the human/environment interactions are crucial to the understanding of cultural and social dynamics, particularly concerning the earliest farmers. this study allowed us to define the main human/environment dynamics between 6,200 and 3,700 bC in the neolithic of the apulia region, considering paleoclimatological, paleoenvironmental and paleoeconomic data at the regional and the mediterranean scale. Following a multidisciplinary approach, we compared the neolithic settlement patterns in the different sub-areas of apulia, as evidenced by archaeological researches, with paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic information from natural off-shore and off-site archives. We then analysed archaeobotanical data (plant macroremains) gathered from 35 archaeological sites from vii and iv millennium bC. the interdisciplinary approach allowed us to define climate characters of the studied time span (mainly temperature and rainfall) and their influence on human adaptation strategies highlighted by settlement patterns and agricultural practices.

The objective of our research was to define the main human–environment interactions during the Neolithic period (6500–3700 bc) in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy based on available published and unpublished data. Knowledge of these interactions is crucial to understanding the cultural and social dynamics of the period, particularly concerning the earliest farmers. Using a multidisciplinary approach, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatological data at the regional and Mediterranean scales were compared with the results of analyses performed on natural deposits and deposits in Neolithic settlements. The following data sets were used: (1) 121 14C dates for settlements, from which probability curves (%) of the Apulian Archaeological Occupation (AAO) were developed; (2) offshore data obtained from analyses performed on two offshore sediment cores drilled in the Adriatic Sea; (3) offsite data from studies conducted in two natural coastal contexts; and (4) onsite archaeobotanical data from 35 settlements. This study allowed us to tentatively define the main climatic features between 6200 and 3700 bc. We identified two dry phases (one between 5000 and 4600 bc and a second that peaked c. 4000 bc) and two wet intervals (one between 6200 and 5500 bc and a second that peaked around 4400 bc). Climate changes appear to have been relatively gradual. The use of archaeobotanical data allowed us to determine a direct link between paleoclimatic and archaeological sequences. These data highlight the variations in agricultural strategies (species used and harvest times) as humans responded to changes in the rainfall regime.

Pollen, molluscs and foraminifera are used to reconstruct Holocene environmental changes in the Palude Frattarolo–Lago Salso area (Tavoliere Plain, Apulia, Italy) near the Coppa Nevigata archaeological site. This settlement, inhabited from the Early Neolithic to the Iron Age, was situated on the edge of a broad lagoon that extended for some 40 km along the eastern margin of the Tavoliere Plain. The paleoenvironmental history was investigated using an 8.6 mdeep core drilled in the ancient lagoon. The records show a shoaling-upwards sequence characterised by a semi-closed lagoonal environment that gradually became isolated from the sea and ultimately transformed into a terrestrial environment. The semi-closed lagoon was in existence between 6340 and 4880 cal. yr BP and contained a brackish environment with a moderate input of sea water, undergoing frequent changes in size and salinity. The vegetational landscape at this time was dominated by mixed oak forests. Between 4880 and 3230 cal. yr BP the semi-closed lagoon turned into a closed waterbody. The surrounding landscape opened around 4000 cal. yr BP, similar to many other sites in the central Mediterranean region. A hiatus in deposition occurred between 3230 and somewhat before 180 cal. yr BP, when a freshwater environment prevailed and the area was an open and dry grassland. Our multiproxy approach shows that during the last few thousand years large natural habitats of northern Apulia were progressively reduced in size. In spite of an ancient human occupation, a mainly natural cause for the evolution of the lagoon appears most likely.

An archaeological and morpho-stratigraphic study of Pleistocene and Holocene deposits cropping out along the coast of Trani (Adriatic coast of Apulia, southern Italy) has been recently carried out, when Trani City Council started with works aimed at protecting its eastern coastal cliff by building hard structures such as revetments. Two distinct archaeological phases of occupation of the area have been recognised, clearly separated by paleosols, and dated respectably to the Middle Neolithic (Serra d’Alto facies) and to the Early Bronze Age periods. Palaeonvinonmental analysis show in particular that the actual coastal Middle Neolithic structure (only 2 m in elevation) was originally located on flat surfaces, close to a fluvial incision, at about 10 m in elevation, sloping down towards the Adriatic sea

