The expansion and contraction of the continental glaciers caused huge and uneven rises and falls in sea levels worldwide. Nevertheless, for archaeologists concerned with the long periods of time of the Paleolithic period there are variations in coastlines of much greater magnitude to consider. Conversely, silts deposited by rivers sometimes push the sea farther back, creating new land, as at Ephesus in western Turkey, a port on the coast in Roman times but today some five kilometers inland. These have changed constantly through time, even in relatively recent periods, as can be seen from the Neolithic stone circle of Er Lannic, in Brittany, France (once inland but now half submerged on an island) or medieval villages in east Yorkshire, England, that have tumbled into the sea in the last few centuries as the North Sea gnaws its way westward and erodes the cliffs.
The most crucial effect of climate was on the sheer quantity of land available in each period, measurable by studying ancient coastlines. Information on past climates is primarily of relevance to archaeology because of what it tells us about the effects on the land and on the resources that people needed to survive.
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