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.
