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Environmental changes and human settlement in the central Marches (Italy) during the early-middle Holocene

Gilberto Calderoni, Giuseppe Cilla, Francesco Dramis and Cecilia Gobbi
p. 21-32

Abstracts

In the Early Holocene, the central Marches (Italy) underwent a widespread development of forest cover and soils which drastically reduced slope degradation and related aggradation processes in riverbeds. In such conditions, streams deeply incised the previous alluvial sediments. In the Apennine sectors, linear erosion was locally prevented by the growth of travertine dams in correspondence with river channel knickpoints and waterfalls. Fluvial deposition prevailed in the peri-Adriatic hilly belt, where river valleys still extended from the present coastline to the uprising Adriatic Sea, as testified by a 50-m-deep cored log, drilled near the Potenza River mouth. Several archaeological sites, ranging from the Mesolithic to the Aeneolithic, testify the recurrent presence of small-scale human groups on the alluvial plains of the lower valley sectors. Sandy-clayey sediments, emplaced by flooding episodes, repeatedly buried these settlements which were commonly located on the riversides. Small Aeneolithic communities were also present in the mountain sectors, around travertine-dammed swampy-lacustrine basins. On top of the sequences, Bronze Age sites were locally found. Widespread deforestation started in the early Iron Age (about 3000 yr BP), when alluvial plains and terraces were permanently occupied by large-scale human settlements. Geo-archaeological evidence of systematic deforestation at 2950 ± 50 14C yr BP, consisting of numerous round-shaped 1.5-3 m wide hollows, filled with soil sediments and upturned blocks of alluvial gravels, were found on top of a fluvial terrace in the Esino River basin. From the Iron Age to recent historical times, notwithstanding the progressive increase of debris supply to the drainage systems due to the spreading agricultural-pastoral activities, erosion dominated almost everywhere in the Marches rivers, likely induced by climatic factors.

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I - Introduction

1Detailed field investigation on Holocene stratigraphy coupled with the study of a large number of archaeological sites provided valuable information to better understand the relationships between man and the environment in the central Marches.

2During the Early-Middle Holocene, human activities were strongly influenced by climate-induced environment changes, as evidenced by the occurrence of archaeological sites buried at different levels within the alluvial deposits of the lower valley sectors as well as around the travertine-dammed basins in the mountain sectors.

3The impact of man-made forest clearance and agriculture, which has progressively spread all over the area since the Iron Age, does not seem to have significantly affected fluvial erosion-deposition processes, as suggested by the generalized deepening trend of river channels up to recent historical times.

II - Geological-geomorphological setting of the central Marches

4The study area stretches west-east, from the Umbro-Marchean Apennine range to the Adriatic coast (Fig. 1). The western sector includes two mountain ridges up to more than 1500 m a.s.l. high, made up of Early Jurassic-Oligocene limestones and marls, separated by a lower belt of Miocene arenaceous-pelitic hills (Camerino-Matelica syncline). These ridges join together to form the Sibillini Mts. massif, whose maximum elevation exceeds 2400 m a.s.l. In the eastern sector, arenaceous and pelitic sediments (dating from the Miocene to the Early-Middle Pleistocene) make up a hilly landscape, degrading toward the Adriatic coast. Four main rivers (Esino, Potenza, Chienti and Tenna) cross the area from west to east. In the mountain sector the river valleys are generally steep-sided, narrow and deep; the alluvial plains are progressively wider eastward, up to more than 10 km close to the coast.

5The geomorphological features of the area are influenced by bedrock structure, crustal movements and Quaternary climate changes. A significant morphogenetic role is played by the large-scale uplift which has involved the area since the end of Lower Pleistocene (C. BARTOLINIet al., 2003). Due to the interaction of the uplift-induced valley incision and the major Middle-Late Pleistocene changes to cold-dry conditions (M. COLTORTI and F. DRAMIS, 1995), three main orders of climatic terraces were emplaced. In the coastal belt, the glacial/interglacial oscillations of sea level gave rise to eustatic terraces (M. COLTORTI et al., 1991).

Figure 1 - Schematic map of the Marches

Figure 1 - Schematic map of the Marches

III - Landscape evolution during the late Quaternary

6During the Würm Pleniglacial (ca. 30,000-15,000 yr BP), the study area was generally affected by dry-cold climate conditions which induced a widespread reduction (or even complete clearing) of arboreal essences (M. COLTORTI and F. DRAMIS, 1995). This favored frost shattering on limestone slopes and related production of enormous amounts of debris, which were subsequently moved down to the river channels by running water and mass movements, causing stream overcharging and riverbed aggradation (M. COLTORTIet al., 1991). In the peri-Adriatic belt, the lower sectors of rivers run for kilometers in braided channels east of the modern coastline before reaching the low-standing sea level.

