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Coastal and ancient harbour geoarchaeology
Author(s) -
Marriner N.,
Morhange C.,
Goiran J.P.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.188
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1365-2451
pISSN - 0266-6979
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2451.2010.00740.x
Subject(s) - geoarchaeology , harbour , natural (archaeology) , holocene , geology , mediterranean climate , multidisciplinary approach , mediterranean sea , archaeology , oceanography , earth science , paleontology , geography , social science , sociology , computer science , programming language
What roles have human impacts and natural processes had in shaping the evolution of Mediterranean coastlines during the Holocene? Where, when and how did societies transform the coastal zone? At what scales and rhythms did these changes take place? What can ancient harbour sediments tell us about human‐environment interactions? During the past 20 years, geoarchaeological research in the Mediterranean has attempted to understand the interplay between culture and nature, and more particularly how environments and processes have played a role in Holocene human occupation of the coastal zone. This approach has drawn on the multidisciplinary study of sediments, as archives of information, to attempt to differentiate between anthropogenic and natural factors, the latter, we argue, having played an increasingly secondary role with time. Three important spatial scales of analysis have emerged, local, regional and Mediterranean, all of which are outlined here.