Page 3 - Antonioli_2016

“GeoSUB – Underwater geology” – Ustica, 13-17 September 2016

HOMO SAPIENS AND SOME MAMMAL DISPERSION IN SICILY AND SARDINIA

Antonioli F., Palombo M.R., Lo Presti V., Mannino M., Orrù P.
1 2 2 3 4

1 ENEA, Casaccia, Laboratory climate modelling and impact, Roma
2 Department of Earth Sciences, University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
3 Department of Archaeology, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Højbjerg, Denmark;
4 Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Italy

The time and mode of human dispersal onto Mediterranean islands is a hotly debated question. A
multidisciplinary approach combining palaeogeographical reconstructions with biological and archeological
evidence is of crucial importance to acquire information on island colonization by Homo sapiens during the
Late Pleistocene.
New evidence from Sicily and Sardinia, also using scuba dive and marine geology data demonstrates that,
despite being present in the Italian peninsula at least from 43 ka BP, H. sapiens reached the two largest
Mediterranean islands no earlier than the LGM. During the Late Pleistocene, a submerged Sill in the Strait of
Messina connected Sicily to Europe. Geological, stratigraphic and oceanographic data suggest that the bridge
emerged for at least 1,500 years between 21.5 and 20 ka cal BP. This hypothesis is supported by a radiocarbon
date on an Equus hydruntinus specimen from San Teodoro cave 21 ka cal BP and archaeological data
suggesting that H. sapiens did not arrive to Sicily much earlier than 17.5 ka cal BP. The Egadi Islands, off
western Sicily, were not colonized before then either by humans or by terrestrial animals with poor swimming
ability.
The hypothesis of a Mid-Pleistocene dispersal on Sardinia by hominins is questionable. H. sapiens remains
have been found in early Holocene deposits at Corbeddu cave and S Omu e S Orku respectively 8.7 and 8.5
ka BP, while further evidence is required to support the hypothesis of a presence during the LGM.
We studied a human tooth from Dragonara cave, and a reappraisal of the geological-environmental,
confirming with new radiocarbon ages an early Neolithic occupation (7.3 ka BP) of the Portoconte bay.

Fig. 1: Palaeogeographical evolution of the Porto Conte Bay from 20 ka to the present-days. a) the
palaeoplain during lgm 22 ka cal BP, about 16 of coastal pain rich of aeolian sediments.b) the
coastline at 11.7 ka cal BP when deer walking on the stretto terrace below Punta Giglio
promontory reach the Cervi Cave climbing the ridge of fig 16. c) Paleocoastline at 7.4 ka cal BP,
during early Neolithic period. d) Present coastline.

12