7In the Early Holocene, as did other parts of the world, the central Marches underwent a rapid improvement of climate marked by humid-temperate conditions and a widespread development of Mediterranean thermophile vegetation with broadleaf forests and thick brown-calcic soils. In the upper reaches of the Chienti River valley, A. PAGANELLI (1959) recognized a forest association with quercus and subordinate carpinus and tilia, typical of warm-temperate wet climate, from pollen analyses of peaty sediments, later dated 8260 ± 100 14C yr BP and 7740 ± 80 14Cyr BP (G. CALDERONI et al., 1996).

8The renewed vegetation cover drastically reduced slope erosion and riverbed aggradation, favoring the incision of the previous alluvial sediments (G. CILLA and F. DRAMIS, 2000). However, in the limestone mountain valleys, linear erosion was prevented by the growth of phytohermal travertine dams in correspondence with river channel knickpoints and waterfalls. Swampy-lacustrine basins were formed in the dammed valleys, where layers of phytoclastic sands and subordinate peaty-clayey layers were emplaced (G. CILLAet al., 1994; G. CALDERONIet al., 1996).

9In the river channels of the peri-Adriatic hilly belt, the backward incision due to the late Würm low standing sea level, had already come to an end before 10,000 yr BP with the deposition of fine sediments. The depositional process continued in the area during the Early-Middle Holocene (Photo 1), till ca. 3500 yr BP (G. CILLAet al., 1996). Between 5000 and 3500 yr BP riverbed aggradation extended to the whole drainage systems.

Photo 1 - Early-Middle Holocene alluvial sands (lower Chienti River)

Photo 1 - Early-Middle Holocene alluvial sands (lower Chienti River)

10After ca. 3500 yr BP, travertine deposition declined, causing the incision of the dams and the drying up of the upstream basins.

11From 3500 yr BP to post-Roman times, fluvial erosion dominated almost everywhere in the central Marches, with the development of slowly deepening sinuous or meandering channels (M. COLTORTI, 1991).

12The morpho-stratigraphic evolution of rivers in the coastal belt is documented by a 50-m-deep cored log, drilled near the present mouth of the Potenza River (Fig. 2). The borehole data point out that in the late Pleniglacial, the Marches rivers flowed ca 45 m below the modern sea level. From the present bathymetry of the Adriatic Sea bottom (-10 m at 1 km offshore), it can be stated that, by the end of Early Holocene, the coast line was located some hundred meters offshore. The lower portion of the log (ca. 34 m thick) is made up of alluvial sands and sandy-clayey sediments, with scattered peaty levels, broadleaf tree pollens and terrestrial mollusca. It was referred to the Early Holocene by 14C datings (9430 ± 90 14Cyr BP to 7595 ± 80 14Cyr BP) of vegetal macro-fragments (G. CILLA and F. DRAMIS, 2000). The thin layer of basal gravels may be reasonably referred to the Pleniglacial sea level low stand. The upper portion (ca 11 m) consisted of alluvial gravels, topped by a few meters of thick sands and clayey sands with a Roman archaeological layer.

Figure 2 - The Potenza River mouth core

Figure 2 - The Potenza River mouth core

The lower portion of the log (34 m thick), is made up of alluvial sands and sandy clay sediments (with scattered peat levels, broadleaf tree pollens and terrestrial mollusca). It can to be referred the Early Holocene on the basis of 14C datings (9430 ± 90 14Cyr BP, to 7595 ± 80 14Cyr BP) of vegetal macro-fragments. The basal gravels are possibly of Late-Pleistocene age. The upper portion, mostly made up of alluvial gravels, is topped by a few meters of thick sands and clayey sands, of Roman Age level.

IV - The human settlement

13During the Early-Middle Holocene, small-scale economically productive human groups more or less continuously occupied the riversides in the peri-Adriatic belt. Recurrent flooding episodes repeatedly buried these sites under sandy-loamy layers, giving rise to stratigraphic sequences (Photo 2) from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age (M. SILVESTRINIet al., 1994; G. CILLA and F. DRAMIS, 2000). The Aeneolothic levels, likely seasonal and semi-permanent agricultural settlements, as indicated by the presence of cereals in pollen spectra (E. BRUGIAPAGLIA, 1995), were frequently associated with brown-calcic forest soils.

14Remnants of Aeneolithic settlements were also found within alluvial sediments upstream of the travertine dams; the scattered occurrence of debris layers at the footslopes is apparently related to some limited deforestation. On top of the sequences, Bronze Age sites were locally found. After the drying up of travertine-dammed basins, these settlements were abandoned.

