Carlo Giraudi

• Dr
• Retired at ENEA

The Trino hill is an isolated relief located in north-western Italy, close to Trino municipality. The hill was subject of multidisciplinary studies during the 70s, when, because of quarry activities and agricultural arrangements, five concentrations of lithic artefacts were recognized and referred to a Palaeolithic frequentation of the area. During...

Many climate proxies indicate that during the Younger Dryas the mountains of the Italian Peninsula were characterised by cold (from 4°C to 7°C less than the present local averages of annual air temperature) and arid (up to 200 mm/a less than the local present averages of annual precipitation) climatic conditions. The landscape of the Apennine chain...

The effects of the Bølling–Allerød warm period on the environments of Peninsular Italy were registered by several terrestrial and marine climate proxies. The landscape was characterised by thermophilic and xerophilic vegetation at low altitudes, coniferous and deciduous woods up to altitudes above 1000 m where lakes were almost totally absent or ex...

In the mountains of peninsular Italy, a nonlinear deglaciation followed the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and phases of glacial readvances/standstill occurred. The LGM valley glaciers, where ice converged from various tributary cirques, fragmented into single bodies and withdrew within the glacial cirques or just beyond their threshold during the deg...

Despite the southern latitude and relatively low mountain elevations, the Italian Peninsula preserves a wide range of periglacial landforms. Most of them were active during the cold phases of the Late Pleistocene and currently cold-driven processes are ongoing only in the higher slopes of the Apennine chain. Periglacial landforms have always been p...

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) event has left evident traces in the mountains of the Italian peninsula, and well-preserved moraines are described in all sectors of the Apennines. Radiocarbon ages, stratigraphic markers, and exposure ages of moraine boulders have provided a coherent chronology. In the Northern Apennines, numerous moraines have been...

The main geomorphological, geological, and climatic features of the mountains of the Italian Peninsula are discussed. The Apennines are the dominated mountain range and given their arch-like shape represents the backbone of the peninsula, which has its southern termination in the mountains of Sicily. After briefly commenting on the general geology,...

The glacial landforms formed before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the mountains of the Italian Peninsula are discussed. Although the chronological data are still limited, some modern research outcomes from the central sector of the Apennines have led to an accepted glacial chronology. It is now evident that five pre–Last Glacial Cycle (LGC) col...

Abstract The geological and geomorphological study of a part of the Vercellese, Novarese and Lomellina plains was carried out in order to verify whether the eastern border of the diocese of Vercelli can coincide with an ancient bed of the Sesia river. The chronological framework of the fluvioglacial and fluvial terraces has made it possible to esta...

The Italian-Libyan Archaeological Project was launched in the early 1990s with the aim of investigating the development of human occupation in the region. Particular emphasis was given to the Final Pleistocene and Early Holocene phases in order to study the transition from late hunter-gatherer societies to the earliest food-production experiments....

Abstract The landscape variations and the diversions of the alpine rivers highlighted in the present paper, have been produced by the strong environmental dynamics in the peri- od before the hydraulic control of the rivers. The Dora Baltea river, until the 2nd-1st century BC, flowed from Crescentino to the area north of Fontanetto Po, Palazzolo Ver...

The study on the migrations of the confluence between the rivers Po and Dora Baltea was based on a detailed observation of aerial photographs, field surveys and sediment stratigraphy. The age of the sediments and morphological features was based on radiocarbon datings, on the presence of archaeological settlements and ancient artefacts and on histo...

The results of studies carried out on the variations of glaciers and lakes in the higher Apennines during the last 40 ka are considered for correlation with some climate forcing agents, e.g. changes in insolation, variations in origin of the air masses carrying moisture and North Atlantic events, acting both at regional and hemispheric scales. The...

The southern Vercelli Plain lies on the top of the westernmost Apennine thrust front (Monferrato thrust front). According to previous studies, it is interested by Quaternary tectonics and, despite the absence of historical earthquakes, could be affected by ML 6 earthquakes. However the lack of Middle Pleistocene river sediments and terraces in the...

