Scientists have reconstructed lost prehistoric landscapes beneath the Adriatic Sea, revealing how a vast coastal plain became a changing network of lagoons, marshes and river deltas as rising waters moved inland. The maps trace thousands of years of environmental change in areas that may have supported prehistoric hunter-gatherers and later influenced the arrival of farming.
The study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, focuses on the northern Adriatic between 9,000 and 4,000 B.C. Researchers from the University of Southampton and a marine research institute in Italy combined more than 600 sediment cores with over 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) of underwater acoustic surveys.
By examining buried layers and reconstructing former sea levels, the team mapped ancient shorelines and identified successive coastal environments. The evidence shows that the sea did not simply advance at a steady pace. Wetlands formed during quieter periods, only to be flooded when water levels climbed sharply.
How lost prehistoric landscapes beneath the Adriatic Sea were transformed
The earliest reconstructed stages, between 9,000 and 8,600 B.C., featured marshes, open lagoons and river deltas. Later, sandy barriers sheltered lagoons farther west, while channels connected them to the sea. In the east, the Gulf of Trieste developed open, shallow bays instead of the sheltered lagoons found farther west.
The researchers identified three major surges, around 7,800 to 7,600 B.C., 7,000 to 6,800 B.C., and 6,000 to 5,800 B.C. During the last episode, sea level rose by about five meters (16 feet). The northern Adriatic’s shallow seabed meant these increases could move coastal environments several kilometers (roughly a few miles) inland.
After about 5,800 B.C., rising waters generally slowed. Lagoons began settling near their modern positions, although some extended farther inland than they do today.
Shifting river courses continued to reshape deltas and marshes, and parts of the coastline reached their furthest inland positions during the fifth millennium B.C. Some lagoons remained connected to former river valleys.
Ancient coastal wetlands offer clues to prehistoric life
These changing wetlands matter because they offered the fish, shellfish, and wildlife sought by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. The researchers describe the ancient coastal habitats as “extremely attractive to forager communities.” Rapid flooding, however, would have changed access to resources and forced communities to adjust over generations.
The reconstruction also reaches into the Neolithic period, when farming spread along the northern Adriatic coast around 5,500 B.C. Wetlands and shifting shorelines may have shaped where farmers settled and how they encountered communities already relying on coastal resources.
The team has not uncovered prehistoric settlements in the offshore landscapes it mapped. Instead, the findings identify places where evidence of past human activity may survive beneath seabed deposits, giving archaeologists a clearer starting point for future underwater searches.
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