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J. Black Sea/Mediterranean Environment
Special Issue: 78-83 (2015)

Late Pleistocene-Holocene climate transition in the
western Mediterranean: a view from the stable isotopes of
land snail shells

1*
André Carlo Colonese , Giovanni Zanchetta 2,3,4 ,
6
5
Anthony E. Fallick , Russell Drysdale

1 BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, Biology S. Block,
York YO10 5DD, UK
2 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, University of Pisa, Via S. Maria, 53,
56126 Pisa, ITALY
3 IGG-CNR Via Moruzzi, 1 56100 Pisa, ITALY
4 INGV sez. Pisa, Via della Faggiola 32, 56126 Pisa, ITALY
5 Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride G75 0QF,
Glasgow, SCOTLAND
6 Department of Resource Management and Geography, University of Melbourne,
Victoria 3010, AUSTRALIA

* Corresponding author: andre.colonese@york.ac.uk

Abstract

Late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological deposits from the central Mediterranean
regions contain abundant terrestrial gastropod shell remains. Stable isotope studies of
their shell carbonate are valuable proxies for various aspects of climate and
environmental change such as temperature, hydrological sources and balance, as well as
vegetation. Here we present stable carbon and oxygen isotope data of snail shells from
several archaeological deposits in the western Mediterranean (Iberian, Italian Peninsula
and Sicily). Isotope ratios differ remarkably between the Late Pleistocene, Holocene and
modern shells. The results can be interpreted in terms of hydrological variations and
changes in vegetation over time. Fossil shells offer the opportunity to examine the effects
of past climate change on local and regional environments.

Keywords: Western Mediterranean, archaeological record, land snail shells, stable
isotopes, palaeoclimate, palaeoenvironment

Introduction

Late Pleistocene - Holocene archaeological deposits around the Mediterranean
have preserved numerous shells of land snails and offer the exceptional
opportunity to explore shell isotopic response to late Quaternary climate change.
Land snails are sensitive to environmental conditions and the stable isotopes
(oxygen and carbon) composition of their shells are valuable sources for

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