The area under investigation includes the southern Vercelli plain and the lower Cerrina valley, in the northern central Monferrato hills. The comparison between the deformation of the sediments of the foredeep basin, north of the Monferrato thrust front, and of the Cerrina valley syncline, south of the front, enabled our understanding of the Plioce...

Saharan anthropic deposits from archaeological sites, located along wadis or close to lakes, and sedimentary sequences from permanent and dried basins demonstrate that water has always been an attractive environmental feature, especially during periods of drought. This paper reports on two very different examples of Holocene sites where “humans and...

Fiumicino town in the Tiber River delta, near Rome International Airport (Italy) is historically affected by large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the ground and gas eruptions triggered by shallow drilling. While it is known that CO2 originates from carbonate thermo-metamorphism and/or mantle degassing, the origin of methane (CH4) associated wit...

A review of the existing data for the Middle Pleistocene glacial remnants in the Apennines and new stratigraphic and tephrochronological data has enabled us to recognize at least five glacial stages during Marine Isotope Stages 14, 12, 10, 8 and 6. In particular, the identification of deposits attributable to Marine Isotope Stage 12 has filled a ga...

This paper examines the interrelationship between the natural and human history of Sicily over the last 2000 years. It presents a close comparison of the data from the key multi-proxy site of Lago di Pergusa – located inland in the eastern part of Sicily – with the existing archaeological and textual evidence on the socio-economic processes. The ar...

Intensive survey and three sample sections at Jebel Gharbi in north-west Libya offer a new dated sequence of the environment, and the human presence within it, from the Middle Stone Age to the early Holocene. Hunter-gatherers were continuously active, including during the hitherto elusive Later Stone Age.

The synthesis of the published data and new researches allow to establish a more reliable chronology of the phases of deglaciation that occurred after the Apennine last glacial maximum. The chronological framework was assured by radiocarbon dating and by the presence of four geochemically and chronologically characterized tephra layers and a quartz...

This paper proposes the study of the Quaternary geological evolution of the Vercelli Plain (Piedmont, NW Italy) with the aim of validating the reliability of assumptions about seismic hazard of tectonic structures based on seismotectonic data obtained from stud-ies at regional scale. In particular, the Quaternary evolution is interpreted in order t...

This research was conducted in the Northern Apennines, in the upper valleys of the rivers Cedra and Parma, occupied by glaciers during the last glacial maximum. The stratigraphy, the dating, and the interpretation of the environmental significance of alluvial deposits interbedded between lacustrine sediments, are reported. The data provide an overv...

Litho-palaeoenvironmental Map of Italy during the Last Glacial Maximum (22 ±2 ka cal BP) scale 1: ,000,000 Data: bed rocks; glaciers; loess; vertebrates; Ostracods; lakes; vegetation; Po plain; marine bathymetry; shore lines; Alpine foothills; sea surface temperature; archeology and active faults

Litho-palaeoenvironmental Map of Italy during the Holocene Climatic Optimum (8 ±1 ka cal BP) average surface air temperature of about 2°C higher than today; scale 1: ,000,000. Data: bed rocks; glaciers; loess; vertebrates; Ostracods; lakes; vegetation; Po plain; marine bathymetry; shore lines; Alpine foothills; sea surface temperature; archeology a...

Litho-palaeoenvironmental Map of Italy during the Last Glacial Maximum (22 ±2 ka cal BP) average air temperature of about 4.5 °C lower than today. 1:1,000,000 scale. Data: bed rocks; glaciers; loess; vertebrates; Ostracods; lakes; vegetation; Po plain; marine bathymetry; shore lines; Alpine foothills; sea surface temeprature; archeology and active...

The presence of Late Pleistocene hexogen quartz-rich loess on Apennine massifs, formed by limestone rocks, has been reported since the 90s of the 20th century, and indicates that the dust must come from outside areas. The thickness of the aeolian deposits decrease from south to north, becoming null north of the latitude of 42° N; thus indicating th...

The interpretation of past environment changes in coastal marshes, river mouths and drainage channels connecting fresh to salt water bodies, is a difficult task since several factors must be considered such as the variable influence of climate, sea level changes, coastline variations and changes in the river discharge. It is even more difficult if...

