This Special Issue brings together fourteen articles that present new methods, ideas, and approaches in the study of coastal prehistory with examples drawn from the Americas, Australia, Europe, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. In this introductory overview, we set out the rationale for combining articles on shell middens and submerged landscapes and the underlying logic of the order in which we have chosen to present the articles. The sequence begins with studies of marine molluscs and moves progressively outwards from small-scale studies of midden composition to large-scale studies of submerged landscapes, and from land to sea. We summarise the contents of each article and highlight connections between them and similarities and contrasts. We conclude with some final comments about the relationship between on-land and underwater investigations and identify the taphonomic, formational and deformational histories of archaeological deposits, materials and landscapes, and the variable impact of sea-level change as unifying themes.

本期特刊汇集了十四篇文章，介绍了沿海史前研究的新方法，新思想和新方法，并列举了来自美洲，澳大利亚，欧洲，沙特阿拉伯和南非的实例。在此介绍性概述中，我们提出了将有关贝壳中的凹陷和淹没景观的文章以及我们选择呈现这些文章的顺序的基本逻辑相结合的理由。该序列从海洋软体动物的研究开始，并逐渐从小规模的中游组成研究向大范围的淹没景观研究（从陆地到海洋）向外移动。我们总结了每篇文章的内容，并强调了它们之间的联系以及相似之处和对比之处。