The role of neo-tectonics in the variation of the relative mean sea level throughout the last 6000 years on the Taman Peninsula (Black Sea, Azov Sea, Russia)

Sediments, carbon-datings on seashells, allow us to reconstruct the evolution of the average sea level for some 6000 years on the Taman Peninsula. The current sea level, regionally, appears to be the highest level ever reached on the peninsula. It seems that for the Anapa area and Tchouchtchka Spit area it is possible to propose a sea level curve characterised by a slow, continuous rising during the past 6000 years. On the Taman Peninsula itself, the sedimentary record of this slow ascent has been distorted by a heavy tectonic subsidence. We have identified this neo-tectonic subsidence effect on at least two areas on the peninsula. The south of the peninsula, Burgaz Spit and Vityazevos Lagoon, is the most affected area. The Taman Gulf is an intermediate area. The tectonic subsidence is particularly noticeable from 1500 to 500 BC, which we believe to have been misinterpreted until now, and to be at the origin of the notion of "Phanagorian Regression"

Piraeus, the ancient island of Athens: Evidence from Holocene sediments and historical archives

The famous Greek geographer Strabo wrote in the first century A.D., that Piraeus was formerly an island and lay 'over against' the mainland, from which it got its name. To validate Strabo's hypothesis, cartographic and historical data were compiled with multiproxy paleoenvironmental analyses and radiocarbon dating from a series of boreholes drilled in the Cephissus coastal plain, southwest of Athens, Greece. The results of this interdisciplinary geoarchaeological research demonstrate the reliability of Strabo's text by revealing that Piraeus was indeed an island. In early Holocene time, the rocky hill of Piraeus was linked to the mainland of Attica. During the late to final Neolithic Period (4850-3450 B.C.), Piraeus became an island in a shallow marine bay, due to sea-level rise in the Holocene. Between 2850 and 1550 B.C., in the Early and Middle Bronze Age, Piraeus was separated from the mainland by a wide lagoon. In the fifth century B.C., Themistocles, Cimon, and then Pericles connected Athens to Piraeus by building two "long walls" partly built on a residual coastal marsh called the Halipedon. This study reveals an impressive example of past landscape evolution. © 2011 Geological Society of America

Etude des écosystémes et des systèmes sociaux dans la plaine orientale de Thessalie (Grèce): l'apport de la télédétection.

Cette étude pluridisplinaire tente d’analyser la répartition des sites antiques dans la plaine orientale de Thessalie (Grèce) pour faire ressortir, à l'échelle régionale, les unités morpho-écologiques qui structurent le paysage, en insistant de manière préférentielle sur les éléments tectoniques, les cônes de déjection, les épandages alluviaux et les marques de défluviation. L’analyse de l’image TM vise à repérer ces ensembles spatiaux. Elle permet de valider les hypothèses formulées sur la dynamique des paysages dans ce bassin. D'autre part, dans le secteur central, on peut visualiser l’extension réelle des épandages correspondant aux bassins versants des Révénia et du Mavrovouni et révéler l'existence d'un parcellaire organisé qui n'est visible sur aucune carte topographique. Enfin, sur le cône de déjection du Titarisios et la zone de défluviation du Pénée (secteur Nord-Ouest de la plaine), la combinaison colorée de canaux met en évidence un champ de failles assez dense et cinq zones géomorphologiques distinctes: le cône d'épandage grossier sans doute holocène et historique du Titarèse, une zone où apparaissent les traces d'anciens chenaux du Pénée, trois zones intermédiaires entre les deux précédentes, en position de cône plus ancien, dont la nature et l'âge seront à préciser sur le terrain

Paleochannels of the Zerafshan river (Ouzbekistan) and human occupation since Neolithics in the oasis of Bukhara and Qaraqol

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Palaeoenvironmental evolution and sea-level changes in the coastal area of NE Lemnos Island (Greece) during the Holocene

The study area is located on the northeastern coast of Lemnos Island (North Aegean Sea, 40°2'30N, 25°00'00E). It covers the archaeological settlement of Hephestia located in the Purnia Gulf and the coastal area of Alyki Lagoon. Reconstruction of the palaeogeography used palaeoenvironment data delivered from foraminifera and sea-level changes, providing archeological data about the presence of a potential harbour in the area.Geomorphological mapping as well as sedimentological and micropalaeontological studies of the Holocene coastal deposits were conducted. Four boreholes were drilled from the Alyki Lagoon, reaching 2.5m to 11m at the deepest and two from Hephestia area, reaching a depth of 6m. Twenty-four samples were dated using the AMS radiocarbon method, providing a chronology of the sedimentary units.The calculated age from the boreholes provides dates from 7050calBP to 990calBP There was a constant sea-level rise during the last 7000calBP in the study area. Results from the model of Lambeck sea level curve and sea level index point from Hephestia and Alyki show a vertical difference of 0.5-1.5m below sea level. The foraminiferal fauna analysis shows the development of shallow marine conditions with fresh water influx during 7000-4000calBP and a temporary lagoon environment with fluctuations to shallow bay environment from 4000 to 990calBP. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA

Environmental changes in Bactria from Neolithic to the end of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex period (Central Asia): interaction with human occupation

International audienc