Last Interglacial sea-level proxies in the Western Mediterranean

We describe a database of Last Interglacial (Marine Isotopic Stage 5) sea-level proxies for the Western Mediterranean region. The database was compiled reviewing the information reported in 179 published studies and contains 10 371 sea-level datapoints (sea-level index points and marine or terrestrial limiting points) and 304 associated dated samples. The database follows the standardized WALIS template and is available as Cerrone et al, 2021b (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4497365).


Lagoonal deposit
Lagoonal deposits consist of silty and clayey sediments, frequently characterized by the presence of brackish or marine water fauna . Usually, lagoon sediments are horizontally laminated (Zecchin et al., 2004). Definition of indicative meaning from .

Bioerosional and erosional markers on a limestone cliff
Relicts of bioerosional (e.g., L. lithophaga boreholes) or erosional indicators on a sparse elevation range on a limestone cliff Distance between MSL and the difference of upper bound of occurrence minus lower bound Lithophyllum Byssoides algal rims Upper intertidal fossil algal rim  (HAT-MSL)/2 HAT-MSL

Shallow or intertidal marine fauna
Marine fauna usually associated with very shallow water or intertidal environments Based on the upper and lower limits of living modern analog faunas

Upper limit of Lithophaga boreholes
Boreholes created by mollusks of the Lithophaga genus, forming a welldelineated band on a rocky shoreline around the tidal level (Laborel and Laborel-Deguen, 1994) (MLLW to LAT)/2 MLLW to LAT

Marine Terrace
From Pirazzoli et al., 2005: "Any relatively flat surface of marine origin". Definition of indicative meaning from Rovere et al., 2016 (SWSH+ db) / 2 SWSH to db

Tidal notch
Tidal notches are "indentations or undercuttings cut into rocky coasts by processes acting in the tidal zone (such as tidal wetting and drying cycles, bioerosion, or mechanical action)" (Antonioli et al., 2015).

Positioning techniques and vertical datums
The elevation of the large majority of sea-level index points reported in the database was measured with metered tapes or rods and is referred generally to as "mean sea-level", with no additional information provided (Figure 3a,b). Whenever the 105 elevation measurement technique was not reported, we set the elevation error to 20% of the elevation value. If only the sealevel datum was not reported, we added 5% to the reported elevation error. Also, we remark that the majority of studies do not report precise coordinates for the sites investigated. Therefore, we had to reconstruct the geographic location of many sites with the aid of geolocation services (e.g. Google Earth). This means that the location reported in the database is, for their erosive nature. In general, tidal notches have been dated indirectly by association with nearby deposits of known age. In 155 our compilation, we, therefore, assigned to each tidal notch an age corresponding to the nearest deposit for which a chronological constraint is available, similarly to the approach followed by Antonioli et al. (2018).
In the database, we inserted also a small number of "Other" age constraints (Figure 4h), e.g., limiting radiocarbon dates or Argon / Argon ages for which there is no standard template within WALIS.

Quality of sea level and age determinations
Within WALIS, it is possible to insert a quality score for age and RSL information associated with each sea-level indicator.
The ranking follows a simple score (from 0 to 5), that is codified following the general guidelines given in the WALIS documentation (Rovere et al., 2020) and reported verbatim in Table 2. 170 In general, if a site was dated only with one among U-Series on mollusks, AAR, or chronostratigraphic constraints, it was given an "Average" score. Sites where several dating techniques were used concurrently, giving coherent results, received a higher score. Tidal notches are a particular case, as they can be dated only indirectly. For these indicators, the age information quality was systematically set to "Poor". We remark that this is a conservative choice, as the quality of the indirect age attribution for notches might be higher if the dated deposits are close to the notch. In our compilation, we 175 followed whenever possible the WALIS guidelines. In case our quality assessment deviated from the guidelines, the reasons for the scoring choice were detailed in the "Quality notes" field.
Overall, nearly 40% of points in the database have above average quality for both age and RSL information, with only three sites reaching an excellent score in both categories (Figure 7).

(excellent)
Elevation precisely measured, referred to a clear datum and RSL indicator with a very narrow indicative range. Final RSL uncertainty is sub-metric.

(good)
Elevation precisely measured, referred to a clear datum and RSL indicator with a narrow indicative range.
Final RSL uncertainty is between one and two meters.

(average)
Uncertainties in elevation, datum, or indicative range sum up to a value between two and three meters.

