The Iberian Atlantic Margin

Pleistocene hunter-gatherer coastal adaptations in Atlantic Iberia

“…However, since those moments were marked by a large ice cap cover and the Americas and Oceania were not occupied yet, that means than the coastal shelf of Africa, Asia, and Europe, now submerged, was even more important for early human adaptation, since apparently it was a well-watered land (Bailey 2004;Finlayson 2013) less arid than the inland regions. That is clear in the Iberian Atlantic coastal region, with physical massive transformation after MIS 5 (Moura, Gomes, and Horta 2017;Bicho, Infantini, and Marreiros 2020).…”

“…Another relevant aspect of the Atlantic coastal region in Iberia is the extent of the present submerged platform. This corresponds to the area above the -125 m bathymetric line, the likely maximum extent of the sea level during the Last Glacial Maximum in Iberia Moura, Gomes, and Horta 2017;Bailey et al, 2020). While this submerged landscape may be as much as 30 km away from the present coastline, in many places is much closer than that.…”

Portugal: Intertidal Archaeology and Submerged Coastal Landscapes

“…14.6), slowly modified and submerged during the Late Upper Palaeolithic and Early Holocene (Infantini 2012). In addition to these specific regions with a steep bathymetry, there are two main coastal regions, one extending from the Nazaré canyon to the Sado estuary and the other comprising the southern coast between Cape St. Vincent and the Mondego estuary (Moura et al 2017). Sediment deposition is higher in these regions, providing potentially moderate to good conditions for underwater preservation.…”

“…The continental shelf exposed during periods of lowest sea level is relatively narrow-c. 20-50 km wide-with several deep canyons rep-resenting ancient river channels that would have brought the coastline of the Last Glacial Maximum to within a kilometre or two of the modern coastline ( Fig. 14.1; Moura et al 2017).…”

Spain: Underwater Exploration on a Narrow Continental Shelf

“…One of the deterrents to underwater investigation on many coastlines, especially those in the Bay of Biscay associated with the large concentrations of Palaeolithic sites in the Cantabrian region, is that sea conditions are challenging for underwater archaeological exploration and potentially unfavourable for the preservation of prehistoric remains, due to strong currents, large waves and a predominance of erosional processes over sedimentation (Moura et al 2017). Moreover, administrative responsibility for the continental shelf is divided between a number of regional and central government agencies, leading to considerable bureaucratic complexities in the organisation of underwater work aimed at the search for submerged landscapes, and these can act as a further disincentive.…”