Late glacial and Holocene climatic oscillations inferred from the variations in the micromammal associations at Grotta della Serratura (Marina di Camerota, Salerno, S Italy)

Abstract

Grotta della Serratura contains a deposit which dates to the 2nd Wurm Pleniglacial, Late Glacial and early Holocene. The paleoclimatic studies presented here refer to the trench at the rear of the cave where the stratigraphic series includes 230 cm of upper Paleolithic Mesolithic and Neolithic levels. Detailed studies on the micromammal fauna of the Late Glacial and early Holocene continuous strati-graphic sequence, which has been dated with the radiocarbon method, yielded a set of data which inform on the climatic phases that correspond exactly with five pollen zones of central Europe, from the Exiling to the Preboreal.