The Sahara is more connected to the Mediterranean than often assumed and palynology, in particular, has provided evidence of past interrelations between the Mediterranean and the Sahara with pollen spectra from prehistoric Saharan deposits including Mediterranean taxa. In order to show human-environment relationships and populations’ strategies in...

Remnants of the ancient harbour of Rome are located in the tiber delta area 3.5 km away from the present coastline. it was the main Rome maritime port from the middle of the first century to Late antiquity. in 42 ad, emperor Claudius started the excavation of the harbour. then, the emperor trajan added to the former construction, which had graduall...

he palaeoclimatic evolution of northwestern Libya has been deduced from the study of the palustrine and aeolian sediments. The Holocene environmental variations have been recognized through geological and stratigraphic surveys and by pollen analysis and malacofauna content of the sediments. Some organic-rich horizons have been dated using the radio...

The presence of Late Pleistocene hexogen quartz-rich loess on Apennine massifs, formed by limestone rocks, has been reported since the 90s of the 20th century, and indicates that the dust must come from outside areas. The thickness of the aeolian deposits decrease from south to north, becoming null north of the latitude of 42° N; thus indicating th...

The stratigraphic study of the Stagno di Maccarese, carried out on the sediments exposed in about 7 km of trenches excavated in an area of approximately 1.5 km2, has shown that in the course of the Holocene many environmental variations have taken place. The complex evolution of the marsh is demonstrated by the variations in water salinity and the...

A study of six tephra layers discovered in different deposits between 1600 and 2700 m a.s.l. in the Apennine chain in central Italy allowed precise stratigraphic constraints on environmental and climatic changes between ca. 4.5 and 3.8 cal ka BP. Chemical analyses allowed the correlation of these tephra layers with the eruptions of Agnano Mt Spina...

Study of the glacial deposits and lacustrine sediments of Campo Felice (Apennines, central Italy) has enabled the glacial phases of the last 40 ka to be dated more precisely, and has demonstrated that the maximum glacial advance did not occur in correspondence with the last global glacial maximum and with the coldest and most arid phase suggested b...

On the Apennine the remnants of five glaciations have been recognized, dated from Middle to Late Pleistocene. The chronological framework of the Middle and Late Pleistocene sediments is based on 39Ar/40Ar datings on three tephra layers and on the recognition, with geochemical methods, of tephras of known age. For the Last Glacial Maximum the chrono...

The environmental evolution, inferred from the sedimentary sequence, that has occurred during the last three millennia in a drained coastal marsh in the Tiber delta is presented. The stratigraphy of the sediments has been revealed through excavation of 7 km of trenches in an area of about 1.5 km(2). The most evident environmental variations are rep...

We used two sediment cores from the ancient harbour of Rome (Italy) for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. The imperial harbour of Rome and its town, Portus, were constructed in the Tiber Delta area. Today, they are ~3km from the coast, close to Leonardo da Vinci International Airport. The port was excavated during the reign of Emperor Claudius, i...

We present a synthesis of geological, stratigraphic, geomorphological and stable isotope data collected from continental archives to highlight the environmental and climatic differences between the first and second half of the Holocene of central and southern Italy. The beginning of the Holocene is marked by rapid environmental change. In Mediterra...

The present paper refers to research conducted in the tectonic-karst depression of Campo Felice in the central Apennines (Italy), in which glacial, alluvial and lacustrine sediments have been preserved. Stratigraphic interpretations of sediments underlying the Campo Felice Plain are based on evidence obtained from nine continuous-core boreholes. Th...

Results from geomorphological investigations in the catchment of Lago di Mezzano (VT) have been compared with data from a long sediment core sampled in the lake center. The palaeoenvironmental reconstruction was based on vegetation (deduced from pollen and microcharcoal) and hydrological (reconstructed through lake-level) changes .

Middle Holocene to Late Holocene transition is particularly relevant because marks the passage at two distinct climatic modes. The collation of new and the revision of old data indicates that in central Mediterranean this period is characterised by a series of dry/wet climatic phases with pronounced climatic deterioration centred at ca. 4 and 3.5-3...

