Geophysical and Geoarchaeological Investigations at Aganoa Beach,American Samoa: An Early Archaeological Site in Western Polynesia

Archaeological investigations at Aganoa, a coastal site in American Samoa, western Polynesia, revealed a marine resources exploitation base for the early inhabitants of the island. A series of 19 radiocarbon age determinations indicates the principal period of site utilization began no later than 570 B.C., and probably earlier, and lasted for about 300 years. This site is squarely in the phase identified by previous scholars as “ancestral Polynesian.” Geophysical survey in the form of long, shore‐perpendicular transects showed the accretionary history of this beach and ridge area. Surprisingly, it revealed that the earlier ridges were directly below the modern ridge (i.e., progradation of this geomorphic feature had not occurred). The survey revealed a buried paleosol with little or no disturbance, which yielded a well‐preserved assemblage of plain and decorated ceramics, stone artifacts, fishhooks, and archaeofauna. No evidence of archaeological continuity was seen between the end of the terminal Lapita occupation and the later reoccupation of the site after about A.D. 700. This study demonstrates the utility and feasibility of using ground‐penetrating radar for the discovery of deeply buried coastal sites.     

Palaeogeographic Changes at Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula,Ukraine, during the Mid‐ and Late‐Holocene

This project has reconstructed the palaeogeographic and environmental evolution of Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula, Ukraine, during the mid‐ and late‐Holocene. This record has been evaluated in association with a regional archaeological data set to explore human–environment interactions over this period. The results show major changes in the palaeogeographic setting of Lake Chokrak since the 3rd millennium B.C., when the postglacial marine transgression had started to fill the study area. Microfaunal analyses reveal the long persistence of an open marine embayment that only became separated from the Sea of Azov when a sand barrier developed during the late 2nd millennium B.C. When colonizing the Black Sea region after the 8th century B.C., the Greek settlers erected a fortification with a small settlement on a promontory that was by then a peninsula‐like headland extending into the lake. The colonists abandoned their settlement at the end of the 1st millennium B.C. when the depth of the surrounding lake decreased from 1.5 m to less than 1 m. Today, Lake Chokrak dries up completely during summer. A detailed relative sea level (RSL) curve for the northern coast of Kerch has been established. Sea level reached its highest position at the present day. Since the 3rd millennium B.C., sea level continuously rose, without any of the previously postulated regression/transgression cycles. The RSL curve indicates differential subsidence rates within short distances in relatively stable areas, exceeding 40 cm per 1000 years. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Human‐Mediated Prehistoric Marine Extinction in the Tropical Pacific? Understanding the Presence of Hippopus hippopus (Linn. 1758) in Ancient Shell Middens on the Rove Peninsula,Southwest Viti Levu Island,Fiji

At the Lapita‐era (1100‐550 B.C.) settlements (Bourewa and Qoqo) along the Rove Peninsula in Fiji, valves of the reef‐surface‐dwelling giant clam Hippopus hippopus (long extirpated in Fiji) occur in shell midden. Valve size/weight increase with depth, suggesting that human predation contributed to its local disappearance. The timing of this event is constrained by (a) the confinement of H. hippopus remains to the lower part of the midden, (b) their likely association with only the stilt‐platform occupation phase at both Bourewa and Qoqo (approximately 1100‐900 B.C.), and (c) radiocarbon ages. All these suggest that H. hippopus disappeared from reefs here about 750 B.C. Yet human predation is not considered to be a significant cause of extirpation of H. hippopus in the entire Fiji group. More plausible is that (climate‐driven) sea‐level fall (55 cm) during Lapita times in Fiji (approximately 1100‐550 B.C.) forced changes to coral‐reef ecology that saw this sensitive species extirpated throughout the Fiji archipelago. It is also considered possible that the Lapita colonizers introduced bivalve predators or diseases to Fiji that spread independently of humans throughout these islands.     

