Lavagnone (Desenzano del Garda) : new excavations and palaeoecology of a Bronze Age pile dwelling in northern Italy

Lavagnone is a lacustrine basin, today turned into a peat bog, which was continuously settled for about 1,000 years during the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Ages. Since 1991 research has been carried out under the supervision of R. C. de Marinis (Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Milano) in four different areas of the basin in order to reconstruct the features of the settlement and the changes that occurred over the course of time. Palynological and palaeobotanical analyses, taking place since 2002 in cooperation with CNR-IDPA (Milano), are focused on determining the palaeoenvironmental manifestation, both then and now, of the anthropogenic exploitation of the basin

Lake evolution and landscape history in the lower Mincio River valley, unravelling drainage changes in the central Po Plain (N-Italy) since the Bronze Age

The Etruscan harbour of Forcello, in the lower valley of the Mincio River, northern Italy, was active between 540 and 390 BC. The stratigraphic investigations revealed that the settlement occupied a hill on the shore of a lake. The lake sediments and the palaeoecological record, supported by radiocarbon ages, document the basin origin in the Middle Bronze Age as well as the development of aquatic and terrestrial vegetation through the Iron Age and the Roman Age, until the reclamation in the 17th century. The pollen record provides new evidence about the forest cover and the Juglans introduction in the central Po Plain in the early Iron Age. The lake expanded during the early Iron Age, after the diversion of the Po River at Guastalla. Increasing bedload, discharge and sedimentation rates in the Po River system dammed the confluence with the Mincio River, starting the development of the lake. Bronze Age human pressure on forest may also have contributed to this bedload increase. Subsidence related to local tectonics in the axial portion of the river network and rising base-level of the Po Plain fluvial system, induced by increasing sea level, are the triggering factors of these drainage changes in the central Po Plain. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA

The onset of the Last Glacial Maximum in northern Italy: chronostratigraphical and palaeoecological evidences from alluvial plain and lacustrine successions.

The onset of the Last Glacial Maximum in Northern Italy is discussed by using chronostratigraphical and palaeoecological evidences from alluvial plain and lacustrine successions

Palaeoenvironment and vegetation history in the central Po Plain (N-Italy) between 33-30 Ka Cal Bp under the impact of millennial climate change

The Last Glaciation environmental history of the Po Plain (Northern Italy) is still poorly known. Here we present a multiproxy record from a compressed peat dated 33-30 ka cal BP, underlying the Last Glacial Maximum fluvio-glacial belt in the Adda River catchment. Slow river dynamics and subsurface water saturation granted stable surfaces supporting mixed pine-birch forests, including open wetlands - marshes and swamps - and open drylands, with juniper bushes, connected to sandy river bars. Fire phases favoured birch but decreased arboreal pollen, although open lands did not expand. We discuss relationships with millennial climate variability between GI-6 and GS-5.1

Lake evolution since the Bronze Age in the Lower Mincio River valley and the Forcello Etruscan harbour (Central Po plain)

The Etruscan harbour of Forcello in lower valley of the Mincio River, N-Italy, was active between the VI to IV centuries BC. The stratigraphic investigations revealed that the settlement occupied a hill on the shore of a large lake, connected to the Mantua perifluvial lake system. The lake formed between the Late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age in the embanked floor of the Mincio Valley, and persisted till the late Middle Age. The diversion of the Po River at Guastalla during the Iron Age is considered responsible for damming the Mincio River at its confluence

Lake evolution since the Bronze Age in the Lower Mincio River valley and the Forcello Etruscan harbour (Central Po plain)

The Etruscan harbour of Forcello in lower valley of the Mincio River, N-Italy, was active between the VI to IV centuries BC. The stratigraphic investigations revealed that the settlement occupied a hill on the shore of a large lake, connected to the Mantua perifluvial lake system. The lake formed between the Late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age in the embanked floor of the Mincio Valley, and persisted till the late Middle Age. The diversion of the Po River at Guastalla during the Iron Age is considered responsible for damming the Mincio River at its confluence

Scenari di ricostruzione delle interazioni uomo-ambiente-clima in Lombardia (N-Italia) dal Paleolitico medio all’età del Ferro

This contribution aims to provide an updated and concise overview of the main events and developments characterising the interaction between human communities and their environment in Lombardy (Northern Italy) between the Middle Paleolithic and the Late Iron Age (60,000 to 2,100 years cal BP). Within the above defined geographic and chronological context, our main goal is to highlight and summarise the role of natural factors in the development of human history, both over the long durée and within defined periods. We provide a short history of the ecosystems and socio-ecological systems in Lombardy, for which – thanks to the contribution of several research groups and scholars active in the region – we analyse specific key issues. These analyses are facilitated by chronostratigraphic tables and GIS-based cartography, and introduced by an overview of the climatic changes that affected Alpine and Po Plain landscapes across the Last Glaciation and subsequent Late Glacial times, up to the shortlasting events which influenced the development of Holocene civilisations. The structure and significance of the issues introduced in the overview will be discussed by individual research groups working within this study area