(poor)
Final paleo RSL uncertainty is higher than three meters

(very poor)
Elevation and/or indicative range must be regarded as very uncertain due to poor measurement/description / RSL indicator quality

(rejected)
There is not enough information to accept the record as a valid RSL indicator (e.g. marine or terrestrial limiting) Age information quality ranking 5 (excellent) Very narrow age range, e.g. few ka, that allows the attribution to a specific timing within a substage of MIS 5 (e.g. 117±2 ka)

(good)
Narrow age range, allowing the attribution to a specific substage of MIS 5 (e.g., MIS 5e)

(average)
The RSL data point can be attributed only to a generic interglacial (e.g. MIS 5)

(poor)
Only partial information or minimum age constraints are available 1 (very poor) Different age constraints point to different interglacials 0 (rejected) Not enough information to attribute the RSL data point to any Pleistocene interglacial.

Relative sea-level data
In the following sections, we describe the datapoints inserted in the Western Mediterranean database, starting from the coasts of Spain and proceeding clockwise across the basin. In the text, we refer to the elevation of sea-level indicators as "a.s.l." 190 (above present mean sea level) or "b.s.l." (below present mean sea level). These represent the elevations we derived from the original studies. For regions where sea-level indicators span a significant latitudinal or longitudinal gradient, we present maps and paleo RSL elevation/distance graphs. Site names inserted in WALIS are reported in italics whenever they do not refer to towns or toponyms that can be easily retrieved on topographic maps and/or geolocalization services (e.g., Google maps). Wherever possible, we kept location names in the original language, or as reported in the reviewed papers. Sites 195 inserted in WALIS are always associated with their corresponding unique RSL ID in parenthesis. Whenever mentioned, dated samples are also listed with their unique WALIS ID, e.g. AAR ID, USeries ID, etc.

Spain (Mediterranean Coasts and Gibraltar Strait)
Along the Mediterranean coasts of Spain, Last Interglacial sea-level proxies have been preserved mostly as relic beach or subtidal deposits, containing remnants of Senegalese fauna. While some sites preserved fossil specimens of the coral 200 Cladocora sp., dated to MIS 5e with U-Series (e.g. Muhs et al., 2015), many other sites rely on chronological constraints given by Amino Acid Racemization (e.g. Hearty, 1987), U-Series on mollusk shells (e.g., Hillaire-Marcel et al., 1996) and biostratigraphy (e.g., Bardají et al., 2015). Along the Mediterranean and Strait of Gibraltar coasts of Spain, the Last Interglacial sea-level indicators are concentrated in four regions: Islas Baleares (Mallorca), the southern tip of the Comunitat Valenciana (Alicante province), Murcia, and Andalucía. Zazo and Goy, 1989 also report overlapping marine levels near the 205 Ebro Delta, in Catalonia, located slightly above sea level, dated with ESR by Brückner and Radtke (1986). As we were not able to retrieve the original papers in this area, these data points were not included in WALIS.

Andalucía
The Andalucía region includes sites that are located both in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast, west of the Gibraltar Strait ( Figure 8). In this region, studies on Pleistocene shorelines date back to the late 1980s /1990s (Zazo, 1980;210 Zazo and Goy, 1990). Several sites were reviewed in this area by Zazo et al., 1999, and were inserted in WALIS with RSL IDs from 752 to 765 ( Figure 8). Ages were assigned based on chronostratigraphic correlation within sites, some of which were dated using U-Series on mollusks. In general, MIS 5e deposits in this area are described as MIS 5e marine remains. As most of the geological sketches in the original paper show that they are located on a flat surface, we inserted these data points in WALIS as marine terraces, with a broader indicative range than beach deposits.

Murcia
In Murcia, north of Cape Cope, several terraces attributed to different interglacials were reported by studies in the late 1980s / early 1990s (Dabrio et al., 1991;Bardají et al., 1986). The sites were later re-described by Zazo et al. (2003), who clarified that paleomagnetic data and chronostratigraphic correlations with other sites in Almeria and Alicante were used to give an age to these deposits. Within the sites in the so-called Cope Basin, the most complete was reported from a location called 230 Casa de Renco (RSL ID 750), where marine conglomerates outcrop up to 5.2m a.s.l. Bardají et al. (2015) describe the lowermost sedimentological units in 11 outcrops along the Cope Basin (RSL IDs 740-750). In particular, they assign the shell-rich conglomerate of Unit D to MIS 5e, identifying different sea-level oscillations within it. The authors do not rule out a possible MIS 5a or 5c age for this unit, as its age attribution is based solely on the presence of P. latus and other warmwater faunas. In WALIS, we reported the 11 sites described by Bardají et al., 2015 where Unit D is reported and assigned 235 them a general MIS 5 age.