Bronze Age paleohydrography of the southern Venetian Plain

The Bronze Age paleohydrography of the distal Adige and Po alluvial plain (northeastern Italy) is notable for its relations with protohistoric human activities in this area. This paper regards the stratigraphy and petrography of the Saline–Cona alluvial ridge, upon which the Saline, Sarzano, and Cantarana Bronze Age sites lie, and the petrography of Fratta alluvial ridge, upon which the Frattesina complex (Bronze–Iron Age) lies. Sand analyses indicate the Po River as the source for sediments underlying the alluvial ridge that runs through Fratta Polesine, Rovigo, Sarzano, and Cona. Radiometric ages indicate that the branch of the Saline–Cona ridge was formed by the Po River between the second half of the 3rd millennium B.C. and the end of 2nd millennium B.C. This ridge represents the maximum northward expansion of the Po alluvial system, through the same area of coastal plain crossed by the Adige and Brenta paleochannels. This paleohydrographic setting implies that fluvial connections between the Central Po Plain settlements, the Venetian Plain and Alps were relatively less complex in the Early and Middle Bronze Age than in the Late Bronze Age, when the terminal reach of the Po River was separated by the Adige River by hundreds of km² of swampy terrain. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Coastal paleogeography and human land use at Tecolote Canyon,southern California,U.S.A.

A buried archaeological site at Tecolote Canyon provides an ideal case study for relating past human land use patterns to changes in coastal paleogeography. Postglacial sea level transgression, erosion, and other marine and fluvial processes form the context for examining two deeply buried archaeological components excavated at CA‐SBA‐72. Archaeological shellfish assemblages provide proxy data for evaluating the evolution of local marine environments. Pismo clams dominate shellfish assemblages dated to 5800 cal yr B.P., suggesting the presence of a broad and sandy, high‐energy beach environment. At 5500 cal yr B.P., the almost exclusive use of California mussels by humans signals the development of rocky intertidal habitats. During the late Holocene, estuarine species dominate the marine mollusk assemblages at CA‐SBA‐72, reflecting the development of local estuarine conditions or trade with nearby Goleta Slough villages. The buried components at Tecolote Canyon appear to have served as temporary camps for shellfish harvesting and processing. While general changes in coastal paleogeography and human subsistence have been reconstructed for the Santa Barbara Coast, high resolution ecological data from Tecolote Canyon suggest that Native peoples also adapted to localized and shorter‐term shifts in intertidal habitats, changes not evident in most larger or more disturbed surface sites in the region. Linking these changes with shifts in human land use patterns highlights the interaction between humans and a dynamic coastal system. These data demonstrate the importance of small, buried sites in understanding the full spectrum of human subsistence and settlement choices and local environmental change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Characterization of Iranian Obsidian Artifacts by PIXE and Multivariate Statistical Analysis

It had long been thought that obsidian found in Iranian sites originated from Anatolia and Armenia, but new research has challenged this assumption. In this study, 68 samples of obsidian obtained from an archaeological survey of Nader‐Tepe Aslanduz were analyzed by Proton Induced X‐ray Emission (PIXE). Nader‐Tepe Aslanduz is a tell site west of the city of Aslanduz in the Parsabad county of the Ardebil province in northern Iran. The site was inhabited from the first millennium B.C. to A.D. 17, and its history may extend back to the third or fourth millennium B.C. Our chemical composition results have been combined with obsidian composition data from Turkey and Armenia and subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA). This analysis shows that obsidian from each location can be grouped into distinctive classes—the obsidian from Nader‐Tepe Aslanduz is therefore probably derived from volcanic outcrops of the Sahand and Sabalan region. This study has been unable to assign a known source from Anatolia and Armenia for the obsidian of Nader‐Tepe Aslanduz.     

Mid-Holocene coastal hydrology and salinity changes in the east Taihu area of the lower Yangtze wetlands, China

During the mid-Holocene the eastern Taihu area, on China's Yangtze delta plain, was populated by advanced late Neolithic cultures supported by intensive domesticated rice cultivation. This agricultural system collapsed around 4200 cal yr BP, with severe population decline, the end of the Liangzhu culture, and about half a millennium of very low-scale human activity in the area before the re-establishment of agricultural production. Microfossil analyses from six sedimentary sequences, supported by AMS ¹⁴C dating, has allowed reconstruction of mid-Holocene hydrological conditions and salinity changes which would have had a major influence on agricultural viability and cultural history in the coastal wetlands. These data, allied to existing stratigraphic and sea-level records, show that chenier ridges that developed after ca. 7000 cal yr BP in the east of the area sheltered it from marine inundation and, although still connected to the sea through tidal creeks, low-salinity conditions persisted throughout the Neolithic period. There is no evidence that marine flooding caused the collapse of Liangzhu culture. Marine influence was stable and evolved slowly. Social and cultural causes may also have been important, but if environmental change triggered the collapse of Neolithic agricultural society here, other natural forces must be sought to explain this event.     