Photo 2 - Archaeological levels in the Holocene alluvial deposits of the Potenza River (Marches, Central Italy)

Photo 2 - Archaeological levels in the Holocene alluvial deposits of the Potenza River (Marches, Central Italy)

1: Bronze Age (3285 ± 60 yr14CBP). 2: Aeneolithic (4780 ± 65 yr 14C BP). 

15Intensive deforestation started in the early Iron Age (about 3000 yr BP), when alluvial plains and terraces were permanently occupied by large-scale human communities. Geo-archaeological evidence of systematic tree clearance to build up a village was found on top of an alluvial terrace in the Esino River basin. This consisted of numerous round-shaped 1.5-3 m wide hollows, filled with soil sediments and upturned blocks of alluvial gravels, obviously imputable to the extraction of tree stumps (Photo 3; Fig. 3). The 14C dating of charcoal fragments from the filling materials gave an age of 2950 ± 50 14C yr BP (Rome -1477).

Figure 3 - Possible sequence of events responsible for the sedimentary setting of the hollows

Figure 3 - Possible sequence of events responsible for the sedimentary setting of the hollows

1: before the deforestation. 2: excavation around the tree and fire to weaken the tree strength. 3: sedimentary structure after extracting the tree stump by traction. 4: present sedimentary structure due to agricultural activities. a: sandy-gravelly alluvial deposits. b: brown soil. c: reworked brown soil. d: upturned sandy-gravelly alluvial deposits. e: farming soil.

Photo 3 - Early Iron Age round-shaped hollow due to the extraction of tree stumps

Photo 3 - Early Iron Age round-shaped hollow due to the extraction of tree stumps

V - Discussion

16In the last decades, a large number of scientific papers have stressed the recurrence of significant climate changes during the Holocene and their impact on the environment.

17The central Marches rivers provide an example of climate-induced environmental changes which, in turn, heavily affected the small human communities present in that area during the Early-Middle Holocene. A significant event in this context was the riverbed aggradation which affected the hydrographic systems east of the Apennines till ca. 3500 yr BP, giving rise to stratigraphic sequences of archaeological levels. This process was favored first by the uprising sea level, which reached its maximum, a few meters above the present level, ca. 5000 yr BP (C. ELMIet al., 1994), and then, between ca. 5000 and 3500 yr BP, by a climatic change to drier-colder conditions, which induced aggradation in the whole drainage systems. In the same time interval, several lakes in Central Italy (C. GIRAUDI, 1998), Europe (S.P. HARRISON and G. DIGERFELDT, 1993; M. MAGNY, 1999) and Africa (F.A. STREET-PERROTTet al., 1985), had lower levels, indicating the occurrence of drier climate conditions at a wide planetary scale. Dry-cold conditions are also testified in the Apennines by the abrupt reduction of fagus (D. MAGRI, 1999) as well as by the retreat of glaciers and the development of permafrost in southern Europe mountains (D.Q. BOWENet al., 1986; F. DRAMISet al., 2003-a).

18Also geomorphologically important were the decline of travertine deposition and the related incision of dams recorded in the area after 3500 yr BP. The same event occurred also in other places in Italy (R. VINKEN, 1968; M. RICCI LUCCHIet al., 2000; M. SOLIGOet al., 2002) as also in a large number of European and extra-European sites (A.S. GOUDIEet al., 1993; M. CREMASCHI, 1998; F. DRAMISet al., 2003-b; J. NYSSENet al., 2003). The causes of this decline are still under debate: some Authors (e.g. A. WEISROCK, 1986; A.S. GOUDIEet al., 1993; J. NYSSENet al., 2003) support human impact as the main triggering factor, while others stress the role of climate change (e.g. E. BONIFAY, 1986; R.C. PREECEet al., 1986; F. DRAMISet al., 1999). In any case, even if the discussion of these topics goes beyond the objectives of the present paper, it seems to us that the contemporaneous occurrence of the decline of travertine production over such a vast area, might on its own assign a major role to climate.

19The stratigraphic evidence found in the area clearly indicates that, in the Early-Middle Holocene, human life was heavily conditioned by climate-induced environmental changes, such as the flooding events and sediment deposition on the river sides. Also the evolutionary steps of travertine-dammed ponds and lakes heavily influenced human settlements in mountain valleys. The scattered debris deposited at the footslopes in the mountain sectors testify how, during the phase of climate deterioration, human impact significantly contributed to the enhancement of slope erosion and riverbed aggradation.