Comunitat Valenciana (Alicante province)
One of the most studied Last Interglacial outcrops in continental Spain is located in the Comunitat Valenciana, within the Alicante Province, 100 km south of the city of Valencia. Here, studies on the stratigraphy of the La Marina -El Pinet site date back to the 1980s (Bernat et al., 1982;Goy and Zazo, 1988;Goy and Zazo, 1989). More recently, 240 Goy et al. (2006) analyzed the stratigraphy of two sections within this site (A and B, RSL IDs respectively 751 and 738), where they found evidence for an MIS 7 terrace (dated using U-Series on Cladocora corals). Immediately above this terrace, U-Series on mollusks (P. latus) yielded ages consistent with MIS 5, which were later assigned to MIS 5e by an OSL age on oolitic sands of 114 ± 15 ka (Mauz et al., 2012). It is noteworthy that the entire area shows tectonic instability, and even between the MIS 5 terrace at the two sections (separated by less than 300 meters) there is an offset of 2-3 m. 245

Islas Baleares (Mallorca)
The island of Mallorca ( Figure 9) has arguably preserved some of the most prominent Last Interglacial sea-level proxies for the Western Mediterranean, which have been studied since at least the late 1950s (Butzer and Cuerda, 1962;Cuerda, 1957). Stearns and Thurber, 1965 reported U-Series (obtained with alpha counting) ages on mollusk shells for 10 samples at different sites across the island. In particular, they concentrated on the Camp de Tir site (RSL ID 357), which is also referred 250 to as "Es Carnatge". This outcrop, located close to the Palma airport, is a Pleistocene beachrock deposit, composed of different units that were described in several studies (Butzer and Cuerda, 1962;Cuerda, 1957;Hearty, 1987;Zazo et al., 2003;Bardají et al., 2009a). Several authors concentrated on establishing chronological constraints for the different units within the beach deposit at Camp de Tir (Figure 10), with U-Series (Hillaire-Marcel et al., 1996;Muhs et al., 2015;Zazo et al., 2003) or Amino Acid Racemization (Hearty et al., 1986a;Hearty, 1987). 255 An account of the history of investigations of the Camp de Tir outcrop (among others) is given in Vicens et al., 2012. Until very recently, the outcrop was divided into different units, which were assigned to "Neotyrrhenian" (ca. 2 m a.s.l., MIS 5a) and "Eutyrrenian" (ca. 3 m a.s.l., MIS 5e) based on faunal content, U-Series on mollusks and Amino Acid Racemization. This apparent age difference has been recently ruled out by Muhs et al., 2015, who  Camp de Tir is surely the most widely described MIS 5e outcrop in Mallorca but is not the only one. Re-assessing sites reported in previous studies, Lorscheid et al., 2017 surveyed with differential GPS other 10 sites scattered across the island. 265 Overall, the fixed biological indicators and beach deposits at these sites show a coherent picture of paleo RSL located 2.9 ± 0.8 m a.s.l. This estimate is in very good agreement with the indications of phreatic overgrowth on speleothems (Tuccimei et al., 2006. The most recent MIS 5e datum for these indicators in Mallorca is 2.15 ± 0.75 m a.s.l. (Polyak et al., 2018).
In WALIS, we inserted data for 11 sites (Figure 9) in Mallorca as reported in Lorscheid et al., 2017, associating them with different ages as estimated at each site by previous authors. We did not include a second dataset reported by Lorscheid et al.,270 2017, namely shore platforms measured at higher elevations than the fossil beach deposits, due to the lack of age constraints on these features. As mentioned above, the MIS 5e in Mallorca was studied both on the open coasts and coastal caves, in the form of phreatic overgrowth on speleothems. The details of these latter indicators are reported in another WALIS compilation focussing on U-Series on cave deposits (Dumitru et al., 2020).

