Relative sea level change at the archaeological site of Pyrgi (Santa Severa, Rome) during the last seven millennia

New data are presented for late Holocene relative sea level change for one of the older harbors of the Mediterranean Sea. Data are based on measurements of submerged archaeological remains, indicating past sea level and shoreline positions. The study has been carried out at Pyrgi (Santa Severa), an important Etruscan archaeological site located in central Italy, 52 km north of Rome. Underwater geomorphological features (a large shore platform) and archaeological remains (a Roman dock, two fishtanks, and wells of Etruscan age) connected to relative sea level and to the shoreline during the last 7 millennia have been measured and compared with current glacio-hydro-isostatic theoretical models in order to reconstruct the long-term shoreline evolution and to evaluate coastal tectonic vertical movements, so far derived for this area only from Last Interglacial (125 ka) sea level markers. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA.