A multidisciplinary study from a number of drilled cores in the Guadalquivir estuary has made possible to identify as many as three extreme wave events and their facies in the 4th millennium BP (A: ~ 4000 cal yr BP, B: ~ 3550 cal yr BP, and C: ~ 3150 cal yr BP). These events, which caused strong erosion in the Guadalquivir sandy barrier and in the neighboring aeolian systems of El Abalario, brought about significant paleogeographical changes that may have affected human settlements established in the area during the Neolithic and Copper Age periods and during the Middle Bronze Age. The three events can be spatially correlated and their facies differentiated from more proximal to more distal from the coastline. The most proximal facies is characterized by a massive accumulation of shells, a sandy or sandy–muddy matrix, an erosive base, a highly diverse mixture of species (marine and estuarine), and lithoclasts. The most distal facies presents a muddy–sandy matrix, dominance of estuarine fauna, shell accumulation, presence of terrestrial species, mudpebbles, pebbles in a clayey matrix, and bioturbation. The evidence presented will further advance scientific knowledge about the impact of extreme wave events on coastal areas in SW Iberia and NW Africa.

We are indebted to a vast array of Spanish institutions: Fundación Caja de Madrid, Fundación Doñana 21, Ayuntamiento de Hinojos, Fundación FUHEM, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD), Espacio Natural de Doñana (END), Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico (IAPH), Delegación de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucía in Huelva, and Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales del Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. Without their encouragement and support, the Hinojos Project would never have sailed. The present paper is both a product of the Hinojos Project and a contribution to the IGCPs 526 (“Risks, resources, and record of the past on the continental shelf”), 567 (“Earthquake Archaeology and Palaeoseismology”), and 588 (“Preparing for coastal change”). Additional support by Junta de Andalucía to the Research GroupRNM276 also is acknowledged.

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