Vengono presentati i risultati degli studi archeologici, paleoambientali e geocronologici del sit... more Vengono presentati i risultati degli studi archeologici, paleoambientali e geocronologici del sito paleolitico del Ghiardo (RE), scavato sistematicamente trent\u2019anni fa. Il sito consiste di manufatti in giacitura primaria, al contatto di sedimenti alluvionali ricoperti da coltri di loess, interessate da differenti e successivi cicli pedogenetici. Nuove ricerche paleoambientali e micromorfologiche permettono di collocare con maggiore precisione il sito nell\u2019ambiente steppico stabilitosi nell\u2019area durante l\u2019ultima glaciazione. Datazioni TL su manufatti combusti in selce ed un programma di datazioni OSL, estese anche ad altre sezioni chiave per l\u2019interpretazione della sedimentazione loessica nell\u2019ambito del bacino padano, permettono di collocare la formazione del sito nel MIS 4. Dal punto di vista funzionale il sito \ue8 costituito dalla sovrapposizione di diverse officine litiche, nelle quali venivano ridotti e trasformati in supporti le materie prime raccolte nelle vicinanze, ma non immediatamente in loco. Le catene operative individuate sono quasi esclusivamente di tipo Levallois. Relativamente limitate sono le testimonianze che permettono di identificare altri tipi di attivit\ue0. Scarsi sono infatti gli strumenti ritoccati, in maggioranza raschiatoi, che suggeriscono la lavorazione di altri prodotti, prevalentemente in legno come sembra indicare anche l\u2019analisi delle tracce d\u2019uso. Di particolare interesse l\u2019esistenza di concentrazioni di blocchi in pietra non trasformati e importati in loco che potrebbero essere legati a strutture abitative. Una certa variabilit\ue0 tra le diverse concentrazioni di reperti, sia dal punto di vista tipologico sia litologico (si consideri ad esempio la maggiore presenza di lutite nell\u2019area dello scavo) sono un\u2019ulteriore conferma della presenza di aree di attivit\ue0 distinte, generatesi in tempi successivi, anche se apparentemente caratterizzate da una certa uniformit\ue0 funzionale ed insediativa. Ne \ue8 conferma il fatto che tra i materiali raccolti nella ricognizione intensiva e durante lo scavo sistematico non vi sono sostanziali differenze. Le datazioni di cui oggi si dispone per il sito del Ghiardo pongono interessanti prospettive di correlazione con analoghe sezioni descritte lungo il margine del pedeappenninico emilano-romagnolo e marchigiano, nonch\ue9 a sequenze loessiche distribuite nel settore settentrionale della Pianura Padana. Associati ai manufatti privi di tracce di rimaneggiamento postdeposizionale ve ne sono alcuni assai pi\uf9 usurati che potrebbero testimoniare fasi culturali pi\uf9 antiche
Studio palinologico e stratigrafico dell'importnte sito paleolitico di Isernia La Pineta con ... more Studio palinologico e stratigrafico dell'importnte sito paleolitico di Isernia La Pineta con dati sul paesaggio dell'accampament
Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthropology series, 2016
The study area witnessed alternate paleoenvironmental and population events influenced by glacial... more The study area witnessed alternate paleoenvironmental and population events influenced by glacial/interglacial conditions. Paleosols, relict fluvial bodies, lacustrine carbonatic deposits, sand dunes, and other features underline the severely fluctuating activity of water resources. The study region (SW Libya) provides two different data sets: (1) two stratified, dated, Middle Stone Age/Aterian sites; and (2) hundreds of surface lithic scatters rarely associated with paleoenvironmental proxies. Early/Middle Pleistocene human occupation is presumable, but the bulk of evidence is from the late Middle/Late Pleistocene. Productive environments possibly housed human groups with a Late Acheulean technology during MIS 7. Most of the MSA evidences are barely diagnostic from a techno-typological point of view. Exceptions are made for scanty but precise similarities with sub-Saharan early MSA finds, suggesting the presence of modern humans in MIS 6, and for the Aterian, an example of MIS 4 arid landscape adaptation. Although MIS 3/2 post-Aterian human presence is not demonstrable, signs of a generalized LSA technology are recognizable in the Messak, where stony raw materials could have attracted task-specific temporary occupants.
