The Postglacial record of environmental history from Lago di Pergusa, Sicily

Lacustrine sediments from Lago di Pergusa in central Sicily provide a Postglacial record of environmental chan-e in the Mediterranean. Magnetic susceptibility measurements, lithofacies characterization and pollen analysis were carried out and integrated to obtain a better reconstruction of the past 11000 years. The chronology is provided by AMS radiocarbon dates on macrofossils or bulk sediment, and by a tephra correlative with a late-Holocene explosion from the Etna volcano. The. transition period related to the present interglacial reafforestation, characterized by increasing humidity, started about 10700 years BE The onset of the wettest conditions of the Postglacial occurred at about 9000 years BP and lasted until about 7200 years BP. Then a trend towards aridification began, leading to very dry conditions at about 3000 years BP. An unquestionable human impact on vegetation is found from 2800 years BP, although earlier land use cannot be excluded. As the climate had already induced change in the vegetation, the well-known human occupancy during the last three millennia did not produce strong effects on the environment.