Abstract

The first human settlements (6000−4000 BP) in the early estuary of the Tinto and Odiel rivers were located in the ancient coastal banks or in the nearby hills. From 4000 years BP onwards, the estuarine sediments started to emerge as sand barriers and chenier plains, prograding towards the mouth. As the littoral strands stabilized morphologically, they are colonized by human settlements in successive periods, the oldest inland (Almendral) and more recent outward (Cascajera). These emerged morphologies were surrounded by muddy tidal flats in the estuary and only the high-energy marine events such as a tsunami or extraordinary storms were able to modify both the landscape and human settlements installed on them. This work also describes the morphodynamicmodel that built the chenier plain of La Cascajera