The workshop “Shaping the Mediterranean basin: islands, coastlines and cultures across time” took place at the 14th and 15th May, 2015 at the Cittadella dei Musei in Cagliari, organized by Federica Sulas, Charles French (both Cambridge University) and Rita T. Melis (University of Cagliari).
Our paper had been accepted as an oral presentation by the organizers. The workshop mainly focused on discussing former sea level changes all over the Mediterranean. A few other talks and posters concentrated on terrestrial geo-archives.
My network was expanded during this meeting. Moreover, the feedback after my talk helped me integrate new aspects into my dissertation. The friendly atmosphere allowed us fruitful and detailed discussion, especially concerning Holocene sea level changes. The new method for a determining a sea level index point, which I presented was intensely discussed by the audience.
As an outcome of the meeting, two peer-reviewed journals, a special issue of “Geoarchaeology” or “Catena”, will be published. I intend to contribute a paper dealing with the essence of my talk, and possibly another one concerning our project in Ainos (NW-Turkey).
During the second day of the meeting, a field trip was organized focusing on the ancient Nuragic civilization, which settled the island around 1000 BC. As a highlight, we visited one of these massive towers, which were built all over the area and represent famous remains of the ancient culture of Sardinia.
After the event, in order to complete our knowledge about the coastal areas of the island, some colleagues and I took a tour to the Gulf of Oristano and to the coasts east of Cagliari (Fig. 1 – westernmost spot of Sardinia).
I thank the GSGS very much for supporting my participation at the conference in Sardinia.
Institute of Geography, University of Cologne
PhD student
PhD project: “The evolution of the ancient harbour city of Elaia, Pergamum (W-Turkey)”
My oral presentation:
The environs of Elaia (W Turkey) – Sea-level fluctuations, vegetation history and microfaunal record
by Martin Seeliger, Lyudmila S. Shumilovskikh, Anna Pint, Peter Frenzel, Stefan Feuser, Daniel Kelterbaum, Melanie Bartz, Dominik Brill, Helmut Brückner (Oral)