This article reviews key data and debates focused on relative sea-level changes since the Last Interglacial\ud (approximately the last 132,000 years) in the Mediterranean Basin, and their implications for past human\ud populations. Geological and geomorphological landscape studies are critical to archaeology. Coastal regions\ud provide a wide range of resources to the populations that inhabit them. Coastal landscapes are\ud increasingly the focus of scholarly discussions from the earliest exploitation of littoral resources and early\ud hominin cognition, to the inundation of the earliest permanently settled fishing villages and eventually,\ud formative centres of urbanisation. In the Mediterranean, these would become hubs of maritime transportation\ud that gave rise to the roots of modern seaborne trade. As such, this article represents an original\ud review of both the geo-scientific and archaeological data that specifically relate to sea-level changes and\ud resulting impacts on both physical and cultural landscapes from the Palaeolithic until the emergence of\ud the Classical periods. Our review highlights that the interdisciplinary links between coastal archaeology,\ud geomorphology and sea-level changes are important to explain environmental impacts on coastal human\ud societies and human migration. We review geological indicators of sea level and outline how archaeological\ud features are commonly used as proxies for measuring past sea levels, both gradual changes and\ud catastrophic events. We argue that coastal archaeologists should, as a part of their analyses, incorporate\ud important sea-level concepts, such as indicative meaning. The interpretation of the indicative meaning of\ud Roman fishtanks, for example, plays a critical role in reconstructions of late Holocene Mediterranean sea\ud levels. We identify avenues for future work, which include the consideration of glacial isostatic adjustment\ud (GIA) in addition to coastal tectonics to explain vertical movements of coastlines, more research on\ud Palaeolithic island colonisation, broadening of Palaeolithic studies to include materials from the entire\ud coastal landscape and not just coastal resources, a focus on rescue of archaeological sites under threat by coastal change, and expansion of underwater archaeological explorations in combination with submarine\ud geomorphology. This article presents a collaborative synthesis of data, some of which have been\ud collected and analysed by the authors, as the MEDFLOOD (MEDiterranean sea-level change and projection\ud for future FLOODing) community, and highlights key sites, data, concepts and ongoing debates

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The potential for Middle Palaeolithic sites to survive beneath the sea in northern latitudes has been established by intensive investigation within Area 240, a marine aggregate licence area situated in the North Sea, 11 km off the coast of Norfolk, England. The fortuitous discovery of bifacial handaxes, and Levallois flakes and cores, led to a major programme of fieldwork and analysis between 2008 and 2013. The artefacts were primarily recovered from Marine Isotope Stage 8/7 floodplain sediments deposited between 250 and 200 ka. It is considered that the hand axes and Levallois products are contemporaneous in geological terms with taphonomically complex sedimentary contexts, as observed in several north‐west European sites. The Early Middle Palaeolithic (EMP) lithics have survived multiple phases of glaciation and marine transgression. The investigations confirm that the artefacts are not a ‘chance’ find, but indicate clear relationships to submerged and buried landscapes that, although complex, can be examined in detail using a variety of existing fieldwork and analytical methods. The palaeogeographical context of the finds also offers expanded interpretations of the distribution of EMP hominins in the southern North Sea, not predictable from onshore archaeological records.

This article reports Australia's first confirmed ancient underwater archaeological sites from the continental shelf, located off the Murujuga coastline in northwestern Australia. Details on two underwater sites are reported: Cape Bruguieres, comprising > 260 recorded lithic artefacts at depths down to −2.4 m below sea level, and Flying Foam Passage where the find spot is associated with a submerged freshwater spring at −14 m. The sites were discovered through a purposeful research strategy designed to identify underwater targets, using an iterative process incorporating a variety of aerial and underwater remote sensing techniques and diver investigation within a predictive framework to map the submerged landscape within a depth range of 0-20 m. The condition and context of the lithic artefacts are analysed in order to unravel their depositional and taphonomic history and to corroborate their in situ position on a pre-inundation land surface, taking account of known geomorphological and climatic processes including cyclone activity that could have caused displacement and transportation from adjacent coasts. Geomorphological data and radiometric dates establish the chronological limits of the sites and demonstrate that they cannot be later than 7000 cal BP and 8500 cal BP respectively, based on the dates when they were finally submerged by sea-level rise. Comparison of underwater and onshore lithic assemblages shows differences that are consistent with this chronological interpretation. This article sets a foundation for the research strategies and technologies needed to identify archaeological targets at greater depth on the Australian continental shelf and elsewhere, building on the results presented. Emphasis is also placed on the need for legislation to better protect and manage underwater cultural heritage on the 2 million square kilometres of