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K. Lambeck et al. / Quaternary Science Reviews 23 (2004) 1567–1598
3. Argentarola: The evidence here comes from
speleothems found in a submerged cave in stratified
dolomitic limestone bedrock on the small island of
Argentarola located near the Argentario Promontory.
The samples were collected by scuba diving at depths
from 3.5 to 21.7 m measured with a digital depth gauge
and corrected for a tide range of 0.24 m. Age control is
provided by radiocarbon ages on marine and continen-
tal layers of the speleothems and range from 6.5 to
9.6 ka cal. BP (Alessio et al., 1996; Antonioli et al.,
2001b; Bard et al., 2002). The Tyrrhenian sea level has
been identified 7 km from the island by well-carved
marine notches at 5.3 m above present sea level,
indicating that the Argentario promontory is located
in a tectonically stable area.
4. Gravisca: Archaeological remains consisted of a
footway that now occurs at À1.47 m. Its historical
attribution fixes its age at À300 to À400 AD (Leoni and
Dai Pra, 1997). The MIS 5.5 sea level here is identified
by inner margin deposits at an elevation of B10 m
and this site is considered to have been either
tectonically stable or subject to an insignificant uplift
of 0.0270.03 mm yrÀ1.
5. Punta Della Vipera: Many Roman piscinae were
studied and measured by Schmiedt (1972), Pirazzoli
(1976) and Leoni and Dai Pra (1997). For Punta Della
Vipera the measured altitude is given as BÀ0.40 m and
its date of construction is 0 AD. The elevation of the
MIS 5.5 transgression (inner margin sediments) reaches
30–35 m (Nisi et al., 2003) and we consider this area to
have been tectonically active with an uplift rate of
0.2370.05 mm yrÀ1.
6. Tevere Plain, Rome: The data at this site comes
from cores drilled 2 km apart, east from the present-day
coastline of the prograding Tevere Plain near the silted-
up ancient Roman harbour. Belluomini et al. (1986)
used sea-level markers consisting of 14C-dated peat,
marsh and wood fragments found between À3 and
À31 m. The corresponding calibrated ages are in the
interval 5.9–11 ka cal. BP. The tectonic history of the
Rome Plain is unclear. Some 30 km to the north within
the plain there are sites where the MIS 5.5 inner margin
reaches an altitude of about 35 m (Nisi et al., 2003). This 7.4 ka BP at À8 m. Romano et al. (1994) published data
is consistent with a result by Karner et al. (2001) who
measured the 5.5 inner margin adjacent to the plain at
25 m elevation. We suggest that the tectonics can be
characterized by a continuous but slow rate of uplift
(since MIS 22 and correlating with regional volcanic
activity) of 0.1570.05 mm yrÀ1.
7. Anzio: The archaeological marker is a now-flooded
ancient harbour works consisting of remains of caissons
used in the construction of piers (Auriemma, 2002). Its
historical age is 110 A.D. and indicative of a sea-level
change of À0.56 m (Leoni and Dai Pra, 1997). The
altitude of the 5.5 transgression here occurs at B10 m
above present sea level (Nisi et al., 2003) and we
assume that the site is effectively stable (uplift of
0.0270.05 mm yrÀ1).
8. Torre Astura: The Roman piscinae of Torre Astura,
50 km south of Rome, were studied by Schmiedt (1972),
Pirazzoli (1976) and Leoni and Dai Pra (1997). Pirazzoli
estimated sea level at time of construction as À0.50 m
compared with À0.39 m by Leoni and Dai Pra whose
value we adopt here. The historical age is B50 AD. The
position of the MIS 5.5 highstand is consistent with an
absence of tectonic movement (Nisi et al., 2003) and we
assume that the principal contribution to sea-level
change here is the eustatic-isostatic contribution.
9. Fondi: Fondi Plain, 110 km south of Rome, is a
small coastal plain with outcropping Holocene lagoonal
deposits. Samples containing Cerastoderma at À1.8 m
previously gave an 14C age of about 7.5 ka cal. BP
(Antonioli et al., 1988). More recently a core was drilled
near the outcrops that intersected marine sediments that
filled a palaeo-valley carved during the LGM (Devoti
et al., 2004). Marine shells between À3 and À33.7 m
yielded calibrated ages in the interval 7.4–8.6 ka cal. BP.
Within the limestone bordering the plain, undated
marine notches occur at +7.3 m, in contrast to lagoonal
deposits of MIS 5.5 age in a core within the plain itself at
À6.5 m (Antonioli et al., 1988). If these notches are of
MIS 5.5 age, then the latter are indicative of a slow
subsidence of the plain at BÀ0.1170.03 mm yrÀ1
relative to its limestone promontories. The Fondi
observations in the time interval 7.5–8.7 ka fall into
two distinct depth ranges (see Table 1), possibly
indicating that the infralittoral shells may be from a
greater depth range than assumed above for the fossil
sand beach deposits, or that the ages for the shallow
group of observations have been contaminated.
10. Volturno: The Volturno River coastal plain
formed during the Holocene as a complex of beach-
ridges and flat back-barrier depressions with lagoonal
sedimentation. Lagoonal facies have been found in a
core located at 2.5 km from the present beach over a
depth range of 10 m. Radiocarbon ages of peats found in
this core are given by Barra et al. (1996) and the
calibrated ages span the interval from 4.8 ka at À3 m to
on the MIS 5.5 highstand showing elevations fluctuating
from À50 up to +50 m depending on whether the
evidence came from near the centre of the plain or from
the adjacent limestone outcrops and, as for Fondi, the
plain appears to have subsided relative to the adjacent
promontories. The core site used here is from a locality
within the plain and near its edge and a nominal value of
zero uplift is adopted for the present.
11. Pozzuoli: The Pozzuoli coastal area is famous for
its episodic vertical movements, which over the past
2000 years have reached several meters in amplitude,
within the active volcanic caldera of the Phlaegrean
fields near Naples. Biological sea-level indicators were