Abstract
AbstractClastic successions in rock shelters commonly host important archaeological findings, especially of prehistoric and protostoric times. The understanding of depositional and post-depositional processes in these environments is crucial to understand the lifestyle settings of humans, as well as the reliability of archaeological data obtained during excavations. Rock shelters are genetically related to caves, but while depositional processes in caves are generally well known, less information is available concerning the depositional processes active in rock shelters.This paper tries to contribute to this issue, describing the sedimentary succession exposed at the Oscurusciuto rock shelter (Ginosa, Southern Italy). This is one of the most important Middle Palaeolithic sites of the Italian peninsula, and its sedimentary infill hosts witnesses of very late Neanderthal populations that lived in Italy just before their total decline and complete replacement by Modern Humans (MH).This work presents the results of a sedimentologically based study integrated with an ichnological study of selected beds. The combination of these two methodologies allowed us to: (i) define the main depositional processes active in the rock shelter environment, as well as the relationships between different processes; (ii) discuss the meaning of peculiar ichnofabrics recognized at the site, and (iii) discuss the meaning of structureless strata at an archeological site in the framework of human trampling vs bioturbation as a cause of the obliteration of primary sedimentary structures.
Highlights
Rock shelters and caves are protected environments in which clastic sediments can be deposited and where post-depositional erosional processes are generally limited
This paper tries to contribute to this issue, describing the sedimentary succession exposed at the Oscurusciuto rock shelter (Ginosa, Southern Italy)
Several works have described the features of clastic successions in caves, the active depositional processes in these environments, as well as the information that clastic sediments could provide for archaeologically oriented studies
Summary
Rock shelters and caves are protected environments in which clastic sediments can be deposited and where post-depositional erosional processes are generally limited. In prehistoric times caves and rock shelters were protected environments in which humans often dwelled In these cases the data coming from the analysis of clastic sediments could provide important additional information to understand human settlement dynamics, as well as the microclimate environments in which they lived (Brandy & Scott, 1997; Farrand, 2001; Woodward & Goldberg, 2001; Ghinassi et al 2009; Hunt et al 2010; Martini et al 2018). The aim of this study is to contribute to understanding the infilling dynamics of rock shelters, as well as the depositional processes active inside them. A ~5.7 m thick siliciclastic succession exposed at the Oscurusciuto rock shelter has been investigated according to modern facies analysis and ichnology principles
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