20The phase of fluvial erosion, which has affected the area since the early Iron Age to post-Roman times (M. COLTORTI, 1991), was likely linked to the occurrence of a new climate shift to wetter conditions (J.L. PEÑAet al., 1991; C. GIRAUDI, 1998). In fact, during this phase, notwithstanding the progressive growth of agricultural-pastoral activities and the conceivably increasing amounts of debris supply from the slopes, erosion processes dominated almost everywhere in the central Marches rivers (M. COLTORTI, 1991; G. CILLA and F. DRAMIS, 2000), even if with a prevailing slowly deepening meandering trend (M. COLTORTI, 1991), suggesting that, before recent historical times, the morphogenetic role of human impact was generally subordinated to that of climate.

VI - Conclusion

21In the Early-Middle Holocene, human life in the central Marches was strictly controlled by erosion/deposition processes on slopes and river channels induced by climate changes.

22Anthropic settlements in the lower valley sectors have repeatedly changed their location on the riversides as a consequence of the recurrent flooding episodes which buried them. Also the small human groups dwelling around the travertine dammed basins in the mountain valleys, were forced to move downvalley after the incision of dams.

23The role of human impact on landscape evolution in the central Marches during the Early-Middle Holocene seems to be relatively limited, apart from the local emplacement of debris at the footslopes. From the Iron Age to post-Roman times, notwithstanding the progressive spreading of agricultural-pastoral activities all over the area and the related increase of debris supply to the drainage systems, erosion processes dominated almost everywhere in the central Marches rivers, likely induced by climatic factors.

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List of illustrations

Title Figure 1 - Schematic map of the Marches
URL http://journals.openedition.org/physio-geo/docannexe/image/1046/img-1.jpg
File image/jpeg, 48k
Title Photo 1 - Early-Middle Holocene alluvial sands (lower Chienti River)
URL http://journals.openedition.org/physio-geo/docannexe/image/1046/img-2.jpg
File image/jpeg, 68k
Title Figure 2 - The Potenza River mouth core
Caption The lower portion of the log (34 m thick), is made up of alluvial sands and sandy clay sediments (with scattered peat levels, broadleaf tree pollens and terrestrial mollusca). It can to be referred the Early Holocene on the basis of 14C datings (9430 ± 90 14Cyr BP, to 7595 ± 80 14Cyr BP) of vegetal macro-fragments. The basal gravels are possibly of Late-Pleistocene age. The upper portion, mostly made up of alluvial gravels, is topped by a few meters of thick sands and clayey sands, of Roman Age level.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/physio-geo/docannexe/image/1046/img-3.jpg
File image/jpeg, 40k
Title Photo 2 - Archaeological levels in the Holocene alluvial deposits of the Potenza River (Marches, Central Italy)
Caption 1: Bronze Age (3285 ± 60 yr14CBP). 2: Aeneolithic (4780 ± 65 yr 14C BP). 
URL http://journals.openedition.org/physio-geo/docannexe/image/1046/img-4.jpg
File image/jpeg, 152k
Title Figure 3 - Possible sequence of events responsible for the sedimentary setting of the hollows
Caption 1: before the deforestation. 2: excavation around the tree and fire to weaken the tree strength. 3: sedimentary structure after extracting the tree stump by traction. 4: present sedimentary structure due to agricultural activities. a: sandy-gravelly alluvial deposits. b: brown soil. c: reworked brown soil. d: upturned sandy-gravelly alluvial deposits. e: farming soil.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/physio-geo/docannexe/image/1046/img-5.jpg
File image/jpeg, 36k
Title Photo 3 - Early Iron Age round-shaped hollow due to the extraction of tree stumps
URL http://journals.openedition.org/physio-geo/docannexe/image/1046/img-6.jpg
File image/jpeg, 102k
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References

Bibliographical reference

Gilberto Calderoni, Giuseppe Cilla, Francesco Dramis and Cecilia Gobbi, “Environmental changes and human settlement in the central Marches (Italy) during the early-middle Holocene”Physio-Géo, Volume 1 | -1, 21-32.

Electronic reference

Gilberto Calderoni, Giuseppe Cilla, Francesco Dramis and Cecilia Gobbi, “Environmental changes and human settlement in the central Marches (Italy) during the early-middle Holocene”Physio-Géo [Online], Volume 1 | 2007, Online since 08 December 2007, connection on 29 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/physio-geo/1046; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/physio-geo.1046

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About the authors

Gilberto Calderoni

Department of Earth Sciences,“La Sapienza” University, ROME, ITALY.
E-mail: gilberto.calderoni@uniroma1.it

Giuseppe Cilla

Department of Geological Sciences, “Roma Tre” University, ROME, ITALY.
E-mail: cillagiu@libero.it

Francesco Dramis

Department of Geological Sciences, “Roma Tre” University, ROME, ITALY.
E-mail: dramis@uniroma3.it

Cecilia Gobbi

Center of Cultural Heritage, Marches Region, ANCONA, ITALY.
E-mail: cecilia.gobbi@regione.marche.it

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