Sahara: Prehistory and History of the Sahara, 2000
Résumé/Abstract L'activité touristique en plein essor, aussi bien que l&#x27... more Résumé/Abstract L'activité touristique en plein essor, aussi bien que l'expansion des recherches pétrolières, représentent un danger extrêmement sérieux pour l'une des aires archéologiques les plus importantes au monde, déclarée Patrimoine Culturel Mondial par ...
Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4–2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern I... more Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4–2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern Italy along the Po Plain Loess Basin. Loess is distributed along the flanks of the Po Plain and was deposited on glacial deposits, fluvial terraces, uplifted isolated hills, karst plateaus, slopes and basins of secondary valleys. Loess bodies are generally tiny and affected by pedogenesis, being locally slightly reworked by slope processes and bioturbation. Notwithstanding, loess in the Po Plain is an important archive of paleoenvironmental record and its mapping provides new insights in paleoenvironmental and palaeoseismic reconstructions of Northern Italy.
Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4-2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern I... more Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4-2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern Italy along the Po Plain Loess Basin. Loess is distributed along the flanks of the Po Plain and was deposited on glacial deposits, fluvial terraces, uplifted isolated hills, karst plateaus, slopes and basins of secondary valleys. Loess bodies are generally tiny and affected by pedogenesis, being locally slightly reworked by slope processes and bioturbation. Notwithstanding, loess in the Po Plain is an important archive of paleoenviron-mental record and its mapping provides new insights in paleoenvironmental and palaeoseismic reconstructions of Northern Italy
The Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Reggio Emilia, Po Plain of Northern Italy) whose excavation st... more The Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Reggio Emilia, Po Plain of Northern Italy) whose excavation started in 1984, consists of two dwelling areas indicated as “Villaggio Piccolo” (VP) and “Villaggio Grande” (VG), dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and to the Recent Bronze Age (RBA), respectively. The two areas are separated by a moat which, according to recent geophysical prospections, is crossed by a passage connecting the VP to the VG. This structure was investigated in the 2015 field operation by opening a long excavation trench. The bottom of the moat was found to have been in use for a long period, from the late MBA to the RBA. Evidence of huge wooden structures, consisting of regular alignments of post holes, were found at the fringe of the VP. The margin of the moat close to the VP was covered by thick dumps, dating mostly to the RBA, discarded from the dwelling areas of the village into the moat. However inside these deposits, an exceptional quantity of small bronze ite...
Dans le cadre de l'analyse des strategies d'adaptation de l'Homme a son environnement... more Dans le cadre de l'analyse des strategies d'adaptation de l'Homme a son environnement, les auteurs proposent d'etudier les relations entre les groupes humains et les ressources animales dans le Tadrart Acacus (Libye) a l'Holocene ancien, independamment du probleme general de la domestication. Ils traitent, en particulier, des formes specifiques de gestions des ressources animales durant la periode pre-pastorale, a partir des donnees de la grotte d'Uan Afuda
SOMMARIO - Gli Autori prendono in esame un gruppo di manufatti paleolitici raccolti sulla sommita... more SOMMARIO - Gli Autori prendono in esame un gruppo di manufatti paleolitici raccolti sulla sommita della morena mindelliana di Monte Rotondo, dell'apparato morenico gar desano presso Carpenedolo Bresciano. Dal punto di vista stratigrafico i manufatti appoggia no sopra il paleosuolo fersiallitico mindel-rissiano in gran parte eroso, e sono sepolti da un loess forse risalente al Wiirm antico. Dal punto di vista tipologico l'industria di Monte Rotondo e caratterizzata dai denticolati, tra cui una punta di Tayac e un Bill Hook, da raschiatoi a ritocco marginale e trova stretti confronti con le industrie del Riss medio ed antico della Francia meridionale.
Flint quarries in the Rohri hills supplied stone to the city of Mohenjo-Daro, out on the silty ri... more Flint quarries in the Rohri hills supplied stone to the city of Mohenjo-Daro, out on the silty river-plain and lacking local supply. A new survey has identified workshop sites and an extraordinary scale of production.
