Depositional history and paleogeographic reconstruction on Sele coastal plain during Magna Grecia Settlement of Hera Argiva (Southern Italy)

The Sele river coastal plain, located in Campania (southern Italy), is a broad subsiding area associated with rifting of the Tyrrhenian Sea. During the early Holocene, the fast sea-level rise led to a transgressive coastal system with landward shift of beach and marsh-lagoon deposits. During the late Holocene, the decrease of sea-level rise rate resulted in the coastal system progradation and lagoon infilling. Settlement of the sanctuary of Hera Argiva by Greeks, in the Sele coastal plain, occurred in 6th century B.C. Reconstruction of environments at that time allows to locate the coastline 250 m landward with respect to the present. A coastal system comprising a beach and sand dune ridge was present, and extensive bogs and ponds were formed behind the dunes. The sanctuary founded on the levee of the Sele river at the edge of the marshes was surrounded by a natural garden with luxuriant vegetation. The presence of Myrtus plants perhaps introduced by man in the Hera Argiva garden is inferred.