Resumen de Geological context of lithic industries in delia-fiumegrande valley, santa ninfa (tp): hypothetic early human population in sicily?
The early human peopling in Sicily is one of the most debated topics in archaeology and anthropology (Sineo et al., 2015) since the discovery of lithic industries attributed to the Lower-Middle Palaeolithic in Sicily reported from the western (Trapanese and southern coast areas) to the eastern (Simeto Valley) part of the Sicily. In the Fiume-Grande/Delia Valley (Western Southern Siciliy, Trapani Distrcit, Italy) this early peopling is known since the 1980s. Although if, to date, the lithic industries found in this region come from surface sampling, typical Middle Palaeolithic knapping methods has been identified (especially Levallois, but also discoid and SSDA).
The principal objective of this thesis is to fill the geological gap concerning the relationship between the lithic artefact found in this region and the territory; through the application of a multidisciplinary study (field activities, sedimentology, petrography and paleontology). The research was carried out using different geological approaches: mapping geology, sedimentary analysis and petrographic analysis. Geological surveys were undertaken in order to identify lithologies, their stratigraphic relationships, and to characterize the geomorphology of the area. Sedimentological graphic log and facies analysis (Miall facies scheme) were used to describe fluvial morphological facies. GIS software (QGIS) were used to analysis the spatial elevation of the hillslopes along the river catchment and to distinguish the morphologic discontinuity of the fluvial terrace. The sedimentological analysis was carried out following a standard method for the field sampling. 414 pebbles from seven sampling sites were collected and analysed: morphometric indexes (flatness, sphericity, roundness, oblate-prolate), analysis of the shape of the sedimentary particles with Sneed and Folk ternary diagrams in order to distinguish fluvial or marine paleoenvironment. The petrographic study was aimed to recognize the petrographic characteristics of collected samples in order to understand the relationship between deposit, environment and its formation. Finally, the palaeontological analysis of P. mnaidriensis FC assemblage was carried out to understand the age of the deposit and the possible terraces. Extensive field mapping (1:10000 scale), detailed sedimentological and petrographical analyses of outcropping sections processing have shown that a complex stratigraphic organisation characterised the studied successions.
Results have allowed to recognise stratigraphic units controlled by tectonic, climatic, and environmental processes. The comparison, between the orders of fluvial terrace and global eustatic variations, shows an association of three high levels of sea events with formation of fluvial terraces. Finally, this research covered different research fields, allowing to collect useful information for the contextualisation of the lithic industries found in the Grande\Delia river valley from a geological point of view. The sedimentological, petrographic, palaeontological and survey analysis on the territory highlight the possibility of a favourable environment for human presence in the valley during the Late-Middle Pleistocene, with a rapid transition from marine to the continental environment and formation of fluvial terraces.
