope stage 7. This period is characterized in Europe by the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (global climate change) and by the transition at first between Villafranchian and Galerian taxa and later between the Galerian and Aurelian ones. According to the reviewed data, the persistence of Villafranchian taxa is recorded in Italy at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene probably due to favorable climatic conditions or delay in dispersal of competitive species, while the faunal turnover between the Villafranchian and Galerian species was completed around 0.6-0.5 Ma. During this time, Bos primigenius and other temperate-warm taxa were widespread in the Peninsula earlier than in Western Europe. In contrast, typical Aurelian taxa, usually related with temperate-cold climatic conditions (Ursus spelaues, Megaloceros giganteus), occurred later in Italy than in other Western European areas.467 99