Foraminifera are abundant in all marine and coastal settings. Their microfossils have proved to be particularly useful in Quaternary stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, and paleoclimate reconstructions. Since the 1980s, benthic foraminifera have been employed to answer important archaeological questions mainly focused on the study of provenance and technology of ancient ceramics, the distinction between natural and cultural marine shell deposits, the reconstruction of sea‐level changes and submerged Paleolithic and Mesolithic sites, and the investigation of coastal human occupation since the Neolithic, particularly ancient harbours. |