Early Farming in the Northern Boreal Zone: Reassessing the History of Land Use in Southeastern Finland through High‐Resolution Pollen Analysis

The early stages of agriculture in the Boreal forests of Northern Europe remain poorly understood. Although pottery appeared during the 6th millennium B.C., this has not been seen as an indication of a true Neolithic in the north. In later prehistory, vast parts of the region are thought to have remained a wilderness. In order to test these assumptions, a high‐resolution pollen analysis and an archaeological survey were carried out at Lake Huhdasjärvi, SE Finland. The results indicate signs of cultivation already by the early Neolithic, 5260–4260 B.C., and slash‐and‐burn cultivation concentrated on deciduous forests is recorded from ca. A.D. 600 onwards. By A.D. 930, an intensive form of swidden cultivation began in the coniferous forests, indicating a well‐established agricultural settlement. The discovery of Neolithic (late 6th millennium B.C.) buckwheat pollen suggests that the roots of agriculture in northernmost Europe may have to be searched for in China rather than the Near East.     

Depositional history of a muddy sabkha complex in the Sokoto Basin of Nigeria,West Africa

Sedimentological and stratigraphical analysis of the Sokoto Basin has resulted in recognition of four lithostratigraphic units. They are Unit A—siltstone and fine-grained sandstone; Unit B—shale and marl; Unit C—limestone and calcareous shale; and Unit D—red sandstone. Unit A represents a wadi plain system composed of desert-alluvial beds; Unit B, a mud-rich sabkha system; and Unit C, an inner-shelf carbonate system. A marine transgression from the northwest began in the Maastrichtian and reached its peak in the Palaeocene. After regression in the late Palaeocene, the area was subjected to erosion, followed by fluvial sedimentation of Unit D. Wadi plain beds and mud-rich sabkha facies of Sokoto Basin are similar to alluvial and coastal mud-flat deposits in the northwestern Gulf of California and ephemeral stream and tidal-flat sediments in Gladstone Embayment, Australia.     

Holocene transgression of the Rhine river mouth area,The Netherlands/Southern North Sea: palaeogeography and sequence stratigraphy

This study presents a detailed reconstruction of the palaeogeography of the Rhine valley (western Netherlands) during the Holocene transgression with systems tracts placed in a precise sea‐level context. This approach permits comparison of actual versus conceptual boundaries of the lowstand, transgressive and highstand systems tracts. The inland position of the highstand Rhine river mouth on a wide, low‐gradient continental shelf meant that base‐level changes were the dominant control on sedimentation for a relatively short period of the last glacial cycle. Systems in such inland positions predominantly record changes in the balance between river discharge and sediment load, and preserve excellent records of climatic changes or other catchment‐induced forcing. It is shown here that the transgressive systems tract‐part of the coastal prism formed in three stages: (i) the millennium before 8·45 ka bp , when the area was dominated by fluvial environments with extensive wetlands; (ii) the millennium after 8·45 ka, characterized by strong erosion, increasing tidal amplitudes and bay‐head delta development; and (iii) the period between 7·5 and 6·3 ka bp when the Rhine avulsed multiple times and the maximum flooding surface formed. The diachroneity of the transgressive surface is strongly suppressed because of a pulse of accelerated sea‐level rise at 8·45 ka bp . That event not only had a strong effect on preservation, but has circum‐oceanic stratigraphical relevance as it divides the early and middle Holocene parts of coastal successions worldwide. The palaeogeographical reconstruction offers a unique full spatial–temporal view on the coastal and fluvial dynamics of a major river mouth under brief rapid forced transgression. This reconstruction is of relevance for Holocene and ancient transgressive systems worldwide, and for next‐century natural coasts that are predicted to experience a 1 m sea‐level rise.     