Mainland France 285
The study of the marine Pleistocene deposits along the Mediterranean coast of France dates back to the 1950s (Masurel, 1953, Ottmann, 1954Bonifay and Mars, 1959). The large majority of the literature is in French (Barrière, 1966;Ambert, 1999;Lumley et al., 2001;Provansal et al., 1995) while fewer studies were published in English (Dubar et al., 2008;Stearns and Thurber, 1965). In general, the overall quality of the French data is significantly lowered by the dating constraints available. A large part of the marine deposits was dated using radiocarbon techniques in search of a mid-Holocene highstand 290 that was not present in this portion of the Mediterranean . These ages (generally >20,000 years) and the stratigraphic context of the outcrops suggest that the attribution to MIS 5 is reasonable but further analysis with updated techniques is strongly needed, because only a few studies reported ages based on AAR or U/Th dating.

Languedoc-Roussilion
The Languedoc-Roussilion coast extends from the border with Spain to the Rhone Delta ( Figure 11). Ambert (1999)  single chronological constrain is provided by an ESR age on a shell collected at Port la Nouvelle (ESR ID 99) which yielded 300 an age of 128 ± 15 ka (Yokoyama et al., 1987). Our re-analysis indicates that the maximal sea-level highstand in this portion of the French Mediterranean coast was placed at 6.4 ± 2.5 m a.s.l. Ambert (1999) also reports a possible lower sea-level highstand which has been the result of a regressive phase following the maximal highstand. This was found near Leucate and is characterized by beach deposits (RSL ID 1316) which placed the RSL at 3 ± 2.5 m a.s.l. This deposit was dated with both radiocarbon and U/Th techniques but both ages were not considered reliable (Ambert, 1999). The faunal assemblage is also 305 not very peculiar, with the sole presence of Spondylus gaederopus.

Provence-Cote d'Azur
This portion of the Mediterranean French coast extends from the Rhone Delta to the border with Italy ( Figure 12). In his review, Ambert (1999) reports a large elevation variability of the Last Interglacial shorelines which ranges from ~3 to ~22 m a.s.l. The lowest elevations of these shorelines are reported in the Marseille area. Here, the most robust indicator is 315 represented by a lagoonal deposit sampled near the Étang de Berre (Provansal et al., 1995) which was used to reconstruct a paleo sea-level placed at 3 ± 1.4 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 387). The late Pleistocene age of this deposit was provided by U/Th dating on algae (U-Series ID 795) which yielded ages comprised between 129 and 139 ka.
The majority of the data in the Provence-Cote d'Azur province were collected near the cities of Nice and Antibes (Dubar et al., 2008;Hearty et al., 1986a;Gilli, 2018). Stearns and Thurber (1965) firstly attempted to date the paleo-shorelines found 320 in this area. The U/Th dating (U-Series ID 2341) on mollusks found in beach deposits at ~20 m a.s.l. in the Grotte de Lazaret yielded an age of 110 ± 10 ka, while other two dates performed near Monaco on beach deposits found at very different elevations (U-Series IDs 2342 at ~33.5 m a.s.l. and U-Series ID 2343, ~1.8 m a.s.l.) yielded ages between 75 and 82 ka. This variability is likely related to issues of dating mixed shell remains with U-Series (Stearns and Thurber, 1965).
More recently, Dubar et al. (2008) performed some U/Th dating (U-Series ID 1719 to 1725) on marine shells found in beach 325 face deposits, which yielded MIS 5 ages. These deposits allowed reconstructing a paleo sea-level placed at 14 ± 1.1 m a.s.l.
(RSL ID 449) and at 10.3 ± 1.3 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 451). The variability of the last-interglacial shoreline in this area elevation was explained by differential tectonic uplift (Dubar et al., 2008). Gilli (2018) performed a U/Th dating (U-Series ID 1987) on a Cladocora cespitosa sample found in living position at Cap d'Antibes. The coral, which yielded an age of 125 ± 5 ka, constrains the paleo seal-level above ca. 6 m a.s.l. during MIS 5e.   shorelines in this region was written by Federici and Pappalardo, 2006, who analyzed several studies reporting RSL 340 indicators. A few hundred meters from the French border, several sea-level indicators are present inside caves in an area called Balzi Rossi (RSL IDs 233,237,239,240) and, further to the East, in the Madonna dell'Arma cave (RSL ID 242) (Vicino, 1974;De Lumley, 1969;Isetti et al., 1962). This cluster of data was attributed to the Last Interglacial due to the  Figure 14) at ca. 6m a.s.l. (Carobene, 2015). East of the city of Genova there is only one outcrop that was attributed to the Last Interglacial by Federici and Pappalardo, 2006, near the town of Lavagna.
Here, a marine terrace at 28m a.s.l. was dated with OSL at 139±11 ka. More recent ages confirmed that this deposit is older than MIS 5e (Marta Pappalardo, Pers. Comm. 04.02.2021). Therefore, this data point has not been included in WALIS.