long the Apulian Adriatic coast, in a cliff south of Trani, a succession of three units (superimposed on one another) of marine and/or paralic environments has been recognized. The lowest unit I is characterized by calcareous/siliciclastic sands (css), micritic limestones (ml), stromatolitic and characean boundstones (scb), characean calcarenites (cc). The sedimentary environment merges from shallow marine, with low energy and temporary episodes of subaerial exposure, to lagoonal with a few exchanges with the sea. The lagoonal stromatolites (scb subunit) grew during a long period of relative stability of a high sea level in tropical climate. The unit I is truncated at the top by an erosion surface on which the unit II overlies; this consists of a basal pebble lag (bpl), siliciclastic sands (ss), calcareous sands (cs), characean boundstones (cb), brown paleosol (bp). The sedimentary environment varies from beach to lagoon with salinity variations. Although there are indications of seismic events within the subunits cs, unit II deposition took place in a context of relative stability. The unit II is referable to a sea level highstand. Unit III, trangressive on the preceding, consists of white calcareous sands (wcs), calcareous sands and calcarenites (csc), phytoclastic calcirudite and phytohermal travertine (pcpt), mixed de-posits (csl, m, k, c), sands (s) and red/brown paleosols (rbp). The sedimentation of this unit was affected by synsedimentary tectonic, attested by seismites found at several heights. Also the unit III is referable to a sea level highstand. The scientific literature has so far generally attributed to the Tyrrhenian (auct.) the deposits of Trani cliff. As part of this work some datings were performed on 10 samples, using the amino acid racemization method (AAR) applied to ostracod carapaces. Four of these samples have been rejected because they have shown in laboratory recent contamination. The numerical ages indicate that the deposits of the Trani cliff are older than MIS 5. The upper part of the unit I has been dated to 355 ± 85 ka BP, thus allowing to assign the lowest stromatolitic subunit (scb) at the MIS 11 peak and the top of the unit I at the MIS 11-MIS 10 interval. The base of the unit II has been dated to 333 ± 118 ka BP, thus attributing the erosion surface that bounds the units I and II to the MIS 10 lowstand and the lower part of the unit II to MIS 9.3. The upper part of the unit II has been dated to 234 ± 35 ka BP, while three other numerical ages come from unit III: 303±35, 267±51, 247±61 ka BP. At present, the numerical ages cannot distinguish the sedimentation ages of units II and III, which are both related to the MIS 9.3-MIS 7.1 time range. However, the position of the units, superimposed one another, and their respective age, allows us to recognise a subsidence phase between MIS 11 and MIS 7, followed by an uplift phase between the MIS 7 and the present day, which led the deposits in their current position. This tectonic pattern is not in full agreement with what is described in the literature for the Apulian foreland

The geologic study of the Apulian Tavoliere plain (Apulia region, southern Italy) is extremely difficult due to the scarcity of outcrops and fauna that could be used for dating. The survey in progress of the 1:50,000 scale geological sheet no. 409 “Zapponeta” (including the coastal zone of the Apulian Tavoliere) has prompted us to tackle this problem by using a large set of borehole data and the AAR dating method applied to ostracod shells, which are capable of colonizing all types of environment as long as there is water. This alternative approach has allowed us to recognise nine stratigraphic units or synthems and, for the first time in this area, to date them, and to find a correlation between them and the cycles of sea level variation. The recognised stratigraphic units are: the Coppa Nevigata sands (NEA; middle Pleistocene: MIS 17–16), argille subappennine unit (ASP; middle Pleistocene: MIS 15–13), the Coppa Nevigata synthem (NVI; middle Pleistocene: MIS 11), the Amendola subsynthem (MLM1; middle Pleistocene: MIS 11), an undifferentiated continental unit (UCI; middle Pleistocene: MIS 8–7), the Foggia synthem (TGF; middle– late Pleistocene: MIS 6), the Carapelle and Cervaro streams synthem (RPL; late Pleistocene: MIS 5–3), and the Inacquata farm synthem (NAQ; Holocene). Within the RPL unit, a buried Cladocora caespitosa bioherm referable to MIS 5.5, lacking in warm fauna, and in which the coral is embedded in clay has been found in some boreholes. This is the first finding of Tyrrhenian deposits with C. caespitosa along the Italian Adriatic coast; the presence of this coral in clayey sediments, a very uncommon occurrence, strengthens the hypothesis that the major fossil reefs grew in coastal waters that were characterised by alluvial inputs of fine sediments, higher turbidity, and higher temperature than today. In addition, on the basis of the current evidence, some consideration about the fauna of the MIS 5.5 layer allows us to hypothesise that the Adriatic Sea underwent a more moderate warming compared to that of the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Instead, the finding in the NVI unit of a tropical lagoonal deposit with stromatolites referred to MIS 11 proves that the warming in this stage was undoubtedly greater than that of MIS 5.5. The MM4 borehole, which goes through the MIS 5 layers of the RPL unit, made it possible to recognise two marine phases during MIS 5: the first is referable to the MIS 5.5–5.3 interval, and the second to MIS 5.1. MIS 5.2 is marked by land emersion, whereas no evidence of land emersion between MIS 5.5 and 5.3 has been found. Also for the first time in this area, uplifting and subsiding areas have been recognised and the vertical movements assessed. In general, the data suggest that the Garganic Apulian foreland and the Amendola highland experienced an uplift, while the central-southern part of the study area, belonging to the Apulian Tavoliere plain, suffered a subsidence with rates increasing from north–northwest to south–southeast. In particular, the finding of the MIS 5.5 buried layer with C. caespitosa has allowed us to fill a gap in the data regarding the recent tectonic movements along the Adriatic coast (Ferranti et al., 2006). This feature proves that there has been a recent subsidence event since MIS 5.5 in the coastal area of the Apulian Tavoliere plain.

