Exploring a vanished coastal landscape in Holocene Southern Calabria

探索全新世卡拉布里亚南部消失的海岸景观

• 批准号: AH/E00783X/1
• 负责人: John Robb
• 金额: $ 16.44万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FE00783X%2F1
• 关键词: Exploring; vanished; coastal; landscape; Holocene

This research investigates the loss of coastline over the last 10,000 years, and its significance for our understanding of prehistoric societies. As polar ice caps melted at the end of the Pleistocene, global sea levels rose, drowning coastal environments. Archaeologists have assumed that sea levels reached approximately their modern levels by about 6000 BC -- the beginning of the Neolithic in the Central Mediterranean. However, mounting geological evidence shows this to be false, particularly in tectonically active areas where submerged landscapes may be lifted above sea level or coastal zones may sink below it. For archaeologists investigating prehistoric worlds, subsidence and submerged landscapes are a critical problem. Coastlines structure human life: they afford access to marine resources, allow travel and inter-regional contact, concentrate population, and furnish points of reference in cultural landscapes. In Central Mediterranean prehistory, losing a coastline seriously affects our view of central theoretical issues, including Mesolithic forager presence, the spread of the Neolithic, and inter-regional exchange throughout prehistory. Although the problem has been outlined in general terms, it has never been the subject of detailed research in a particular prehistoric landscape. We have little idea how it actually affects our view of Mediterranean prehistory. This situation was demonstrated dramatically in 2005, during research by the Bova Marina Archaeological Project in Calabria, Italy. During underwater geological reconnaissance, a submerged peat deposit with terrestrial wood, plant remains and charcoal was found at 27 metres underwater and 400 metres offshore. A wood sample from it was dated radiometrically to ca. 4000 BCcal / the Final Neolithic here. This striking finding has two key implications: (a) well after post-glacial sea level rise, the coastline here has been sinking below the sea due to local tectonics at about .7 mm/year. Not only have the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic coastlines been submerged, but the Neolithic one has too, and this effect may extend well into the later prehistory. (b) more positively, tectonic failure may have removed coastal landscapes rapidly below wave destruction, and there is potential for well-preserved, underwater natural settings or prehistoric sites with rich organic preservation. The goals of this research are to trace the history of the coastline in this area, the San Pasquale river valley mouth (Bova Marina, Calabria) in more detail than has ever been attempted for the Central Mediterranean. The research team includes J. Robb (Cambridge), a specialist in the later prehistory of the Central Mediterranean, and E. Reinhardt (McMaster University), a specialist in underwater environmental reconstruction. A detailed bathymetric survey and sub-bottom CHIRP prospection will outline the sea floor's morphology in detail to identify geological features and to track evolving coastal environments / lagoons, marshes, river channels -- as sea levels rose relative to land. Geological sampling and coring will provide material for sedimentological, palynological, and geochemical analysis for reconstructing past environments, as well as samples for radiometric dating of ancient coastlines. Special attention will be paid to potential anthropogenic environments, landscape features and artefacts. All information will be integrated using GIS to produce detailed environmental reconstructions for this section of the Southern Italian coastline between 6000 and 0 BCcal. The resulting picture of coastal evolution will be integrated with local prehistory known from BMAP excavations and field survey to understand how the loss, and potential recovery, of the coastline alters our understanding of social phenomena such as local Mesolithic presence, the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, the Neolithic coastal obsidian trade, and Bronze Age regional interaction (for instance, in Mycenaean trade).

这项研究调查了过去一万年来海岸线的丧失，以及它对我们理解史前社会的意义。随着极地冰盖在更新世末期融化，全球海平面上升，淹没了沿海环境。考古学家认为，大约在公元前6000年--地中海中部新石器时代的开始，海平面大约达到了现代的水平。然而，越来越多的地质证据表明这是错误的，特别是在构造活跃的地区，那里的淹没景观可能会上升到海平面以上，或者沿海地区可能会下降到海平面以下。对于研究史前世界的考古学家来说，下沉和淹没的地貌是一个关键问题。海岸线构成了人类生活的结构：它们提供了获取海洋资源的途径，允许旅行和区域间联系，集中了人口，并提供了文化景观的参照点。在地中海中部史前，失去一条海岸线严重影响了我们对核心理论问题的看法，包括中石器时代的存在，新石器时代的传播，以及整个史前地区之间的交流。虽然这个问题已经被概括地概括出来，但它从来没有在特定的史前景观中被详细研究过。我们几乎不知道它实际上会如何影响我们对地中海史前时期的看法。这种情况在2005年意大利卡拉布里亚的Bova Marina考古项目的研究中得到了戏剧性的证明。在水下地质勘察期间，在水下27米和离岸400米处发现了一个水下泥炭矿藏，其中包括陆地木材、植物遗骸和木炭。其中的一块木质样品经放射性测年确定为约公元前4000年/这里的最后一个新石器时代。这一惊人的发现有两个关键影响：(A)在冰川后海平面上升之后，由于当地的构造作用，这里的海岸线一直在以每年约0.7毫米的速度沉入海平面以下。不仅旧石器时代和中石器时代的海岸线被淹没，新石器时代的海岸线也被淹没，这种影响可能会延伸到更晚的史前时期。(B)更积极的是，构造断裂可能在海浪破坏下迅速移走了沿海地貌，并有可能保存完好的水下自然环境或具有丰富有机保存的史前遗址。这项研究的目标是追溯这一地区的海岸线的历史，圣帕斯夸莱河谷口(Bova Marina，Calabria)比地中海中部的海岸线更详细。研究团队包括研究地中海中部史前晚期的专家J.Robb(剑桥)和水下环境重建专家E.Reinhardt(麦克马斯特大学)。随着海平面相对于陆地的上升，一项详细的水深测量和海底以下啁啾勘探将详细勾勒出海底的形态，以确定地质特征并跟踪不断演变的沿海环境/泻湖、沼泽、河道。地质采样和取心将为恢复过去环境的沉积学、孢粉学和地球化学分析提供材料，并为古海岸线的放射性测年提供样品。将特别关注潜在的人为环境、景观特征和文物。将使用地理信息系统整合所有信息，以生成这段公元前6000至公元前0年间意大利南部海岸线的详细环境重建图。由此绘制的沿海演变图景将与从BMAP发掘和实地调查中了解的当地史前情况相结合，以了解海岸线的丧失和潜在的恢复如何改变我们对社会现象的理解，例如当地的中石器时代的存在、中石器时代到新石器时代的过渡、新石器时代的沿海黑铁矿贸易和青铜时代的区域互动(例如在迈锡尼贸易中)。