AGE AND ENVIRONMENT OF LOESS SEDIMENTATION IN NORTHERN ITALY DURING THE EARLY UPPER PLEISTOCENE (STAGES 4 AND 3)

Recent research on loess deposits in Northern Italy and systematic TL and radiocarbon dating of the loess deposits, put in light an innovative scenario of glacial loess environment. Furthermore, loess are systematically associated to Mousterian sites, testifying adaptation to open environments in its paleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological implication ad the loess sedimentation was contemporary on both Alpine and Apennines fringes and it spanned from 60 to 26 ky. Phases of intense dust accumulation were contemporary to the coldest and driest phases of the Upper Pleistocene, and were interrupted by phases of absence of sedimentation, during which soil forming processes occurred; three interstadial isohumic soils were formed at this period. Early Upper Pleistocene loess, is systematically connected to Mousterian sites, some consisting of thick sequences insides caves; at the lower margin of loess sedimentation area, most of them are related to hunting camps widespread inside the loess covered area. A number of these sites are related to raw material procurement, located in marginal areas very close to the glacier front or at the upper limits of the loess sedimentation area, close to periglacial regions.