Coastal marine Holocene deposits of the Apulia region, considered as indicators of palaeoclimatic conditions, were studied. Our data show that (1) up to c. 5500 cal. yr BP, a phase of accumulation of flint pebbles from the Gargano headland occurred at the Riviera sud di Manfredonia (Adriatic coast); their transport from the Gargano headland (north of the study site) is incompatible with the current northward littoral drift and is best explained by a prevalence and dominance of NE and E winds and (2) after c. 4500 cal. yr BP, there was a rapid accumulation of sediments at the Marina di Ugento (Ionian coast), which is best explained by a prevalence and dominance of S, SW and SE winds. The two different wind regimes identified can be explained by a change in the mean pressure configuration in the central Mediterranean. The first phase (until c. 5500 cal. yr BP) consisted of more frequent cyclogenesis to the east-southeast of the Italian Peninsula, followed by a second phase (from c. 4500 cal. yr BP) of more frequent cyclogenesis to the west-northwest. The period between 5500 and 4500 cal. yr BP represents a transitional phase between the two different regimes. In other words, there was a ‘retreat’ of the central Mediterranean cyclogenesis towards the west-northwest. This pattern is contemporaneous with the termination of the African Humid period. We interpret both the ‘retreat’ of the Mediterranean cyclogenesis and the termination of the African Humid period as the expression of an expansion of the tropical dry Saharan belt.

This manuscript outlines the different sedimentary deposits that characterise the Tavoliere di Puglia plain (the second largest Italian plain). The plain is largely covered by Quaternary terrace deposits that unconformably lie on older deposits, most commonly the argille subappennine unit. The outcropping units have been divided into categories of descending rank: the first subdivision is made on the basis of geological domain; within each domain a subdivision of lower rank is based on age; within each age a further subdivision is based on the nature of the sediments. The main map presents an updated synthesis of the geology and geomorphology of the Tavoliere di Puglia plain and provides a firm foundation for further, more detailed studies.

Based on multiproxy investigations of a 250 cm long sediment core (ALI1), a reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental dynamics for the Alimini Piccolo lake (south Adriatic coast of Apulia, Italy), is proposed. Our results indicate that shortly before 5500 cal. yr BP a marsh environment established. From 5400 cal. BP the marsh progressively became a lagoon and did not change until 3320 cal. BP, when Alimini Piccolo evolved into a shallow, sheltered, freshwater basin. Around 1400 cal. yr BP the basin became again a lagoon. Changes of the deposition environments and the chronological framework defined in the ALI1 sequence allowed speculation about local relative sea-level motions through the mid–late Holocene. Using proxy-data (molluscs, foraminifers, ostracods and plant macro-remains) as environment and bathymetry indicators, we reconstruct the elevation of the basin bottom (above or below sea level) through time. Plant macro-fossils have proved to be an especially reliable source of data for sea-level reconstruction. The resulting relative sea-level curve is characterised by a slow rise between 5500 and 3900 cal. yr BP, a drop culminating around 2500 cal. yr BP and a new, steeper rise continued to the present position. Our model differs from other curves (tectonically and isostatically corrected) proposed for a number of Mediterranean coastal sites where Holocene sea-level changes have been described with a continuously rising curve, steep before 7000–6000 yr BP, more gradual between 6000 yr BP and the present. On the other hand, our reconstruction seems to agree with evidence on sea-level position during the Roman age, found in several Apulian sites (Salento coastland) by means of geomorphological and archaeological investigations.

