Identifying Anthropogenic Versus Natural Submerged Prehistoric Landscapes: Two Case Studies from the Sicilian Channel

Abstract

In submerged landscapes, distinguishing anthropogenic features versus natural ones is often challenging. We have developed a set of criteria to validate the identification of submerged anthropogenic remains that include examining the geological context, sea-level considerations, associated archaeological finds (including coastal survey), and documenting the broader archaeological context. Furthermore, our experience demonstrates that, while progress has been made in applying remote-sensing technologies to detect anthropogenic features on the seabed, there is no substitute for direct, visual assessment by an underwater archaeologist for verification of their anthropogenic status. We have applied these criteria to examine two published case studies detailing suspected anthropogenic stone features on the seabed in the Sicilian Channel. Our examination has led us to conclude that both localities are not anthropogenic features. The Pantelleria Vecchia Bank features represent natural outcrops on a submerged paleo-landscape that were shaped by depositional and erosional processes during transgression and regression periods. The suspected Lampedusa cultic site comprises natural features that are located on a submerged neo-landscape formed due to erosion and retreat of the coastal cliff since the mid-Holocene, when the sea level reached its present level.

Keywords

• submerged prehistory
• sea-level change
• underwater archaeology
• beach deposits
• inundated settlements