Toscana
In Toscana (Tuscany), a relatively recent review of the Last Interglacial sea-level record was compiled by Nisi et al. (2003) 360 starting from the compilation of Bordoni and Valensise (1999), which was later summarized and implemented with new information by Ferranti et al. (2006). As a result, many of the sites in our database were already included in Ferranti et al. (2006). In WALIS, we standardize the calculation of the indicative range for many of the previously reported sites, also reanalyzing original works ( Figure 15). We report, where available, also details on their dating. Starting from the North of Tuscany, we remark that here we do not include in our database a core in the Versilia Plain. Within this core, coastal 365 deposits found at 60 m b.s.l. were previously attributed to MIS 5e (Antonioli et al., 1999a), but more recently U/Th dating on a Cladocora sp coral collected from the same unit yielded an age of 195.7±1.6 ka (Carboni et al., 2010).
In the area of Livorno, Nisi et al. (2003) associated the Last Interglacial with the inner margin of a broadly developed marine terrace at elevations of 14 to 20 m a.s.l. referred to as Terrazzo di Livorno (Livorno Terrace). A topographic sketch of the terrace of the site named Quercianella (RSL ID 255, terrace elevation from Nisi et al., 2003 = 17 m a.s.l) published by 370 Boschian et al. (2006) shows that coastal deposits on the same terrace are found several meters below the inner margin (elevation of the "fossil beach" at Quercianella = ca.10 m a.s.l.) and that the elevation of the inner margin of the terrace is covered by fossil dunes and soils. For this reason, unless independent constraints were available on the elevation of coastal deposits, the inner margin of the terraces reported by Nisi et al. (2003) was considered in WALIS as a terrestrial limiting. Zanchetta et al. (2004) describe several boreholes in the Livorno Terrace where coastal marine cemented sands with shells 375 are found at 5-10 m a.s.l. Summarizing previous studies, Ciampalini et al. (2006) clarify that these deposits are attributed to MIS 5e mostly based on Senegalese fauna.
The Livorno Terrace becomes narrower towards the south of Livorno (Boschian et al., 2006), where vertical or sub-vertical outcrops containing MIS 5e deposits were found. Mauz (1999)  These sections were already described and correlated with Aminozone E (assigned to MIS 5e) with Amino Acid Racemization by Hearty et al. (1986a) and Hearty and Dai Pra (1987). The Buca dei Corvi outcrop is reported to contain Senegalese fauna and P. latus.
The same authors reported similar deposits (with P. latus and assigned to Aminozone E) also on Pianosa Island (RSL ID 330, Figure 16), later also described by Antonioli et al. (2011). Here, the Aminozone E beach deposits (at 1.7 m a.s.l.) are in 385 close relationship to remnants of L.lithophaga boreholes and marine erosion at higher elevations (ca. 6 to 9 m a.s.l., RSL ID 331) on the cliff. Stocchi et al. (2018) provide differential GPS measurements of these two units at Pianosa Island. These are reported in WALIS as separate entries, as it is not clear if they were formed by one or two highstands, given the impossibility to give an age constraint to the L. lithophaga and erosional features on the cliff. The same issue applies to a tidal notch at Talamone (RSL ID 335), which was recently measured by Antonioli et al. (2018) at 4.8 m a.s.l. The notch itself 390 cannot be dated directly, but it was associated with closeby (2.7 km) deposits containing warm water fauna at Campo Regio (RSL ID 336, 6 m a.s.l., Hearty and Dai Pra 1987). Unfortunately, no AAR constraints are available at this site. South of the Orbetello lagoon, the Last Interglacial beach deposits were mapped by Hearty and Dai Pra (1987) at 10-13m a.s.l.

