How prehistoric coastal flooding shaped the Northern Adriatic
Researchers have shown how dramatic sea-level rise over a 5,000-year period profoundly changed the coasts of northern Italy, Slovenia and northern Croatia. Successive shaping and reshaping of coastal features influenced the lives of Mesolithic and Neolithic people and the development of local communities. Land that hunter-gatherers once roamed and farmers later tended now lies deep beneath the…
Over a period of 5,000 years between 9,000 and 4,000 BC, the coasts of northern Italy, Slovenia, and northern Croatia experienced dramatic sea-level rise, reshaping the landscape and submerging plains that once supported hunter-gatherers and farmers. The study led by the University of Southampton and National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) in Italy reveals how successive rises in sea level, sometimes reaching up to 25 millimeters per year, transformed the region's environment, creating wetlands, lagoons, and reshaping coastal features.
Towns like Venice, Grado, and Trieste were once dry land that later became submerged. The research, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, highlights the importance of submerged landscapes in understanding prehistory and the lives of ancient communities. By analyzing sediment cores and geophysical data, the team reconstructed the backward shifting of coastal barriers and back-barrier systems, revealing the changing environments that shaped human activities and the eventual advent of farming in the region.
The findings emphasize the need to consider marine heritage in archaeological research, as much of the significant coastal environments now lie beneath the sea.
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