Late Quaternary sea-level change and early human societies in the central and eastern Mediterranean Basin : an interdisciplinary review

This article reviews key data and debates focused on relative sea-level changes since the Last Interglacial (approximately the last 132,000 years) in the Mediterranean Basin, and their implications for past human populations. Geological and geomorphological landscape studies are critical to archaeology. Coastal regions provide a wide range of resources to the populations that inhabit them. Coastal landscapes are increasingly the focus of scholarly discussions from the earliest exploitation of littoral resources and early hominin cognition, to the inundation of the earliest permanently settled fishing villages and eventually, formative centres of urbanisation. In the Mediterranean, these would become hubs of maritime transportation that gave rise to the roots of modern seaborne trade. As such, this article represents an original review of both the geo-scientific and archaeological data that specifically relate to sea-level changes and resulting impacts on both physical and cultural landscapes from the Palaeolithic until the emergence of the Classical periods. Our review highlights that the interdisciplinary links between coastal archaeology, geomorphology and sea-level changes are important to explain environmental impacts on coastal human societies and human migration. We review geological indicators of sea level and outline how archaeological features are commonly used as proxies for measuring past sea levels, both gradual changes and catastrophic events. We argue that coastal archaeologists should, as a part of their analyses, incorporate important sea-level concepts, such as indicative meaning. The interpretation of the indicative meaning of Roman fishtanks, for example, plays a critical role in reconstructions of late Holocene Mediterranean sea levels. We identify avenues for future work, which include the consideration of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) in addition to coastal tectonics to explain vertical movements of coastlines, more research on Palaeolithic island colonisation, broadening of Palaeolithic studies to include materials from the entire 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 geomorphology. This article presents a collaborative synthesis of data, some of which have been collected and analysed by the authors, as the MEDFLOOD (MEDiterranean sea-level change and projection for future FLOODing) community, and highlights key sites, data, concepts and ongoing debates

New insights into the uplifted Roman harbour at Mavra Litharia (N Peloponnese, Greece) in the geodynamic context of the southern margin of the Corinth Gulf

International audienceRecent archaeological excavations at Mavra Litharia in the area of Aigeira (N Peloponnese) have brought to lightthe eastern landward extension of a jetty. The erosion of the cliff along the modern coast and the excavations atthe inner side of the northern coastal section of the jetty provided a clearer picture of its structure, significantlydifferent than this presented in previous studies.The harbour installations are assigned to between the 2nd century and the first half of the 3rd century AD,according to the study of the structure, the mobile findings and the epigraphic data. Biomarkers attached to thestructure define the sea level during its operation and demonstrate the current uplift position. The observeddamage that has sustained the structure of the ancient jetty suggests that its destruction was co-seismic andreveals the direction of seismic waves from the west. Reconstruction of the displaced blocks of the jetty in theiroriginal position, archaeological interpretation and dating of the structure, biomarker information, and glacioisostaticmodelling, determine the sea level since the function of the harbour and the uplift of the ancient jetty as5.35 ± 0.37 m.The age of the biological indicators 1686 cal ΒP (264 AD) is consistent with archaeological dating and theperiod of the sudden abandonment of the under-reconstruction nearby theatre of ancient Aigeira (mid-3rdcentury AD). The uplift of the Roman harbour occurred at least in two phases, initially by 4.35m around 1686BP and subsequently by 1.0m around 657 BP.The mean tectonic uplift rate of 2.81 ± 0.20 mm/yr for the coast in Mavra Litharia, similar to these for theentire western part of the south shore of the Corinth Gulf, is higher than the mean uplift rate of1.21 ± 0.28 mm/yr in the easternmost edge. The westernmost edge at the Rio-Antirio strait presents very highsubsidence rate of 5.17 ± 0.47 mm/yr

Palaeoenvironmental evolution of the ancient harbor of Lechaion (Corinth Gulf, Greece): Were changes driven by human impacts and gradual coastal processes or catastrophic tsunamis?

International audienceThe Corinth Gulf, Central Greece, is one of the most rapidly widening tectonic rifts on Earth, where large earthquakes with magnitudes of up 7.0 have been documented not only by instrumental records but also assessed from historical reports extending back to the 5th century BCE. Several of these earthquakes were associated with tsunamis, particularly in the western part of the Gulf. Of particular interest is the ancient harbor of Lechaion in the eastern side of Corinth Gulf. We reexamine the hypothesis that Lechaion was hit by high-energy tsunami waves in the 8th-6th century BCE, 1st-2nd century CE, and during the 6th century CE. On the basis of sedimentological, seismotectonic, archaeological and historical data, completed with field observations, we support that there is no evidence for tsunami impact in Lechaion. Local stratigraphy and environmental changes are rather interpreted by human impacts and gradual coastal processes. Such interpretations confirm that the tsunami potential in the east Corinth Gulf is relatively low