The Noceto ‘Vasca Votiva’ (votive tank), discovered in excavations on a terrace at the southern e... more The Noceto ‘Vasca Votiva’ (votive tank), discovered in excavations on a terrace at the southern edge of the Po Plain, northern Italy, is a unique well-preserved wooden (primarily oak) structure dated to the advanced through late Middle Bronze Age (~1600–1300 BCE). This complex monument, comprising two super-imposed tanks, is generally linked with an important but uncertain ritual role involving water. The context provides extraordinary preservation of both wooden, other organic, and cultural finds. The key question until now, hindering further interpretation of this remarkable structure, has been the precise date of the tanks. Initial work pointed to use of the two tanks over about a century. Using dendrochronology and radiocarbon ‘wiggle-matching’ we report near-absolute construction dates for both of the tanks. The lower (older) tank is dated ~1444±4 BCE and the upper (more recent) tank is dated 12 years later at ~1432±4 BCE. This dating of the construction of the Noceto tanks in ...
Vengono presentati i risultati degli studi archeologici, paleoambientali e geocronologici del sit... more Vengono presentati i risultati degli studi archeologici, paleoambientali e geocronologici del sito paleolitico del Ghiardo (RE), scavato sistematicamente trent\u2019anni fa. Il sito consiste di manufatti in giacitura primaria, al contatto di sedimenti alluvionali ricoperti da coltri di loess, interessate da differenti e successivi cicli pedogenetici. Nuove ricerche paleoambientali e micromorfologiche permettono di collocare con maggiore precisione il sito nell\u2019ambiente steppico stabilitosi nell\u2019area durante l\u2019ultima glaciazione. Datazioni TL su manufatti combusti in selce ed un programma di datazioni OSL, estese anche ad altre sezioni chiave per l\u2019interpretazione della sedimentazione loessica nell\u2019ambito del bacino padano, permettono di collocare la formazione del sito nel MIS 4. Dal punto di vista funzionale il sito \ue8 costituito dalla sovrapposizione di diverse officine litiche, nelle quali venivano ridotti e trasformati in supporti le materie prime raccolte nelle vicinanze, ma non immediatamente in loco. Le catene operative individuate sono quasi esclusivamente di tipo Levallois. Relativamente limitate sono le testimonianze che permettono di identificare altri tipi di attivit\ue0. Scarsi sono infatti gli strumenti ritoccati, in maggioranza raschiatoi, che suggeriscono la lavorazione di altri prodotti, prevalentemente in legno come sembra indicare anche l\u2019analisi delle tracce d\u2019uso. Di particolare interesse l\u2019esistenza di concentrazioni di blocchi in pietra non trasformati e importati in loco che potrebbero essere legati a strutture abitative. Una certa variabilit\ue0 tra le diverse concentrazioni di reperti, sia dal punto di vista tipologico sia litologico (si consideri ad esempio la maggiore presenza di lutite nell\u2019area dello scavo) sono un\u2019ulteriore conferma della presenza di aree di attivit\ue0 distinte, generatesi in tempi successivi, anche se apparentemente caratterizzate da una certa uniformit\ue0 funzionale ed insediativa. Ne \ue8 conferma il fatto che tra i materiali raccolti nella ricognizione intensiva e durante lo scavo sistematico non vi sono sostanziali differenze. Le datazioni di cui oggi si dispone per il sito del Ghiardo pongono interessanti prospettive di correlazione con analoghe sezioni descritte lungo il margine del pedeappenninico emilano-romagnolo e marchigiano, nonch\ue9 a sequenze loessiche distribuite nel settore settentrionale della Pianura Padana. Associati ai manufatti privi di tracce di rimaneggiamento postdeposizionale ve ne sono alcuni assai pi\uf9 usurati che potrebbero testimoniare fasi culturali pi\uf9 antiche
Studio palinologico e stratigrafico dell'importnte sito paleolitico di Isernia La Pineta con ... more Studio palinologico e stratigrafico dell'importnte sito paleolitico di Isernia La Pineta con dati sul paesaggio dell'accampament
Vertebrate paleobiology and paleoanthropology series, 2016
The study area witnessed alternate paleoenvironmental and population events influenced by glacial... more The study area witnessed alternate paleoenvironmental and population events influenced by glacial/interglacial conditions. Paleosols, relict fluvial bodies, lacustrine carbonatic deposits, sand dunes, and other features underline the severely fluctuating activity of water resources. The study region (SW Libya) provides two different data sets: (1) two stratified, dated, Middle Stone Age/Aterian sites; and (2) hundreds of surface lithic scatters rarely associated with paleoenvironmental proxies. Early/Middle Pleistocene human occupation is presumable, but the bulk of evidence is from the late Middle/Late Pleistocene. Productive environments possibly housed human groups with a Late Acheulean technology during MIS 7. Most of the MSA evidences are barely diagnostic from a techno-typological point of view. Exceptions are made for scanty but precise similarities with sub-Saharan early MSA finds, suggesting the presence of modern humans in MIS 6, and for the Aterian, an example of MIS 4 arid landscape adaptation. Although MIS 3/2 post-Aterian human presence is not demonstrable, signs of a generalized LSA technology are recognizable in the Messak, where stony raw materials could have attracted task-specific temporary occupants.
