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Ecosystem Impact of the Campanian Ignimbrite Eruption in Late Pleistocene Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Francesco G. Fedele
Affiliation:
Sezione e Museo di Antropologia, Università di Napoli Federico il, via Mezzocannone 8, Naples, 80134, Italy
Biagio Giaccio
Affiliation:
Istituto di Ricerca sulla Tettonica Recente, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy
Roberto Isaia
Affiliation:
Osservatorio Vesuviano, via Diocleziano 328, 80124, Naples, Italy
Giovanni Orsi
Affiliation:
Osservatorio Vesuviano, via Diocleziano 328, 80124, Naples, Italy

Abstract

The dating of the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption to ∼37,000 cal yr B.P. draws attention to the coincidence of this volcanic catastrophe and the suite of coeval, Late Pleistocene biocultural changes that occurred within and outside the Mediterranean region. These included the Middle to Upper Paleolithic cultural transition and the supposed change from Neanderthal to “modern” Homo sapiens anatomy, a subject of sustained debate. No less than 150 km3 of magma were extruded in the CI eruption, the signal of which can be detected in Greenland ice cores. As widespread discontinuities in archaeological sequences are observed at or following the CI event, a significant interference with ongoing human processes in Mediterranean Europe is hypothesized.

Type
Short Paper
Copyright
University of Washington

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