Marine and marginal marine Ostracoda as proxies in geoarchaeology

Ostracoda, minute aquatic crustaceans with calcitic shells, are highly versatile proxies in geoarchaeological contexts. Their species-specific ecological preferences and ranges allow the reconstruction of palaeoenvironments and anthropogenic impacts in detail. Environmentally driven morphological variability and shell chemistry signatures as stable isotope and trace element values can provide additional palaeoenvironmental information. Ostracods can be used for provenance analyses and stratigraphical investigations as well. Their small size and high abundance in most water bodies makes them ideal for studying sediment cores and smaller samples from trenches or outcrops, especially in coastal areas where they show a high diversity and abundance compared to other groups of meiofauna. In archaeological contexts, fossil ostracods may provide information about climate, sea level and hydrography, high energy events like storms or tsunamis, ocean currents, land use, pollution, water constructions, stratigraphy, trade connections or the origin of sediment material. We give an overview on the state of ostracod-based research in geoarchaeology today and present some European case studies to illustrate concepts and methods of such field of study. •Ostracods are valuable proxies in geoarchaeological researches.•In marginal marine sites ostracods provide details on salinity variations.•Ostracods are efficient in recording natural/human induced landscape changes.•Anthropogenic impacts strongly affect ostracod communities.