Reply to comments by E. Galili et al. on ‘‘Holocene tsunami’s from Mount Etna and the fate of Israeli Neolithic communities’’

In the early Holocene a devastating tsunami flooded the coasts of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea [Pareschi et al., 2006b, 2006c, 2007, 2008]. This tsunami was triggered by a landslide from the eastern flanks of the Mt. Etna volcano (Sicily, Italy). There is unquestionable evidence of the inland-offshore tsunami-triggering landslide event: (1) the Valle del Bove, a scar tens of square kilometres wide on the volcano eastern slopes, (2) inland landslide deposits (the Milo and Chiancone units, the latter protruding from the previous coastline), and (3) offshore landslide deposits [Pareschi et al., 2006a]. However, it is difficult to assess the age of a landslide from its debris, because they are reworked material. The inland Chiancone landslide deposit is covered by debris and hyperconcentrated flow deposits emplaced after the main volcano collapse; a sample from one of these layers dates back to 7.59 ± .13 cal. kyr B.P. A reworked soil material at the base of the Milo Unit is dated to 8.15– 8.38 cal. kyr B.P., whereas the youngest upper lithofacies of this unit are dated to 5.3 cal. kyr B.P. [Calvari and Groppelli, 1996; Calvari et al., 1998]. Overall, the ages of the sporadic deeper inland landslide deposits on Mt. Etna seem compatible with the abandonment of Atlit-Yam, occurred around 8.3 cal. kyr. B.P [Galili et al., 2005], as supported by the drastic decrease of later-dated findings. Indeed, the few younger (plant) finds of the Israeli Neolithic village [Galili et al., 2008] could be due to ‘‘bioturbation’’, and in any case their age matches 8.3 cal. kyr. B.P. within a 2s 14C dating error.