Spain: Underwater exploration on a narrow continental shelf

Abstract

In spite of Spain’s long coastline (nearly 8000 km) and its well-established tradition in underwater archaeology, the prehistoric settlement of the continental shelf is practically unknown with very few finds. Underwater research has focused on naval archaeology and, until very recently, no attempt had been made to look for prehistoric underwater sites. In the past decade, new research projects have been launched to explore selected areas on the Cantabrian shelf and offshore of Gibraltar. This chapter summarises the currently available evidence of submerged prehistoric archaeology and the preliminary results of these new projects.