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The Tiber valley is a prominent feature in the landscape of ancient Rome and an important element for understanding its urban development. However, little is known about the city’s original setting. Our research provides new data on the Holocene sedimentary history and human-environment interactions in the Forum Boarium, the location of the earliest harbor of the city. Since the Last Glacial Maximum, when the fluvial valley was incised to a depth of tens of meters below the present sea level, 14C and ceramic ages coupled with paleomagnetic analysis show the occurrence of three distinct aggradational phases until the establishment of a relatively stable alluvial plain at 6–8 m a.s.l. during the late 3rd century BCE. Moreover, we report evidence of a sudden and anomalous increase in sedimentation rate around 2600 yr BP, leading to the deposition of a 4-6m thick package of alluvial deposits in approximately one century. We discuss this datum in the light of possible tectonic activity along a morpho-structural lineament, revealed by the digital elevation model of this area, crossing the Forum Boarium and aligned with the Tiber Island. We formulate the hypothesis that fault displacement along this structural lineament may be responsible for the sudden collapse of the investigated area, which provided new space for the observed unusually large accumulation of sediments. We also posit that, as a consequence of the diversion of the Tiber course and the loss in capacity of transport by the river, this faulting activity triggered the origin of the Tiber Island. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we provide a critical review of the studies conducted on the geology of Rome since the first half of the 20th century, aimed at presenting an updated state of the art on the stratigraphy of this area. Following this introductory summary, we present a complete reconstruction of the geological evolution and the resulting chrono-litho-stratigraphic setting of the greater area of Rome, according to a series of works that in the last 20 years have adopted an innovative methodological approach based on the conceptual model of aggradational successions deposited in response to sea-level rise during the glacial terminations, and on the strict geochronologic constraints to the sedimentary record achieved by paleomagnetic investigation of clay sections and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of interbedded volcanic materials. We also present a complete overview on the chronostratigraphy of the two volcanic districts of Colli Albani and Monti Sabatini, located SE and NW of Rome respectively, that has been achieved integrating the field work with the large number of radiometric ages provided in these years on their eruptive products. Moreover, we propose a revised stratigraphic column to compare the most recent official 1:50,000 and 1:10,000 geologic mapping of Rome, which is intended as a tool of correlation for an international audience of Quaternary scientists to approach the study of this area. A detailed discussion of the proposed revisions is also provided as supplementary information to this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We revise the chronostratigraphy of several sedimentary successions cropping out along a 5 km-long tract of the Aniene River Valley in Rome (Italy), which yielded six hominin remains previously attributed to proto- or archaic Neanderthal individuals, as well as a large number of lithic artefacts showing intermediate characteristics somewhere between the local Acheulean and Mousterian cultures. Through a method of correlation of aggradational successions with post-glacial sea-level rises, relying on a large set of published 40Ar/39Ar ages of interbedded volcanic deposits, we demonstrate that deposition of the sediments hosting the human remains spans the interval 295–220 ka. This is consistent with other well constrained ages for lithic industries recovered in England, displaying transitional features from Lower to Middle Paleolithic, suggesting the appearance of Mode 3 during the MIS 9-MIS 8 transition. Moreover, the six human bone fragments recovered in the Aniene Valley should be regarded as the most precisely dated and oldest hominin remains ascribable to Neanderthal-type individuals in Europe, discovered to date. The chronostratigraphic study presented here constitutes the groundwork for addressing re-analysis of these remains and of their associated lithic industries, in the light of their well-constrained chronological picture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present here the results of a technological and typological analysis of the Acheulian and early Middle Paleolithic assemblages from Torre in Pietra (Latium, Italy) together with comparisons with the Acheulian small tools of Castel di Guido. The assemblages were never chronometrically dated before. We have now 40Ar/39Ar dates and ESR-U-series dates, within a geomorphological framework, which support correlations to marine isotope stages. The Acheulian (previously correlated to MIS 9) is now dated to MIS 10 while the Middle Paleolithic is dated to MIS 7. Lithic analyses are preceded by taphonomic evaluations. The Levallois method of the Middle Paleolithic assemblage is an innovation characterized by the production of thin flake blanks without cortex. In contrast, the small tool blanks of the Acheulian were either pebbles or thick flakes with some cortex. They provided a relatively easy manual prehension. The choice of Levallois thin flake blanks in the Middle Paleolithic assemblage suggest that the new technology is most likely related to the emergence of hafting. Accordingly, the oldest direct evidence of hafting technology is from the site of Campitello Quarry in Tuscany (Central Italy) where birch-bark tar, found on the proximal part of two flint flakes, is dated to the end of MIS 7. Nevertheless, a peculiar feature of the Middle Paleolithic at Torre in Pietra is the continuous presence of small tool blanks on pebbles and cores and on thick flake albeit at a much lower frequency than in the older Acheulian industries. The adoption of the new technology is thus characterized by innovation combined with a degree of stability. The persistence of these habits in spite of the introduction of an innovative technique underlies the importance of cultural transmission and conformity in the behavior of Neandertals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a reconstruction of the stratigraphic setting of the continental sedimentary sequences that were deposited by the Paleo-Tiber River within the greater area of Rome between 0.9 and 0.6 Ma, carried out through analyses of a large number of borehole data. Through palinspastic restoration of several cross sections we depict the original geometry of the sedimentary record that has been dislocated by intense tectonic activity linked to volcanism, and we reconstruct the geologic and paleogeographic evolution of this area. Moreover, we provide a complete review of the chronostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic data reported in previous work, and we extend paleomagnetic analyses to three new clay sections. These geochronological constraints allow us to compare aggradation of the Paleo-Tiber sedimentary successions with the δ18O record, evidencing a strict link between sedimentation and sea-level changes in the Rome area. By doing so, we provide a direct test on the timing of the sea-level rise for MIS 19 through MIS 15: a record of data for which no equivalent exists in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ML 5.4 Molise earthquake of 31 October 2002 caused damage of Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg (MCS) intensity VIII-IX to the small town of San Giuliano di Puglia. In contrast, the other towns in the epicentral area did not exceed MCS intensity VII. Building vulnerability and near-surface geology were suspected to be potentially responsible for the high level of damage. However, early results of engineering studies in San Giuliano di Puglia (Dolce et al., 2004) indicate that vulnerability of the strongest damage [European Macroseismic Scale, (EMS) intensity VII-VIII] zone was not higher than vulnerability of the remaining part of the town (EMS intensity VI). We use the aftershock recordings in the town to investigate the local amplification effect due to the lateral variations of near-surface geology. The waveform analysis shows that in the high-damage zone, where clay deposits outcrop, direct S waves are characterized by a large initial pulse that is a factor of 6 larger than S waves recorded on a nearby rock outcrop, a few hundred meters away. Moreover, the strong S pulse is followed by a 10-sec long amplification of ground motion between 4 and 7 Hz. This frequency band corresponds to the fundamental resonance frequencies of two- and three-storied buildings, which are the most common type of construction in San Giuliano di Puglia. Since the duration of the strongest shaking is estimated to have been longer than 10 sec during the main shock, we conclude that the highly damaging effect in the clayey zone could have been due to the combination of the large initial pulse with time-persistent amplification at the resonant frequencies of buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]