We studied two middle Pleistocene terraced deposits exposed along the Trani cliff and at Coppa Nevigata in the Apulia region, southern Italy. In particular, our study focused on stromatolitic units that are present at two sites. At the Trani cliff, Unit I consists of cemented, whitish, fine-grained, massive or bedded limestone. The limestone grades upwards into massive, porous bioconstructed calcareous bodies composed of in situ Charophyta stems and/or stromatolites. The uppermost part of the unit is composed of whitish calcarenite/calcisiltite layers with Characeae. The interpreted sedimentary environment for this unit is a hypersaline-brackish lagoon. At Coppa Nevigata, the NVI unit is composed of tawny or yellow ochre sand with rare polygenic centimetric pebbles. The sand grades upwards into light yellow and ochre sandy/clayey silt or clay. Some layers are cemented and form marly limestones which contains columnar stromatolites. The uppermost part of the unit consists of yellow ochre or tawny marly limestones and marls that are rich in external moulds of Abra sp. and Cerastoderma glaucum. The interpreted sedimentary environment for this unit is a brackish lagoon. Unit I and the NVI unit have been dated to MIS 9 and MIS 11, respectively, by applying the Amino Acid Racemisation (AAR) method to ostracod shells. The stromatolites of the NVI unit are ascribable to SH type, whereas those of Unit I are ascribable to SH and LLH types and to colloform type. In particular, the stromatolites at the Trani cliff are similar in shape and sedimentary environment to the modern stromatolites in Shark Bay (Australia). The water temperature and salinity conditions under which the current stromatolites live indicate that tropical/subtropical conditions were present in the Mediterranean Sea during MIS 11 and MIS 9. Our reconstructions suggest that: 1) during MIS 11, the sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were consistent with literature data, that indicate SSTs w3 C higher than the current ones. 2) during MIS 9, the lagoon in which Unit I formed had a mean water temperature of the coldest month at least 10e12 C higher than that in modern southern Adriatic and at least 3e4 C higher than that in some modern north-African lagoons. Therefore, our study supports the hypothesis that the Mediterranean Sea experienced tropical/subtropical conditions during MIS 9 that were similar to those of MIS 11.

We studied the coastal zone of the Tavoliere di Puglia plain, (Puglia region, southern Italy) with the aim to recognise the main unconformities, and therefore, the unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units (UBSUs; Salvador, 1987, 1994) forming its Quaternary sedimentary fill. Recognising unconformities is particularly problematic in an alluvial plain, due to the difficulties in distinguishing the unconformities that bound the UBSUs. So far, the recognition of UBSUs in buried successions has been made mostly by using seismic profiles. Instead, in our case, the unavailability of the latter has prompted us to address the problem by developing a methodological protocol consisting of the following steps: I) geological survey in the field; II) draft of a preliminary geological setting based on the field-survey results; III) dating of 102 samples coming from a large number of boreholes and some outcropping sections by means of the Amino Acid Racemization (AAR) method applied to ostracod shells and 14C dating, filtering of the ages and the selection of valid ages; IV) correction of the preliminary geological setting in the light of the numerical ages; definition of the final geological setting with UBSUs; identification of a “hypothetical” or “attributed time range” (HTR or ATR) for each UBSU, the former very wide and subject to a subsequent modification, the latter definitive; V) cross-checking between the numerical ages and/or other characteristics of the sedimentary bodies and/or the sea level curves (with their effects on the sedimentary processes) in order to restrict also the hypothetical time ranges in the attributed time ranges. The successful application of AAR geochronology to ostracod shells relies on the fact that the ability of ostracods to colonise almost all environments constitutes a tool for correlation, and also allow the inclusion in the same unit of coeval sediments that differ lithologically and palaeoenvironmentally. The treatment of the numerical ages obtained using the AAR method required special attention. The first filtering step has been made by the laboratory (rejection criteria a and b). Then, the second filtering step has been made by testing in the field the remaining ages. Among these, in fact, we have never compared an age with a single preceding and/or following age; instead, we identified homogeneous groups of numerical ages consistent with their reciprocal stratigraphic position. This operation led to the rejection of further numerical ages that deviate erratically from a larger, homogeneous age population which fits well with its stratigraphic position (rejection criterion c). After all the filtering steps, the valid ages that remained were used for the subdivision of the sedimentary sequences into UBSUs together with the lithological and palaeoenvironmental criteria. The numerical ages allowed us, in the first instance, to recognise all of the age gaps between two consecutive samples. Next, we identified the level, in the sedimentary thickness that is between these two samples, that may represent the most suitable UBSU-boundary based on its lithology and/or the palaeoenvironment. The recognised units are: I) Coppa Nevigata sands (NEA), HTR: MIS 20-14, ATR: MIS 17-16; II) Argille subappennine (ASP), HTR: MIS 15-11, ATR: MIS 15-13; III) Coppa Nevigata synthem (NVI), HTR: MIS 13-8, ATR: MIS 12-11; IV) Sabbie di Torre Quarto (STQ), HTR: MIS 13-9.1, ATR: MIS 11; V) Amendola subsynthem (MLM1), HTR: MIS 12-10, ATR: MIS 11; VI) Undifferentiated continental unit (UCI), HTR: MIS 11-6.2, ATR: MIS 9.3-7.1; VII) Foggia synthem (TGF), ATR: MIS 6; VIII) Masseria Finamondo synthem (TPF), ATR: Upper Pleistocene; IX) Carapelle and Cervaro streams synthem (RPL), subdivided into: IXa) Incoronata subsynthem (RPL1), HTR: MIS 6-3; ATR: MIS 5-3; IXb) Marane La Pidocchiosa-Castello subsynthem (RPL3), ATR: Holocene; X) Masseria Inacquata synthem (NAQ), ATR: Holocene.