Sahara: Prehistory and History of the Sahara, 2000
Résumé/Abstract L'activité touristique en plein essor, aussi bien que l&#x27... more Résumé/Abstract L'activité touristique en plein essor, aussi bien que l'expansion des recherches pétrolières, représentent un danger extrêmement sérieux pour l'une des aires archéologiques les plus importantes au monde, déclarée Patrimoine Culturel Mondial par ...
Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4–2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern I... more Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4–2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern Italy along the Po Plain Loess Basin. Loess is distributed along the flanks of the Po Plain and was deposited on glacial deposits, fluvial terraces, uplifted isolated hills, karst plateaus, slopes and basins of secondary valleys. Loess bodies are generally tiny and affected by pedogenesis, being locally slightly reworked by slope processes and bioturbation. Notwithstanding, loess in the Po Plain is an important archive of paleoenvironmental record and its mapping provides new insights in paleoenvironmental and palaeoseismic reconstructions of Northern Italy.
Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4-2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern I... more Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4-2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern Italy along the Po Plain Loess Basin. Loess is distributed along the flanks of the Po Plain and was deposited on glacial deposits, fluvial terraces, uplifted isolated hills, karst plateaus, slopes and basins of secondary valleys. Loess bodies are generally tiny and affected by pedogenesis, being locally slightly reworked by slope processes and bioturbation. Notwithstanding, loess in the Po Plain is an important archive of paleoenviron-mental record and its mapping provides new insights in paleoenvironmental and palaeoseismic reconstructions of Northern Italy
The Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Reggio Emilia, Po Plain of Northern Italy) whose excavation st... more The Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Reggio Emilia, Po Plain of Northern Italy) whose excavation started in 1984, consists of two dwelling areas indicated as “Villaggio Piccolo” (VP) and “Villaggio Grande” (VG), dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and to the Recent Bronze Age (RBA), respectively. The two areas are separated by a moat which, according to recent geophysical prospections, is crossed by a passage connecting the VP to the VG. This structure was investigated in the 2015 field operation by opening a long excavation trench. The bottom of the moat was found to have been in use for a long period, from the late MBA to the RBA. Evidence of huge wooden structures, consisting of regular alignments of post holes, were found at the fringe of the VP. The margin of the moat close to the VP was covered by thick dumps, dating mostly to the RBA, discarded from the dwelling areas of the village into the moat. However inside these deposits, an exceptional quantity of small bronze ite...
Dans le cadre de l'analyse des strategies d'adaptation de l'Homme a son environnement... more Dans le cadre de l'analyse des strategies d'adaptation de l'Homme a son environnement, les auteurs proposent d'etudier les relations entre les groupes humains et les ressources animales dans le Tadrart Acacus (Libye) a l'Holocene ancien, independamment du probleme general de la domestication. Ils traitent, en particulier, des formes specifiques de gestions des ressources animales durant la periode pre-pastorale, a partir des donnees de la grotte d'Uan Afuda
SOMMARIO - Gli Autori prendono in esame un gruppo di manufatti paleolitici raccolti sulla sommita... more SOMMARIO - Gli Autori prendono in esame un gruppo di manufatti paleolitici raccolti sulla sommita della morena mindelliana di Monte Rotondo, dell'apparato morenico gar desano presso Carpenedolo Bresciano. Dal punto di vista stratigrafico i manufatti appoggia no sopra il paleosuolo fersiallitico mindel-rissiano in gran parte eroso, e sono sepolti da un loess forse risalente al Wiirm antico. Dal punto di vista tipologico l'industria di Monte Rotondo e caratterizzata dai denticolati, tra cui una punta di Tayac e un Bill Hook, da raschiatoi a ritocco marginale e trova stretti confronti con le industrie del Riss medio ed antico della Francia meridionale.
