Neolithic coastal settlements and responses to environmental dynamics: A pioneering world lost beneath the Mediterranean Sea

Introduction

Coastal societies hold a vital place in Mediterranean history; many of their earliest trajectories, however, are archaeologically obscure due to a rise in sea levels since the last Ice Age.

Project Overview

BEFOREtheFLOOD is based on an observation that before it was inundated, the Mediterranean littoral was extremely dynamic (e.g., formation/retreat of marshes, increased soil salinity, rapidly rising sea levels), necessitating constant reactions by its inhabitants.

Research Objectives

This project aims to study how Neolithic coastal societies in the Eastern Mediterranean pioneered cultural responses to environmental changes, and how these enabled the development of Mediterranean complex societies.

Methodology

The earliest known Mediterranean coastal settlements and their paleo-landscapes, now situated offshore along the Carmel Coast, Israel, will be studied by:

1. Drilling sediment cores
2. Conducting underwater excavations
3. Performing microscopic and chemical analysis in the laboratory

This will integrate geoarchaeology, bioarchaeology, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

Novelty of the Project

The project's novelty lies in its approach, which will generate a high-resolution diachronic model of how hyper-localized environmental dynamics are directly related to archaeological evidence of adaptive solutions.

Hypotheses

The project will test how Neolithic coastal communities constantly readapted to dynamic environmental processes over time by:

• Modifying their environment
• Developing new technologies
• Fostering social interactions (i.e., negotiations with inland farmers)

These adaptations contributed to the establishment of a unique Mediterranean coastal society.

Significance

BEFOREtheFLOOD will elucidate an important and as-yet unread chapter of a world now lost beneath the sea; one that will help to rewrite the early story of the Eastern Mediterranean coast as the springboard for innovation, adaptation, and connectivity that set the scene for the development of later Mediterranean complex societies.