Starting just over 10,000 years ago, sea levels rose in fits and starts, occasionally climbing by up to 25 millimeters a year. This rapid environmental shift forced Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations to continually adapt their hunting and fishing activities. Rising sea levels over the past 10,000 years have fundamentally reshaped the northern Adriatic coastline, submerging vast tracts of land once roamed by early human populations beneath the waves.
These dramatic coastal changes occurred across three distinct phases. This period of upheaval was eventually followed by a stretch of relative stability over the past 6,000 years, which supported the formation of permanent settlements and the advent of farming in the familiar landscape of today.
The research reveals that the land beneath the famous floating city of Venice once lay many miles inland, transforming dry terrain, ancient hills, and swamps into a marine landscape.
Scientists uncover ancient hills and swamps that disappeared as sea levels rose across northern Adriatic Venice is famed for being a floating city, but research shows the land it sits on once lay many miles inland.
The most dramatic changes occurred in three distinct phases, followed by a period of relative stability over the past 6,000 years, which supported the formation of settlements and the advent of farming in the landscape we are familiar with today.
Starting just over 10,000 years ago, sea level rose in fits and starts, sometimes by up to 25mm a year, forcing Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations to shift their hunting and fishing activities as they adapted to a rapidly changing environment.
Dramatic changes in sea level over 10,000 years have reshaped the northern Adriatic coastline, with much of the land that our ancestors roamed now lying beneath the waves.