The research concerns the Tiber delta area, about 3 km far from the present seacoast, where the remains of the ancient harbour of Rome are located. In 42 AD, Claudius started the construction of the harbour and Nero completed it in 64 AD. Then, the emperor Trajan went on to add a hexagonal basin to the former structure, which had gradually silted u...

This study provides new information on the evolution of the Tiber delta during the late Holocene, and describes the record of sedimentation in the Port of Claudius and Trajan. The Tiber flowed into the Tyrrhenian Sea in the area of the Port of Claudius and Trajan between the 8th and 5th centuries B.C. The harbor basins excavated by the Romans durin...

The sediments present in some areas of the Orco Valley provide indications oil climatic variations that occurred during the last 6000 years on the southern slopes of the Alps. In particular, distribution and ages of peat layers help define periods and extent of glacial fluctuation in the last 2200 years. Sampling of soils involved in periglacial pr...

Approximately two hundred human burials were discovered on the edge of a paleolake in Niger that provide a uniquely preserved record of human occupation in the Sahara during the Holocene ( approximately 8000 B.C.E. to the present). Called Gobero, this suite of closely spaced sites chronicles the rapid pace of biosocial change in the southern Sahara...

This paper presents the latest results of geoarchaeological research on the Upper Pleistocene sequence in the Jebel Gharbi (previously called Jebel Nafusah), a mountain range located in Tripolitania, northwestern Libya. Numerous archaeological sites are found adjacent to springs that formed as a consequence of tectonic activities. The springs origi...

Intensive survey and three sample sections at Jebel Gharbi in north-west Libya offer a new dated sequence of the environment, and the human presence within it, from the Middle Stone Age to the early Holocene. Hunter-gatherers were continuously active, including during the hitherto elusive Later Stone Age.

Geo-archaeological researches on tilted floodplain sediments near the Castagnone hamlet (Northern Monferrato Hills, Piedmont, NW Italy) allowed to gain some dozens of stone artefacts from a main lowermost alluvial unit embedding Early Biharian microtine vole teeth, together with other Galerian (“postvillafranchian”) macrofaunal remains. The fossil...

Geo-archaeological researches on tilted floodplain sediments near the Castagnone hamlet (Northern Monferrato Hills, Piedmont, NW Italy) allowed to gain some dozens of stone artefacts from a main lowermost alluvial unit embedding Early Biharian microtine vole teeth, together with other Galerian (“postvillafranchian”) macrofaunal remains. The fossil...

The major climatic variations that have affected the summit slopes of the higher Apennine massifs in the last 6000 yr are shown in alternating layers of organic matter-rich soils and alluvial, glacial and periglacial sediments. The burial of the soils, triggered by environmental–climatic variations, took place in several phases. For the last 3000 y...

A stratigraphic sequence was identified in the Gran Sasso Massif (Central Apennines, Italy), consisting of alluvial sediments and buried soils. The soils, dated by the radiocarbon method, enabled various alluvial phases that have occurred in the last 2500 years to be chronologically framed. These phases e e then correlated with the frequency of the...

Jebel Gharbi is a semi-arid mountain range on the northern boundary of the Sahara Desert, in northwestern Libya between the Mediterranean coastal plain (the Jefara) and the Tripolitanian Plateau. At Jebel Gharbi, Quaternary strata (dated by means of radiocarbon techniques and archaeological artifacts) consist of two Upper Pleistocene (Oxygen Isotop...

Geo-archaeological researches on tilted floodplain sediments near the Castagnone hamlet (Northern Monferrato Hills, Piedmont, NW Italy) allowed to gain some dozens of stone artifacts from a lowermost unit embedding Early Biharian microtine voles teeth with accompanying Galerian (“postvillafranchian”) macrofaunal remains. Both the micro- and macro-f...

The purpose of this contribution is to disentangle climate forcing and human influence in the catchment of Lago di Mezzano through the interfingering of data obtained by means of archaeological, geomorphological, sedimentological and palynological approaches. A systematic archaeological survey has been undertaken and three submerged settlement area...

This chapter summarizes the knowledge of the Apennine glaciations in Italy. In the Apennines there are traces of at least one glacial expansion older and more extensive than that of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Its age is not known in detail, but it is likely that it dates from the Middle Pleistocene, perhaps from the final part. The Late Pleist...

