Introduction: Prehistoric Remains on the Continental Shelf - Why do Sites and Landscapes Survive Inundation?

This introduction highlights some general issues affecting the survival or destruction of archaeological features, and summarizes the recent history of collaboration associated with the Submerged Prehistoric Archaeology and Landscapes of the Continental Shelf (SPLASHCOS) project and its predecessor, the Deukalion Planning Group project, which gave rise to the work underpinning this book. It explains the rationale for the organization of the volume, outlines its contents, and sets out the conventions and standards used in presenting information. The book starts with a series of three thematic chapters analyzing different environmental marine and coastal processes as they may affect the original location and then the survival of submerged prehistoric sites. In order to investigate oceanographic, paleoclimatic and environmental processes in a consistent way, throughout the varying climatic zones of Europe and the Mediterranean, the authors break the area down into discrete sea basins each of which is examined in a separate chapter.