Assessing multi-temporal coastal evolution across contrasting morpho-dynamic settings remains a central challenge in reconstructing how coastal landscapes have responded to environmental change over the long term, shaping in turn the patterns of human occupation they supported. Relative sea-level history, sediment supply, and shoreline dynamics have varied considerably from one coastal context to another, and disentangling these trajectories provides the long-term perspective needed to interpret both the coastal changes observed today and those anticipated as sea level continues to rise.
The study of past coastal environments requires the integration of different types of evidence, including sedimentary archives, geomorphological features, palaeoecological proxies, archaeological remains, historical sources, and instrumental data. These records provide complementary information on the evolution of coastal systems and allow us to investigate environmental changes over a wide range of temporal scales, from millennial and centennial timescales to more recent and historical periods. Combined, these records also document how coastal landscapes have influenced human occupation, particularly for earlier periods, and how populations have in turn modified these landscapes through their activities.
This session aims to bring together work on the palaeoenvironmental evolution and human occupation of coastal areas, at whatever temporal or spatial scale, from a single stratigraphic sequence to an entire coastal system. We welcome contributions that cross disciplinary lines, drawing on geoarchaeology, geomorphology, Quaternary science, palaeoecology, and archaeology.
The main topics include:
- Reconstruction of past coastal environments and landscapes from sedimentary and geomorphological records;
- Human occupation and transformation of coastal environments through time;
- Geoarchaeological approaches to coastal landscape evolution;
- Interactions between relative sea-level change, coastal dynamics, and human societies;
- Evolution of deltas, estuaries, lagoons, wetlands, and other coastal environments;
- Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of ancient harbours and coastal settlements;
- Coastal responses to climatic variability and extreme events at different timescales;
- Multi-proxy and interdisciplinary approaches to reconstructing past coastal environments;
- New methodological approaches for investigating long-term human–environment interactions in coastal areas.