Implications of the fluvial history of the Wacheqsa River for hydrologic engineering and water use at Chavín de Húntar,Peru

Channeling of water through a variety of architectural features represents a significant engineering investment at the first millennium B.C. ceremonial center of Chavín de Huántar in the Peruvian Central Andes. The site contains extensive evidence of the manipulation of water, apparently for diverse purposes. The present configuration of the two local rivers, however, keeps available water approximately 9m below the highest level of water‐bearing infrastructure in the site. Geomorphic and archaeological investigation of the fluvial history of the Wacheqsa River has revealed evidence that the Chavín‐era configuration of the Wacheqsa River was different. A substantially higher water level, likely the result of a local impoundment of river water caused by a landslide dam, made the provision of water for the hydrologic system within the site a more readily practical possibility. We review what is known of that system and argue that the fluvial history of the Wacheqsa River is critical to understanding this aspect of hydrologic engineering and ritual practice at Chavín. This study demonstrates the relative rapidity and archaeological relevance of landscape change in a dynamic environment. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Environmental catastrophe in the Pacific Islands around A.D. 1300

Paleosea‐level data for the Pacific Islands suggest that sea level in the region fell, possibly in two stages, between 680 and 475 cal yr B.P. (A.D. 1270–1475). This was associated with a ∼1.5°C fall in temperature (determined from oxygen‐isotope analysis) and an observed increase in El Niño frequency. For a long time, it has been clear that these changes—characterized as the “A.D. 1300 event”—brought about environmental and cultural changes on Pacific Islands. These are documented here systematically for the first time. Temperature fall, sea‐level fall, and possibly short‐lived precipitation increase are the principal effects of the A.D. 1300 event. Temperature fall stressed ecosystems, but its effects are difficult to separate from those of the others. Sea‐level fall saw dramatic falls of nearshore coral‐reef productivity and the formation of (habitable) reef islands (motu). Precipitation rise increased upland erosion and lowland sedimentation. The human outcomes of these environmental changes are organized in three groups: conflict, settlement‐pattern changes, and the end of long‐distance voyaging. Conflict increased during/after the A.D. 1300 event because of an abrupt fall in the food resource base. This also caused large coastal settlements on many islands to be abandoned in favor of caves and/or smaller fortified hilltop settlements. Successful long‐distance voyages ceased during/after the A.D. 1300 event, as did interisland exchange within many archipelagoes. The regional (rather than local) extent of the A.D. 1300 event is demonstrated. Questions remain as to its synchronicity and duration. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

渤海湾西侧泥质海岸带全新世岸线的变化与海洋的影响(英文)

以渤海湾泥质海岸带为例,从形态和地层证据2个方面总结了全新世岸线变化与海洋作用对该地区海岸带发育的影响。中全新世以来千年级别的岸线变迁至少以6次停顿(形成贝壳堤和泥质岭地)和岸进的交替为特征。过去130年间10年级别的岸线变化分为4个阶段,显示了"小冰期"结束后随气温上升而发生的岸线自然蚀退是如何逐渐被人类活动(特别是2000年以来的围海造陆)所取代的。全新世海相沉积中发现的9个峰值期和晚全新世的7次风暴驱动事件,表明了研究区泥质海岸带增强的海洋影响。这些结果提供了一条经由地质背景认识现代泥质海岸带过程的途径。     

渤海湾西侧泥质海岸带全新世岸线的变化与海洋的影响

以渤海湾泥质海岸带为例,从形态和地层证据2个方面总结了全新世岸线变化与海洋作用对该地区海岸带发育的影响。中全新世以来千年级别的岸线变迁至少以6次停顿（形成贝壳堤和泥质岭地）和岸进的交替为特征。过去130年间10年级别的岸线变化分为4个阶段,显示了＂小冰期＂结束后随气温上升而发生的岸线自然蚀退是如何逐渐被人类活动（特别是2000年以来的围海造陆）所取代的。全新世海相沉积中发现的9个峰值期和晚全新世的7次风暴驱动事件,表明了研究区泥质海岸带增强的海洋影响。这些结果提供了一条经由地质背景认识现代泥质海岸带过程的途径。     

Permian marine sedimentation in northern Chile: new paleontological evidence from the Juan de Morales Formation,and regional paleogeographic implications

