Late-Holocene Human Resilience in a Fluvial Environment: A Geoarchaeological Dataset for the Central Po Plain (N Italy)

Abstract

This paper presents a dataset collected and constructed as part of a PhD research project in Environmental Sciences. Applying a multidisciplinary approach that combines archaeological and geomorphological data, this project aimed to reconstruct the Late Holocene landscape evolution in the Central Po Plain (Italy). The dataset was collected digitising the information retrieved from various sources such as scientific literature, regional databases and terrain surveys. In particular, the geoarchaeological data consist of a record of 761 archaeological sites and a soil map reporting the different sediment types of the area. Natural and anthropogenic landscape features developed by human-environmental interplay are organised in paleochannels, watercourses and channelisation. This dataset represents one of the first open-access data collection available in Italy and can be reused by any researchers working in fluvial landscape studies.