Holocene book review: Climate System Dynamics and Modelling

Group 3 deals with tectonically stable areas where glacioeustasy dominates the regional pattern of RSL change, exemplified here by Southeast Asia, Australia and South Africa. These case studies are particularly welcome, as there has been less direct investigation of their submerged landscape potential compared to the better studied Northwest European and Mediterranean shelves. Chapter 10 (Cawthra et al.) describes seabed mapping immediately offshore of Pinnacle Point (South Africa), an early human site dated to at least 160 ka. Like the Maltese Islands, this allows identification of submerged palaeo-landscape features and gives an impression of the palaeo-landscape around the site when it was occupied. Chapter 11 (Wurster et al.) is a critical review of the palaeo-environmental, genetic and RSL evidence for the drowned landscape of Sundaland (present-day Sunda shelf), which is used to raise questions and advance ideas on human dispersal into the region. Chapter 12 (Ward et al.) is also a critical review and covers the islands of Northwest Australia, examining RSL-driven changes in coastal configurations, ecosystems, tides and productivity which may have impacted on post–Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) human populations. Finally, Chapter 13 (Nutley et al.) departs in scale and approach from previous chapters by focusing on diver-based prospection for submerged rockshelters (potential human occupation sites) in a single embayment in Southeast Australia. Overall, the individual chapters are generally well-written and informative. Variation between chapters occurs in terms of the level of detail and approach used. For instance, some are critical reviews aimed at generating hypotheses, identifying potential and aspiring to further research, while others are detailed presentations of field data acquisition, results and interpretation. This does work as a useful contrast and illustrates the variations in approach which are required depending on research aims, data availability or the palaeo-environmental history of the study area. It also shows well the variety of geoscientific and archaeological techniques ranging from ship-based acoustic survey and sampling through to diver-led survey and excavation. I personally have, however, three niggling issues with this book. First, its list price of £110 (dropping to £55 with societal membership) seems rather high and off-putting to all but the most ardent researcher. Second, figure quality in the paper copy of the book is variable, ranging from very good to poor. Mostly, this is because colour diagrams have been transformed into greyscale, making them hard to interpret. Third, the book’s structure means that it does not provide a true global synthesis of the state of the art. Notable omissions include the Americas, despite the potential importance of now submerged coastlines in its earliest colonization, and the North Sea, where extensive geological datasets have been absolutely critical in reconstructing the former landscape of Doggerland. For those fortunate enough to have institutional access to the Lyell Collection, the first two problems are circumvented as each chapter can be downloaded separately in full colour. Regarding the third issue, if taken alongside the other recently published volumes devoted to submerged landscapes (Benjamin et al., 2011; Evans et al., 2014), the combined trio do give an impressive illustration of subject’s recent growth and the breadth of research currently ongoing across the globe. In conclusion, this book is a useful contribution to the subject. Gratifyingly, a large proportion of the material appears new, or at least published in English for the first time. Consequently, it will certainly be of interest to geologists, archaeologists or Quaternary scientists in general. However, given the pricing/need for institutional access and the rather specialised nature of the individual chapters, it will most likely be of interest to more experienced researchers (i.e. postgraduate and above) and probably those already working on submerged landscapes. References