Permian marine sedimentary rocks that crop out in northern Chile are closely related to the development of a Late Paleozoic magmatic arc. A study of Upper Paleozoic units east of Iquique (20°S) identified three members within the Juan de Morales Formation, each of which were deposited in a different sedimentary environment. A coarse-grained terrigenous basal member represents alluvial sedimentation from a local volcanic source. A mixed carbonate-terrigenous middle member represents coastal and proximal shallow marine sedimentation during a relative sea-level rise related with a global transgression. Preliminary foraminifer biostratigraphy of this middle member identified a late Early Permian (late Artinskian–Kungurian) highly impoverished nodosarid–geinitzinid assemblage lacking fusulines and algae, which is characteristic of temperate cold waters and/or disphotic zone. The upper fine-grained terrigenous member represents shallow marine siliciclastic sedimentation under storm influence. The Juan de Morales Formation consists of continental, coastal and shallow marine sediments deposited at the active western margin of Gondwana at mid to low latitudes. A revised late Early Permian age and similar paleogeography and sedimentary environments are also proposed for the Huentelauquén Formation and related units of northern and central Chile, Arizaro Formation of northwestern Argentina, and equivalent units of southernmost Peru.     

中全新世福建沿海地区海平面波动：基于NDQK5岩芯介形类化石记录

福建沿海地区第四系较为发育,是研究晚更新世以来相对海平面变化的理想区域。本文以福建宁德NDQK5岩芯中产出的高分辨率介形类化石为研究对象,结合加速器质谱法(accelerator mass spectrometry, AMS)14C和光释光测年技术建立岩芯年代框架,重建了中全新世期间福建沿海地区的相对海平面变化。结果显示,NDQK5岩芯中的介形类化石记录主要分布于4~17. 1 m段,对应年代约为8. 2~6. 9 ka BP。岩芯内共计识别出海相介形类23属26种,根据优势种以及特征种的相对丰度变化特征可将岩芯内的介形类动物群划分为3个组合：① 介形类组合A以Bicornucythere bisanensis和Sinocytheridea impressa为主,代表潮下带环境;② 介形类组合B以Sinocytheridea impressa和Neomonoceratina delicata为优势种,指示近岸内陆架的沉积环境;③ 介形类组合C以Sinocytheridea impressa和Loxoconcha ocellifera为主,代表潮间带的沉积环境。基于介形类组合的分布特征,本文推断福建沿海地区海平面约在8. 2~7. 4 ka BP期间持续上升,并在约7. 9~7. 4 ka BP区间达到最高;7. 4~7. 0 ka BP期间海平面下降,随后再次上升。因此,介形类化石记录指示福建沿海地区在全新世高海平面背景下依然存在相对海平面的次一级波动。同时,结合已有福建沿海地区海平面变化驱动机制的研究结果,本研究推断8. 2~7 ka BP期间福建沿海地区的海平面变化可能主要受控于冰盖融水;7 ka BP后该地区的海平面波动可能受控于“冰川- 水均衡调整”作用。     

On the date of construction of Lechaion,western harbor of ancient Corinth,Greece

Lechaion, the western harbor of ancient Corinth, was an artificial harbor excavated in a marshy area and connected to the open sea through a channel with revetment walls. It was probably the most important harbor of this type in antiquity, and one of the most important harbors in Greece for more than one millennium. Yet, the date of construction of this harbor is a matter of debate; 600 B.C., ca. 44 B.C., and A.D. 350 are the most probable dates. Geomorphological and biological investigations, in combination with AMS radiocarbon dating of exposed marine shells found in the walls of the channel leading to the inner basin of the harbor indicate that the channel was open to the sea before a seismic land uplift that probably occurred sometime in the fifth to third century B.C. These data indicate that the construction of the harbor began in ca. 600 B.C., the period of Corinthian expansion to the Ionian Sea and southern Italy. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Paleoenvironmental analysis of the Mawaki archaeological site,central Japan,in relation to the stratigraphic position of dolphin bones

