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5.21. Northern Apulia (#21) on: (1) modern taxa assemblages in Mediterranean lagoons and
marshes; (2) beachrock characteristics (cement fabric, chemistry and
The RSL history spans the mid to late Holocene. The database com- sedimentary features); and (3) the modern distribution of Mediterra-
prises 16 index points and 3 limiting points from cores in Battaglia nean fixed biological indicators on rocky coasts. We further added sea-
coastal lake and Frattarolo marsh as well as from offshore cores in level data derived from archaeological coastal structures (Auriemma
Gulf of Manfredonia (Fig. 11, #21). The oldest limiting point place the and Solinas, 2009; Morhange and Marriner, 2015). Results indicate a
RSL above -14 m at ~7.7 ka BP. Multiple index points indicate RSL was generally good match between the different proxies in most of the
at ~−6.0 m at ~6.8 ka BP. There is a scatter in the younger mid- regions included in the database. For example, in southern France
Holocene index points, most likely due to compaction. At ~4.4 ka BP, there is very good agreement between the lagoonal index points and
RSL was at -2.2±1.0 m. Then, multiple index points indicate RSL rose the virtually incompressible samples (i.e. L. byssoides and archaeological
to ~−1.5 m. Younger index and limiting points, most likely affected index points, Fig. 12A) for the last 2 ka. Similarly, lagoonal and
by compaction, indicate that RSL rose to within ~2 m of modern MSL beachrock index points are in good agreement with terrestrial and ma-
from ~2.6 ka BP to present. rine limiting points in documenting the RSL fall after the mid-Holocene
highstand in southern Tunisia (Fig. 12B). At the basin scale, compaction
5.22. Southern Apulia (#22) free index points are above those samples that may have experienced
compaction processes (Fig. 5A). Most basal index points have ages com-
The database is composed of 4 index points and 6 limiting points prised between 7 and 5 ka BP (Fig. 5A), corresponding to the global
from lagoon cores in Alimini coastal lake and archaeological surveys car- slowdown in rates of rise and the onset of major coastal progradation
ried out in the ancient towns of Egnazia and the Salento coast (Fig. 11, (Anthony et al., 2014; Lambeck et al., 2014).
#22). The RSL history is restricted to the mid to late Holocene. At A major issue in sea-level studies is to understand how small scale
~5.5 ka BP, RSL was at -4.0±0.5 m. Then RSL rose to −3.4±0.5 m at RSL changes are manifest in coastal sedimentary sequences
~5.5 ka BP ~4.0 ka BP. Between ~4.0 and ~3.0 ka BP, RSL remained (e.g., Kemp et al., 2011; Gehrels and Shennan, 2015). In our database,
below ~−2.5 m. At ~2.0 ka BP, one intercalated index point places the marsh and lagoonal index points represents the majority of data. How-
RSL at −2.2±0.7 m. RSL was still at −1.6±1.0 m at ~1.0 ka BP. ever, the vertical error bars of these index points remain too large to
capture sub-millennial RSL variability in the microtidal setting of the
6. Discussion Mediterranean Sea. To this end, methodological developments of the
transfer function (e.g. Juggins and Birks, 2012) offer the potential for
6.1. Standardization of the database and its applicability high-resolution sea-level reconstructions (e.g., Gehrels, 2000; Kemp
and Telford, 2015). The identification of small-scale bio-stratigraphic
We reconstructed the RSL histories of the western Mediterranean changes from coastal sedimentary sequences and the development of
using an innovative multi-proxy standardization methodology based regional predictive plant zonation-, foraminifera- and/or ostracod-

Fig. 12. Example of the applicability of the proposed multiproxy standardization in central France (A), southern Tunisia (B), and southwestern Sardinia (C). Index points (boxes) are plotted
as calibrated age against change in sea level relative to present. Limiting points are plotted as terrestrial or marine horizontal lines. The dimensions of boxes and lines for each point are
based on 2s elevation and age errors.