DETECTOR - Dating rEcent climaTE Changes To fOrecast the futuRe
ID Call: HORIZON-MSCA-2024-SE-01 MSCA Staff Exchanges

Sapienza's role in the project: Beneficiary

Scientific supervisor for Sapienza: Luigi Dallai
Department: Earth sciences

Project start date: September 10, 2025

Project end date: September 9, 2029

Abstract:

Climate change and human history are closely linked. Paleoclimate studies are essential for improving climate models, particularly for the 60–12 ka period, characterized by glacial conditions and rapid millennial-scale climatic fluctuations. Investigating these oscillations is crucial for assessing modern global warming and its impact on extreme weather events and sea level rise. Conversely, the millennial-scale climate shifts after 12 ka drove mass migrations and economic transformations, leaving significant archaeological evidence. Paleoclimate studies and archaeology share methodologies like stratigraphic event definition and absolute dating, which are based mainly on 14C (up to 50 ka for organic materials) and luminescence techniques (up to 1 My for quartz and k-feldspar-rich samples). This study focuses on niche environments like islands and desert regions. The former preserve strong evidence of climate change and human activity, particularly in the Mediterranean, while the latter are considered modern analogues of past glacial arid conditions. Key sites include Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus, Balearic, Canaries islands and deserts in California, Texas and Argentina. DETECTOR builds on the IN-TIME project (IN-SITU INSTRUMENT FOR MARS AND EARTH DATING APPLICATIONS, G.A. 823934), which developed and validated a portable luminescence dating prototype (compared to lab analyses) through Alma Sistemi S.r.l. and the Luminescence Laboratory of the University of Sassari, Italy. Proposed studies will include field campaigns using updated portable instruments for in situ absolute dating. Measurements will be cross-verified with laboratory analyses to assess the instrument’s functionality, operational reliability, and performance, paving the way for a novel scientific instrumentation product. DETECTOR unite the expertise of partners from Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Greece, USA & Argentina.