MILLSTONES COASTAL QUARRIES AS INDICATOR OF RELATIVE SEA LEVEL CHANGES

The Italian coasts shows numerous archaeological remains which reveals the activities that were carried out along the coast for thousands of years of history. In order to use archaeological structures for coastal studies, an accurate estimate of their relationship to the sea level at the time of construction is required (Lambeck et al 2004, Antonioli et al 2007, Auriemma & Solinas 2009). Millstone coastal quarries are only documented in southern Italy; they are carved on beachrock, calcarenites and other sedimentary rock easy to be exploited. Few archaeological information have been published about quarries for millstones extraction; they are documented since around 2500 yr BP (Amouretti, 1…