Chapter 1. Prehistoric Archaeology of the European Continental Shelf: Introduction and Overview (Geoff Bailey, Nena Galanidou, Hans Peeters, Hauke Jöns and Moritz Mennenga) -- Part I: The Baltic and Scandinavia -- Chapter 2. The Baltic and Scandinavia: Introduction (Geoff Bailey and Hauke Jöns) -- Chapter 3. Denmark: Mesolithic Coastal Landscapes Submerged (Geoff Bailey, Søren Andersen and Thijs Maarleveld) -- Chapter 4. Sweden: Submerged Landscapes of the Early Mesolithic (Björn Nilsson, Anton Hansson and Arne Sjöström) -- Chapter 5. Germany: Submerged Sites in the South-Western Baltic and the Wadden Sea (Hauke Jöns, Friedrich Lüth, Svea Mahlstedt, Julia Goldhammer, Sönke Hartz and Hans-Joachim Kühn) -- Chapter 6. Norway: Submerged Stone Age from a Norwegian Perspective (Håkon Glørstad, Jostein Gundersen, Frode Kvalø, Pål Nymoen, David Simpson and Birgitte Skar) -- Part II: The Atlantic Margin and the North Sea -- Chapter 7. The Atlantic Margin and the North Sea: Introduction (Hans Peeters, Fraser Sturt and Kieran Westley) -- Chapter 8. The Netherlands: Probing into the Submerged Prehistoric Archaeology, Landscapes and Palaeontology of the Dutch Continental Shelf (Hans Peeters and Luc Amkreutz) -- Chapter 9. Belgium: Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology in the Intertidal and Subtidal Zones of the North Sea (Marnix Pieters, Tine Missiaen, Maikel De Clercq, Ine Demerre and Sven Van Haelst) -- Chapter 10. Great Britain: The Intertidal and Underwater Archaeology of Britain’s Submerged Landscapes (Geoff Bailey, Garry Momber, Martin Bell, Louise Tizzard, Karen Hardy, Lauren Tidbury, Jonathan Benjamin, Andrew Bicket and Alex Hale) -- Chapter 11. Ireland: Submerged Prehistoric Sites and Landscapes (Kieran Westley and Peter Woodman) -- Chapter 12. France: Submerged Prehistory on Atlantic and Mediterranean Coasts (Cyrille Billard, Marie-Yvane Daire and Chloé Martin, with contributions by Yves Billaud, Catherine Bizien-Jaglin, Antoine Chancerel, Dominique Cliquet, Nathalie Fourment, Henri Gandois, Briagell Huet, Marine Laforge, Loïc Langouët, Luc Laporte, Jean-Marc Large, Frédéric Leroy, Elias López-Romero, Léopold Maurel, Jean-Laurent Monnier, Pierre Régaldo, Anne Ropars, Pierre Stéphan and Luc Vallin) -- Chapter 13. Spain: Underwater Exploration on a Narrow Continental Shelf (Pablo Arias) -- Chapter 14. Portugal: Intertidal Archaeology and Submerged Coastal Landscapes (Nuno Bicho, Leandro Infantini and João Marreiros) -- Part III: The Mediterranean and the Black Sea -- Chapter 15. The Mediterranean and the Black Sea: Introduction (Nena Galanidou and Geoff Bailey) -- Chapter 16. Italy: The Archaeology of Palaeoshorelines, Coastal Caves and Seafaring Connections (Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri, Fabrizio Antonioli and Geoff Bailey) -- Chapter 17. Malta: Submerged Landscapes and Early Navigation (Timmy Gambin) -- Chapter 18. Croatia: Submerged Prehistoric Sites in a Karstic Landscape (Irena Radić Rossi, Ivor Karavanić and Valerija Butorac) -- Chapter 19. Greece: Unstable Landscapes and Underwater Archaeology (Nena Galanidou, Katerina Dellaporta and Dimitris Sakellariou) -- Chapter 20. Bulgaria: Sea-Level Change and Submerged Settlements on the Black Sea (Preslav Peev, Helen Farr, Vladimir Slavchev, Michael J Grant, Jon Adams and Geoff Bailey) -- Chapter 21. The Ukraine: In Search of Submerged Late Palaeolithic Sites on the North-Western Black Sea Shelf (Sergey Kadurin, Valentina Yanko-Hombach and Olena Smyntyna) -- Chapter 22. Cyprus: The Submerged Final Palaeolithic of Aspros Dive Site C (Albert J Ammerman) -- Chapter 23. Israel: Submerged Prehistoric Sites and Settlements on the Mediterranean Coastline—the Current State of the Art (Ehud Galili, Baruch Rosen, Mina Weinstein Evron, Israel Hershkovitz, Vered Eshed and Liora Kolska Horwitz) -- Part IV: The Legal, Historical and Industrial Context of Underwater Heritage -- Chapter 24. The Legal, Historical and Industrial Context of Underwater Heritage: Introduction (Hans Peeters, Geoff Bailey and Nena Galanidou) -- Chapter 25. Continental Shelf Archaeology and International Law (Sarah Dromgoole) -- Chapter 26. Seabed Infrastructure Projects, Underwater Cultural Heritage and The Environmental Assessment Process: The UK Example (Christopher Pater) -- Chapter 27. Beam Trawls and Bones: A Reflection on Dutch Fisheries (Thijs J. Maarleveld) -- Appendix.

Open Access

This open access volume provides for the first time a comprehensive description and scientific evaluation of underwater archaeological finds referring to human occupation of the continental shelf around the coastlines of Europe and the Mediterranean when sea levels were lower than present. These are the largest body of underwater finds worldwide, amounting to over 2500 find spots, ranging from individual stone tools to underwater villages with unique conditions of preservation. The material reviewed here ranges in date from the Lower Palaeolithic period to the Bronze Age and covers 20 countries bordering all the major marine basins from the Atlantic coasts of Ireland and Norway to the Black Sea, and from the western Baltic to the eastern Mediterranean. The finds from each country are presented in their archaeological context, with information on the history of discovery, conditions of preservation and visibility, their relationship to regional changes in sea-level and coastal geomorphology, and the institutional arrangements for their investigation and protection. Editorial introductions summarise the findings from each of the major marine basins. There is also a final section with extensive discussion of the historical background and the legal and regulatory frameworks that inform the management of the underwater cultural heritage and collaboration between offshore industries, archaeologists and government agencies. The volume is based on the work of COST Action TD0902 SPLASHCOS, a multi-disciplinary and multi-national research network supported by the EU-funded COST organisation (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). The primary readership is research and professional archaeologists, marine and Quaternary scientists, cultural-heritage managers, commercial and governmental organisations, policy makers, and all those with an interest in the sea floor of the continental shelf and the human impact of changes in climate, sea-level and coastal geomorphology.