Climate changes and human settlements since the Bronze age period in central Italy.

In the Mediterranean basin, crowd of many different civiliza- tions, the environment was continuatively exploited during the Ho- locene. The onset of the Bronze age in Italy, archaeologically dated at ca. 4300-4200 years ago, is among the most problematic examples of a fairly synchronous cultural change probably driven by a climatic change. Terrestrial and marine cores, and archaeological layers pre- serve biological archives mirroring palaeoenvironmental changes. Obviously the human land transformation and managing are more evident in archaeological sites. When compared with off-site records, ␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣ the wet early Holocene phase, Mediterranean regions became pro- gressively more arid, especially after the end of the 7th millennium BP. Cultural adaptations to mid-Holocene environmental changes are fairly evident in many pollen records since 5000-4000 years ago. Lago di Mezzano is an extraordinary example, as it represents an off-site / on-site mixed case. In many central Italian lakes, a mid-Holocene for- est opening was evident, possibly also occurring several times in the range of few centuries. A climate shift towards aridity is visible in pol- len diagrams around 4000 cal. yr. BP. Water shortage probably obliged Bronze age populations to settle along the lake shores in pile dwell- ings. Then, human landscapes expanded since around 3600 cal. yr BP, with cereals and legumes cultivation, olive diffusion, forest clearance, ␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣␣