The Environment and Natural Resources Sea-levels and other factors affecting coastal settlement

Throughout the world the two or so million years of the Quaternary witnessed changes in sea-level which have had an important effect on the economic value of coastal areas and on their accessibility by sea and overland. The most striking military example is that of Thennopylae; the impact of advances and retreats of the shore on land use and site potential is well illustrated by the Levant coast (Vita-Finzi 1978).