ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly reviews the European evidence for later medieval tsunamis with the aim of proposing a research agenda which archaeologists might wish to explore in the future. Tsunamis are caused by massive displacements of water. Although these sudden displacements are mostly associated with shallow earthquakes, and therefore with plate tectonics, they can be generated in a variety of submarine and coastal settings. Tsunamis in the western Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines are much rarer, although no less damaging. Italy is the European country with most evidence for tsunamis in the Middle Ages. The impact of a tsunami on a coastline is highly variable and will be affected by a number of factors. The magnitude of a tsunami will be dependent on its origins, the state of the tide and the trajectory of the tsunami wave train.
