Human settlements in the Mediterranean and the sea level changes from 12 ka to the present

Understanding past sea-level change plays an important role in determining the underlying causes, and also allows the extrapolation of past sea levels to locations and epochs for which there are no instrumental data. A compilation of global sea-level estimates based on deep-sea oxygen isotope ratios at millennial-scale resolution or higher was published since '70. These global sea level curves do not take in account isostasy and tectonics. Observed sea level change can be reconstructed from dated fossils, coral reef terraces, speleothems, emerged and forming terraces on coastal areas, archaeological and other markers well connected with sea level. Because of the lack of coral reefs in the Mediterranean sea, results on late Quaternary sea level changes have been difficult to obtain in comparison with typical sites such as Barbados, the Huon Peninsula, Tahiti, Florida and others. On the contrary the very low tidal range of Mediterranean seas offers a good opportunity to produce precise observations and considerations on climatic change.