Flint quarries in the Rohri hills supplied stone to the city of Mohenjo-Daro, out on the silty ri... more Flint quarries in the Rohri hills supplied stone to the city of Mohenjo-Daro, out on the silty river-plain and lacking local supply. A new survey has identified workshop sites and an extraordinary scale of production.
The Noceto ‘Vasca Votiva’ (votive tank), discovered in excavations on a terrace at the southern e... more The Noceto ‘Vasca Votiva’ (votive tank), discovered in excavations on a terrace at the southern edge of the Po Plain, northern Italy, is a unique well-preserved wooden (primarily oak) structure dated to the advanced through late Middle Bronze Age (~1600–1300 BCE). This complex monument, comprising two super-imposed tanks, is generally linked with an important but uncertain ritual role involving water. The context provides extraordinary preservation of both wooden, other organic, and cultural finds. The key question until now, hindering further interpretation of this remarkable structure, has been the precise date of the tanks. Initial work pointed to use of the two tanks over about a century. Using dendrochronology and radiocarbon ‘wiggle-matching’ we report near-absolute construction dates for both of the tanks. The lower (older) tank is dated ~1444±4 BCE and the upper (more recent) tank is dated 12 years later at ~1432±4 BCE. This dating of the construction of the Noceto tanks in ...
Map of Quaternary Formations in the Central Po Plain
Appendix 6 to
Mauro Cremaschi, 1987. Pal... more Map of Quaternary Formations in the Central Po Plain Appendix 6 to Mauro Cremaschi, 1987. Paleosols and Vetusols in the Central Po Plain ( Northern Italy). A study in Quaternary Geology and Soil Development. University of Amsterdam – Unicopli Milano
The map of the geological formations of the Quaternary, was surveyed using lithostratigraphic, pedostratigraphic and geomorphological criteria. At the northern edge of the Po plain are the moraine ridges deposited by the Quaternary glaciers. These are connected to different orders of terraces, covered with palaeosols and loess covers. Separated from these formations by a wide alluvial plain are remnants of alluvial fans , also covered with palaeosols and loess. The correlation of the pre-Alpine formations and the Apennine terraces allows us to follow the development of the Po Valley during the Quaternary.
Map of Quaternary Formations in the Central Po Plain
Appendix 6 to
Mauro Cremaschi, 1987. Pal... more Map of Quaternary Formations in the Central Po Plain Appendix 6 to Mauro Cremaschi, 1987. Paleosols and Vetusols in the Central Po Plain ( Northern Italy). A study in Quaternary Geology and Soil Development. University of Amsterdam – Unicopli Milano
The map of the geological formations of the Quaternary, was surveyed using lithostratigraphic, pedostratigraphic and geomorphological criteria. At the northern edge of the Po plain are the moraine ridges deposited by the Quaternary glaciers. These are connected to different orders of terraces, covered with palaeosols and loess covers. Separated from these formations by a wide alluvial plain are remnants of alluvial fans , also covered with palaeosols and loess. The correlation of the pre-Alpine formations and the Apennine terraces allows us to follow the development of the Po Valley during the Quaternary.
The book deals with the Quaternary Geology of the central Po plain. Changes in landforms and dep... more The book deals with the Quaternary Geology of the central Po plain. Changes in landforms and deposits determined by Quaternary climatic changes are described, which are dated by palaeomagnetic stratigraphy and, where applicable, by thermoluminescence and radiocarbon dating. Particular attention is paid to palaeosols and especially to the role of the factors time and climate in their development. The loess deposits of the area are described, highlighting their palaeoenvironmental meaning also in relation to the archaeological contexts they include
Cremaschi M. e Di Lernia S (eds.), 1998. Wadi Teshuinat. Palaeoenvironment and Prehistory in South Western Fezzan (Libyan Sahara). CNR Quaderni di Geodinamica Alpina e Quaternaria, Milano 7, Insegna del Giglio Firenze., 1998
On the base of the geoalogical evidence ( fluvial deposits , paleosols, cave infilings, lacustri... more On the base of the geoalogical evidence ( fluvial deposits , paleosols, cave infilings, lacustrine deposits) the climatic changes from late Pleistocene to middle Holocene are investigates in the Tadrat Acacus, Messak Sattafet and adjoining Erg Uan Kasa and Murzuq Edeyen, The Gering Sahara wet period onset in the area in the X millennium and dramatically ended in the V millennium BP
