Y5 TEPHRA FROM THE CAMPANIAN IGNIMBRITE ERUPTION: A KEY CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHIC MARKER FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN AND EASTERN EUROPE

The ca. 39 to 41,000 yr BP eruption of the Campanian Ignimbrite from the Phlegrean Fields, Central Italy, left a widespread tephra marker (known as the Y5 ash) that has been recognised in marine sediment cores across the Eastern Mediterranean. Recent work in the north-eastern Aegean and in south-western Russia confirms that a considerable portion of the Y5 ash was dispersed towards the North and East during this eruption, with fine-grained tephra deposited more than 2500 km from the known source region. In the Don River region of south-west Russia, deposits that are correlated with Y5 on the basis of detailed chemical analysis are found both in well-characterised archaeological contexts (the Paleolithic sites of Kostenki-Borschevo), and in undisturbed geological contexts nearby. The extent of dispersal of ash during the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption confirms this event as the largest known volcanic eruption in Europe of the past 100,000 years.

The Y5 ash represents a key event in the linking of marine sediment and terrestrial archaeological records. We present the results of ongoing work on the chemical and physical characterisation of the volcanic ash, and our interpretations of the significance of the ash-layer for the long-range transport of ash in large volcanic eruptions, and the chronology of the Upper Paleolithic.