A multidisciplinary approach to reveal the Sicily Climate and Environment over the last 20 000 years

Abstract

Abstract:We present a thorough review of the knowledge on the climate and environment in Sicily over the last 20 000 years, taking into account results of several studies carried using terrestrial and marine records. We obtain a coherent framework of the most important changes succeeded in the island, even if some points need further investigation. All the reconstructions of surface temperatures of the seas and the air surrounding Sicily point out severe climatic conditions during the last glacial period. The steppe-and semisteppe-like vegetation pattern testifies, together with additional evidence from geochemical data of lacustrine evidence, markedly arid conditions. Finally, significant episodes of sea level drop connected Sicily to the Italian Peninsula and favoured the dispersion of faunal elements from southern Italy. The transition between the last glacial and the Holocene was not characterized by a gradual warming but was punctuated by two abrupt suborbital climatic fluctuations: Bølling-Allerød (warm) and Younger Dryas (cold), as recognized in the sediments recovered close to the northern and southern coast of Sicily. A denser arboreal cover is possibly indicated by the occurrence of dormouse and Arvicola remains. Finally the sensitivity of Sicily to climate perturbations is demonstrated by the occurrence of repeated subtle climatic anomalies during the Holocene, including the Little Ice Age, also known from historical chronicles. Forests, woods and Mediterranean maquis developed in the early-middle Holocene. Thereafter was a general decline of arboreal vegetation, following a general aridification trend that seems to be a common feature in southern Europe and North Africa. Since Greek colonization (7 th century before Christ), the landscape was intensively modelled for agriculture and breeding, leading to a significant loss of vegetation cover.

Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer subsistence in Mediterranean coastal environments: an isotopic study of the diets of the earliest directly-dated humans from Sicily

“…At that time, with deglaciation, climatic conditions improved, becoming warmer and wetter, and favouring an increase in wooded as opposed to open steppe environments (Incarbona et al, 2010).…”

A question of time: the land snailMurella muralis(Gastropoda:Pulmonata) reveals constraints on past ecological speciation

“…, ; Bertini ; Incarbona et al . ). During the Zanclean age (5.3–3.6 Myr), deciduous forest and non‐arboreal associations alternating with sub‐desert environments indicate a warm‐temperate to dry climate.…”

Archaeogenetics and Landscape Dynamics in Sicily during the Holocene: A Review

“…The geographical position and bioclimatic conditions of this part of the Mediterranean allowed the survival of many species during the LGM, including many remnants of the "palaeotropical geoflora" [53,54], and the permanence of some species known as "glacial relicts" [55]. During the Late Pleistocene, the Italian Peninsula and Sicily were a refuge area for many plant species (e.g., Fagus sylvatica) and allowed post-glacial recolonization [56]. The first hunter-gatherers that arrived on the island with the LGM had a very limited impact on natural ecosystems.…”