Associazioni faunistiche dell'Olocene antico nell'Italia del sud: confronto tra un sito adriatico (Grotta delle Mura, Monopoli, Bari) ed uno tirrenico (Grotta della Serratura, Marina di Camerota, Salerno)

Abstract

In this study the early Holocene faunas of two Mesolithic and Epigravettian deposits of the caves "Grotta delle Mura" (Monopoli, Bari) and "Grotta della Serratura" (Marina di Camerota, Salerno) in Southern Italy are compared. In the Grotta delle Mura the bone findings are related to lithic industries dating to the late Epigravettian with Romanellian facies (layer 3) and Mesolithic with Sauveterrian facies (layer 2). Faunal and cultural evidence date stratum 3 to the the Preboreal, even though this is in contrast with the radiometric data 10,850±100 years BP [UtC 1462] which would suggest a Dryas III age, and stratum 2 to the Boreal (8,240±120 [UtC 780] and 8,290±50 [UtC 1417] y BP). Stratum 8c of Grotta della Serratura contains a late Epigravettian industry. Type of fauna and available dates (11,290±90 y BP [UtC 1418]) indicate that this stratum can be attributed to the Dryas III. Strata 8b and 8a display an industry that is transitional between the late Epigravettian and the Sauveterrian; strata 7 and 6 show a Mesolithic industry of the Sauveterrian facies; strata 5 and 4 contain an undifferentiated Epipaleolithlc industry. Fauna associations and radiometric dates of this group of strata (from 9,770±140 y BP [UtC 752] for stratum 6 to 10,270±140 y BP [UtC 755] for stratum 8b) allow this phase to be dated to the Preboreal. Both the caves open onto the immediate vicinity of the sea and are within the same latitudinal belt but their orographic location is different. Current climate and rainfall values, used for reference only, indicate a greater aridity on the Adriadic side. The Grotta delle Mura opens onto a wave-cut cliff which marks out the borders of a wide coastal plain, whereas the Grotta della Serratura lies at the foot of a range of hills and mountains. If the distribution of Ungulates and small mammals during the early Holocene is analysed, one immediatley realizes that there is a great compositional difference between the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian littoral. In the Adriatic area, open or partially open environments prevail; along the Tyrrhenian coast, forest environments dominate. The reasons of this diversity are linked with different rainfall. The tendency towards an increase in humidity together with a rise in the average temperature, is common to both the faunal assemblages of the stratigraphic sequences of Grotta delle Mura and Grotta della Serratura in the transition from the Preboreal to Boreal. On the Adriatic Sea side, this climatic change is recorded by a decline of the equids and an increase of Aurochs and forest species of ungulates, and by a decline of Microtus arvalis and an increase of Apodemus among small mammals. Whereas, on the Tyrrhenian Sea side, it is linked with the decline of Red deer and voles and the increase of Wild boar, Roe deer and Myoxidae. These changes - although valid in general - seem to present some fluctuations in strata 4 and 5 of Grotta della Serratura, where a limited increase in presence and distribution of Reed deer and Microtus savii is noticed.