Geoarchaeology

Geoarchaeological research is carried out in collaboration with the Department of Earth Sciences "A. Desio" of the University of Milan and concentrates on the reconstruction of climate changes and on the definition of climatic forcing factors. The palaeoenvironmental research group has been active since 1990. The principal aim is to find suitable sources of proxies, and current research concentrates on the study of anthropogenic deposits in caves and rock shelters, lake deposits, travertines, and dendrochronology.

Geomorphological map of the wadi Takarkori area

(Tadrart Acacus)

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Cremaschi, M., and A. Zerboni. 2009. Early to Middle Holocene landscape exploitation in a drying environment: two case studies compared from the central Sahara (SW Fezzan, Libya). C. R. Geosci 341:689-702.

Cremaschi, M., and A. Zerboni. 2011. "Human communities in a drying landscape. Holocene climate change and cultural response in the central Sahara.," in Landscape and Societies. Edited by I. P. Martini and W. Chesworth, pp. 67-89. Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York: Springer Science.

Cremaschi, M., A. Zerboni, C. Spötl, and F. Felletti. 2010. The calcareous tufa in the Tadrart Acacus Mt. (SW Fezzan, Libya). An early Holocene palaeoclimate archive in the central Sahara. Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 287:81-94.

Perego, A., A. Zerboni, and M. Cremaschi. 2011. The geomorphological map of the Messak Settafet and Mellet (Central Sahara, SW Libya). Journal of Maps v2011: 464-475. .

Zerboni, A. 2008. Holocene rock varnish on the Messak plateau (Libyan Sahara): chronology of weathering processes. Geomorphology 102:640-651.

Zerboni, A. 2011. An early Holocene transitory arid phase in the central Sahara at the time of the 8.2 Ky BP climate anomaly. Il Quaternario 24:225-227.

Zerboni, A., L. Trombino, and M. Cremaschi. 2011. Micromorphological approach to polycyclic pedogenesis on the Messak Settafet plateau (central Sahara): Formative processes and palaeoenvironmental significance. Geomorphology 125:319-335.