Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

Maritime and coastal archaeology examines the material traces of human life at the edge of the sea — shipwrecks, submerged harbours, and drowned landscapes that have slipped below the waterline as sea levels shifted over thousands of years. In the Mediterranean, where ancient civilizations depended on maritime trade and coastal settlement, these submerged remains offer unusually direct evidence of how people built ports, navigated routes, and adapted to an environment that was itself constantly changing. Geoarchaeological methods have become central to the work, helping researchers reconstruct former shorelines and distinguish natural coastal evolution from human modification. Open questions include how dramatically Holocene sea-level fluctuations disrupted ancient communities, and how much cultural heritage remains unrecorded on the seafloor before erosion, development, or trawling destroys it.

Works

221,965

Total citations

385,865

Keywords

MediterraneanMaritime ArchaeologySea-Level ChangeAncient HarboursUnderwater Cultural HeritageGeoarchaeology