In order to elucidate the paleoenvironment associated with the early Holocene Mawaki archaeological site on the Noto Peninsula of central Japan, a high‐resolution stratigraphic study was conducted of 17 boreholes drilled at the archaeological site. We selected three boreholes for which lithological and/or chronological data are reported. Initial magnetic susceptibility was utilized for correlation of clastic core samples with the assistance of 26 radiocarbon dates. Four lithological units (A, B, C, and D in ascending order) were identified and interpreted as a sequence in a cycle of marine transgression and regression. Dated coastal horizons were chosen to indicate former sea levels. A Holocene relative sea level curve was generated on the basis of the geological data, and a rapid rise from 8000cal. yr B.P. to 7000cal. yr B.P. and a succeeding minor sea level fall represent the basic eustatic trend around the Sea of Japan because hydroisostatic and tectonic effects are moderate in the study area. Abundant dolphin bones lay just above the top of the marine sequence (boundary between Units C and D), located in the seashore environment. Cultural artifacts are found in a subaerial deposit (Unit D) near the dolphin bone level that is assigned to a period of high, stable sea level after the post‐glacial eustatic highstand. Dolphin bones are associated with stone artifacts (arrowheads, knives, and scrapers) and ritual wood columns, indicating the presence of a longstanding fishery during the early Holocene on the Sea of Japan coast. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Late Quaternary history of the Kap Mackenzie area,northeast Greenland

Wagner, B., Bennike, O., Cremer, H. & Klug, M. 2010: Late Quaternary history of the Kap Mackenzie area, northeast Greenland. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 492–504. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00148.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The Kap Mackenzie area on the outer coast of northeast Greenland was glaciated during the last glacial stage, and pre‐Holocene shell material was brought to the area. Dating of marine shells indicates that deglaciation occurred in the earliest Holocene, before 10 800 cal. a BP. The marine limit is around 53 m a.s.l. In the wake of the deglaciation, a glaciomarine fauna characterized the area, but after c. one millennium a more species‐rich marine fauna took over. This fauna included Mytilus edulis and Mysella sovaliki, which do not live in the region at present; the latter is new to the Holocene fauna of northeast Greenland. The oldest M. edulis sample is dated to c. 9500 cal. a BP, which is the earliest date for the species from the region and indicates that the Holocene thermal maximum began earlier in the region than previously documented. This is supported by driftwood dated to c. 9650 cal. a BP, which is the earliest driftwood date so far from northeastern Greenland and implies that the coastal area was at least partly free of sea ice in summer. As indicated by former studies, the Storegga tsunami hit the Kap Mackenzie area at c. 8100 cal. a BP. Loon Lake, at 18 m a.s.l., was isolated from the sea at c. 6200 cal. a BP, which is distinctly later than expected from existing relative sea‐level curves for the region.     

Palaeoenvironmental control on sediment composition and provenance in the late Quaternary deltaic successions: a case study from the Po delta area (Northern Italy)

Accumulation of continental, deltaic and shallow‐marine sediments in the Po River coastal plain preserves a record of the Late Quaternary sea‐level changes and shoreline migrations. The palaeoenvironmental evolution of this area and the changes in composition and provenance of sediments have been investigated through integrated sedimentological, micropalaeontological (mainly foraminifers) and geochemical analyses of core S1, from the southern part of the Po River delta, within a chronological framework supported by radiocarbon dating and correlations with adjacent core sequences. Eleven lithofacies, grouped into five facies associations, and four palaeontological assemblages provide the basis to define the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of this succession consisting, from the base to the top, of: (i) continental sediments accumulated during the Late Pleistocene; (ii) back‐barrier sediments marking the onset of Holocene sea‐level rise; (iii) transgressive sands deposited during the rapid landward migration of a barrier‐lagoon system; (iv) shallow‐marine and prodelta sediments with faunal associations indicating a gradual approach to the Po River mouth; and (v) sub‐recent delta front sands that form a considerable portion of the present coastal plain. Bulk chemical composition of sediments shows remarkable relationships with palaeoenvironments and locally improves facies characterizations. For example, they reveal carbonate leaching that emphasizes the occurrence of palaeosols in continental deposits or record enrichments in loss on ignition, S and Br, diagnostic of organic‐rich layers in back‐shore sediments. Selected geochemical elements (e.g. Mg and Ni) are particularly effective for the recognition of sediment provenances from the three main source areas observed in the subsurface deposits of the Po River coastal plain (e.g. Apenninic rivers, North Adriatic rivers and Po River). An Apenninic provenance is observed in continental and back‐barrier sediments. A North Adriatic provenance characterizes the transgressive sands and the shallow‐marine deposits; a significant Po River provenance is recorded in sediments related to the onset of the prodelta environment, confirmed by foraminiferal assemblages indicating remarkable increase in fluvial influxes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.