The island of Lampedusa lies on the northern edge of the African continental shelf, but during some Quaternary marine lowstands it was joined to the African continent. The study and dating of the aeolian, alluvial, detrital sediments, calcareous crusts and speleothems have established that the climatic–environmental variations recorded on the islan...

Geo-archaeological researches on tilted floodplain sediments near the Castagnone hamlet (Northern Monferrato Hills, Piedmont, NW Italy) allowed to collect some dozens of stone artefacts from a main alluvial unit embedding Early Biharian microtine vole teeth, together with general Galerian ("postvillafranchian") macrofauna remains. The fauna overall...

Litho-palaeoenvironmental Map of Italy during the Holocene Climatic Optimum (8 ± 1 ka cal BP) scale 1: 1,000,000. Data: bed rocks; glaciers; loess; vertebrates; Ostracods; lakes; vegetation; Po plain; marine bathymetry; shore lines; Alpine foothills; sea surface temperature; archeology and active faults

Litho-palaeoenvironmental Map of Italy during the Last Glacial Maximum (22 ±2 ka cal BP). scale 1: 1,000,000 Data: bed rocks; glaciers; loess; vertebrates; Ostracods; lakes; vegetation; Po plain; marine bathymetry; shore lines; Alpine foothills; sea surface temperature; archeology and active faults

Lago di Mezzano is a lake of volcanic origin situated inside the Latera caldera. The surface area is about 0.5 km², and the catchment area is about 1 km² with few, very small, surface inflows and one outflow. Three submerged settlements of pile-dwellings and numerous metal and pottery artifacts, attributable mainly to the Bronze Age, have been foun...

Geological researches carried out near the Castagnone hamlet in the Cerrina Valley (Northern Monferrato Hills, Piedmont, NW Italy), have brought to light a post-Messinian succession whose sedimentary record starts with a Lower Complex of pedogenized colluvial materials and with two superimposed Alluvial Units (I and 11). The lower one of these unit...

Geoarchaeology and Prehistory of the Jebel Gharbi Plateau, Northwest Libya. Territorial field work, stratigraphy and chronology from Late Pleistocene to Holocene.

In a number of closed basins in the Central Apennines (mainly in the Abruzzo and Gran Sasso-Laga National Parks and in the Velino-Sirente Regional Park) lacustrine sediments, produced by temporary lakes that have now disappeared, have been found. These sediments have been dated to the Last Glacial Maximum and the Holocene by the 14C method. A numbe...

The Campo Imperatore Holocene alluvial sediments (Gran Sasso Massif - Central Italy) The detailed geological and geomorphological survey carried out on Campo Imperatore alluvial sediments and terraces enabled some Holocene depositional phases to be recognised. The chronological framework has been obtained through radiocarbon datings on palaeosols a...

[1] Paleoseismological analyses along the Campo Imperatore normal fault (CIF) in the Gran Sasso massif, which is an area characterized by the absence of significant historical earthquakes, highlight the occurrence of surface faulting after the 5th–3rd cent. BC and around the 6th–5th millenium BC. These ages agree with those reported by Giraudi and...

The Late Pleistocene and Holocene Apennine rock glaciers (Italy) - age, distribution and palaeoclimatic significance. Rock glaciers have been found in the Gran Sasso, Greco, Maiella and Velino Massifs and in the Breccioso, Terminillo and Pollino Mounts. The Apennine rock glaciers are inactive, with the exception, perhaps, of a very small rock glaci...

The age of the debris of glacial origin, lying just downvalley of the threshold of the cirque of the Calderone Glacier, has been obtained dating interbedded soils by means of radiocarbon analysis. The datings point out four glacial expansions: the first, following 2650±60 years BP, the second bracketed between 1450±40 and 670±40 years BP, the third...

The studies of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene sediments forming the eastern portion of Campo Felice has allowed for the recognition of the environmental evolution of the area during the last 30,000 years ca. The infuence of the palaeoclimatic variations on the geological evolution can be inferred from glacial and fluvioglacial sediments and from...