Cremaschi M. e Di Lernia S (eds.), 1998. Wadi Teshuinat. Palaeoenvironment and Prehistory in South Western Fezzan (Libyan Sahara). CNR Quaderni di Geodinamica Alpina e Quaternaria, Milano 7, Insegna del Giglio Firenze., 1998
The paper describes the results of the geoarchaeological survey performed in the area of the Acau... more The paper describes the results of the geoarchaeological survey performed in the area of the Acaus, Messak settafet , Erg Uan Casa and Murzuq Edeien
Cremaschi , Di Lernia, Wadi Theshuinat , palaeoenvironment and prehistory in S-W Fezzan ( Libian Sahara) . Quaderni di Geoadinamica Alpina e Quaternaria, 7, CNR , MIlano , 1998
The paper deals with geological evidence of environmental changes during Holocene in the area o... more The paper deals with geological evidence of environmental changes during Holocene in the area of Tadrat Acacus, Messak Sattafet, Erg Una Kasa and Murzuq sand sea. Within the mountain ranges open air fluvial sediment and cave fills and lacustrine deposits in the sand seas are studied on the base of the field evidence, laboratory analyses and micromorphology and dated through radiocarbon and TL dates. On the base of the studied evidence , the onset of the greening Shara in the area date back to the X millennium BP and ended abruptly in the V millennium BP
The book illustrates the results of the researches carried out by the Italo-Libyan Joint Mission... more The book illustrates the results of the researches carried out by the Italo-Libyan Joint Mission , during the 1990-1995 field seasons in the Central Sahara , Acacus and Messak Sattafet, an area with an extraordinary concentration of archaeological sites from the Stone Age to the Garamantic period. The research encompassed archaeological excavations and a large scale geoarchaeological survey both inside the mountain ridges and the surrounding ergs on a time span ranging from the Late Pleistocene to the Middle Holocene. The archeological research covered many topics dealing with the cultural dynamics during Epipaleoalithic , Mesolithic and Pastoral periods . Information for environmental changes, inside the mountains, lies on the occurrence of travertine deposits, as well as rock-shelter fills. In the erg areas, lacustrine deposits, swamp remains and relicts of wet soils provided an outstanding source of information. It has been possible, therefore, to reconstruct the history of environmental changes of the area, starting from the Late Pleistocene aridity, through the onset of the Greening Sahara period at the late Pleistocene - Early Holocene transition, and its slow decline, up to the dramatic arid crisis at 5000 years BP. Almost the entire area then dried out, except for some wadi valleys, which became oasis providing a focal point for the human communities.
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Papers by Mauro cremaschi
Appendix 6 to
Mauro Cremaschi, 1987. Paleosols and Vetusols in the Central Po Plain ( Northern Italy). A study in Quaternary Geology and Soil Development. University of Amsterdam – Unicopli Milano
The map of the geological formations of the Quaternary, was surveyed using lithostratigraphic, pedostratigraphic and geomorphological criteria. At the northern edge of the Po plain are the moraine ridges deposited by the Quaternary glaciers. These are connected to different orders of terraces, covered with palaeosols and loess covers. Separated from these formations by a wide alluvial plain are remnants of alluvial fans , also covered with palaeosols and loess. The correlation of the pre-Alpine formations and the Apennine terraces allows us to follow the development of the Po Valley during the Quaternary.
Appendix 6 to
Mauro Cremaschi, 1987. Paleosols and Vetusols in the Central Po Plain ( Northern Italy). A study in Quaternary Geology and Soil Development. University of Amsterdam – Unicopli Milano
The map of the geological formations of the Quaternary, was surveyed using lithostratigraphic, pedostratigraphic and geomorphological criteria. At the northern edge of the Po plain are the moraine ridges deposited by the Quaternary glaciers. These are connected to different orders of terraces, covered with palaeosols and loess covers. Separated from these formations by a wide alluvial plain are remnants of alluvial fans , also covered with palaeosols and loess. The correlation of the pre-Alpine formations and the Apennine terraces allows us to follow the development of the Po Valley during the Quaternary.
It has been possible, therefore, to reconstruct the history of environmental changes of the area, starting from the Late Pleistocene aridity, through the onset of the Greening Sahara period at the late Pleistocene - Early Holocene transition, and its slow decline, up to the dramatic arid crisis at 5000 years BP. Almost the entire area then dried out, except for some wadi valleys, which became oasis providing a focal point for the human communities.