Articles by Lorenzo Braga

This paper presents the first integrated palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Malafede Pool, a temporary freshwater wetland located within the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano (Rome, central Italy), based on the interdisciplinary analysis of sedimentary, geomorphological, chronological and palynological data from sediment core CPZ2. Temporary pools represent highly sensitive environmental archives, where hydrological variability, sedimentary processes and vegetation dynamics interact at local and landscape scales, yet their long-term evolution remains poorly documented in Mediterranean coastal contexts. The stratigraphic sequence records the transition from high-energy Pleistocene alluvial deposits to fine-grained Holocene sediments deposited under persistently hydromorphic conditions. Five AMS radiocarbon dates, three of which were retained, constrain the analysed portion of the core between ca. 5004 BC and 1554 AD, indicating substantial depositional continuity throughout the Middle and Late Holocene. The age-depth model further reveals variable sedimentation rates along the profile, with slower accumulation in certain intervals, reflecting fluctuations in local depositional dynamics. Palynological analyses, including pollen and fern spores, reveal high floristic richness and variable pollen concentrations across four pollen zones, reflecting changing environments and hydrological regimes. Overall, the results highlight the value of temporary pools as coherent and sensitive palaeoenvironmental archives and provide a robust framework for future comparisons with archaeological evidence and additional cores from the Castelporziano estate, contributing to a more integrated understanding of long-term landscape transformations in the Roman coastal plain.