The topics covered in this volume of papers discuss the period from the Middle Palaeolithic to the end of prehistory as signalled by Greek colonisation. During this period the Adriatic region witnessed several episodes of radical transformation, including the Holocene transgression, which effectively created the Adriatic sea as we know it today, the transition from foraging to farming, and the emergence of social elites. The central underlying issue addresed by the authors here, is the role that maritime communication played in those momentous events.