Lazio
The border between Toscana and Lazio (Latium) administrative regions ( Figure 17) is located in the Montalto coastal plain.
Here, Hearty and Dai Pra (1987) identified and attributed to Aminozone E (corresponding to MIS 5e) several beach deposits, most of them containing Senegalese fauna. Some of these deposits were already identified at the beginning of the last 410 century (Gignoux, 1913;Blanc, 1935;Blanc, 1936;Blanc and Segre, 1947;Blanc and Segre, 1953;Segre, 1949;Bonadonna, 1967a-b;Radtke, 1986;Ozer et al., 1987;Palieri and Sposato, 1988;Milli and Zarlenga, 1991), and were successively reviewed by Bordoni and Valensise (1999), Nisi et al. (2003) and Ferranti et al. (2006) These conclusions are at odds with the attribution of similar deposits to Aminozone E Dai Pra, 1986, 1987). 425 Also, two nearby sites (RSL IDs 497 and 498) were reported by Hearty and Dai Pra (1987) at roughly the same elevation and with similar stratigraphic characteristics of the Quadrato site were attributed to Aminozone E, hence to MIS 5e. Further to the South, in the Pontina plain (RSL IDs 513 to 518), Antonioli et al. (1999b) reported lagoonal deposits in cores reaching several meters below present sea level, again dated to Aminozone E. Similarly, in the Fondi plain (south of the city of Latina), Antonioli et al. (1988) report MIS 5e deposits down to 6 m b.s.l (RSL ID 508). Last Interglacial sea-level indicators 430 above present sea level (such as beach deposits and tidal notches correlated to them) were instead reported in the headlands of Circeo, Terracina, Torre Capovento, Sperlonga, and Gaeta (Hearty and Dai Pra, 1986;Bordoni and Valensise, 1999;Ferranti et al., 2006;Antonioli et al., 2018). Within two caves, called Grotta dei Moscerini and Grotta Guattari, Marra et al. (2019Marra et al. ( , 2020 report that Schwarcz et al. (1991a-b) dated "backbeach" deposits few meters above sea level to MIS 5a-MIS5c.
Within this study, it was possible to retrieve only the paper on Grotta Guattari by Schwarcz et al. (1991a), reporting that 435 "the sedimentary fill of Grotta Guattari was deposited over a short interval, commencing soon after the retreat of sea level after stage 5 and terminating at about 57,000 years B.P". As it seems difficult to derive reliable sea-level information from similar indicators, we did not insert these data points into WALIS pending further studies on these sites.

Campania 455
South of Latium, Last Interglacial sea-level records in Campania have been reported both from subsurface (i.e., in the Garigliano and Campana coastal plains) and surface (mainly along the Cilento promontory, Sele Plain, Sorrento Peninsula, and Capri island) data ( Figure 18). The most recent review on the Quaternary evolution of the Campania coastal plains was compiled by Santangelo et al. (2017). These authors reconstructed, with both previously published and new subsurface data, the distribution of a marine unit that was correlated to MIS 5e thanks to a U-Series age on fragments of C. caespitosa (126 460 ±11 ka, USeries ID1964) found in the San Marcellino core (RSL ID 722, Romano et al., 1994, see below).
In the Garigliano Plain, at the Masseria Transitiello site (near the Cellole Aurunci village, RSL ID 3624), Brancaccio et al. (1990) correlated biocalcarenites (AAR ID 168) cropping at few meters above sea level with a tidal notch at 8 m a.s.l. at

Minturno-Monte D'Argento (RSL ID 526, see the previous section). Six specimens of Glycimeris glycimeris from Masseria
Transitiello have been dated with AAR giving a D/L value (0.40 ± 0.02) corresponding to Amminozone E, correlated to MIS 465 5e by Hearty and Dai Pra (1986).
In the Campania plain, MIS 5e marine deposits have been found at 50 m b.s.l. in the San Marcellino core (RSL ID 722) . Last Interglacial sea-level proxies were also found at 18 m b.s.l. in the San Marco Evangelista borehole (Santangelo et al., 2010), near Caserta, about 28 km far from the modern coastline (RSL ID 739). In this borehole, the Last Interglacial transgression was constrained by the integration of tephro-stratigraphic and radiometric analysis 470 ( 40 Ar/ 39 Ar) on volcanic layers. Towards the southern edge of the Campania Plain (near the town of Sarno), MIS 5e proxies were reported by Cinque et al. (1987) and Barra et al. (1991) at 23 m b.s.l. (top of marine unit), constrained by U-dating on C. caespitosa and the warm species Sylvestra seminis (RSL ID 790).
In the Cancello area, towards the northeast border of the Campania plain, Romano et al. (1994) assigned a marine terrace at 50 m a.s.l. to MIS 5e correlating it with the C. caespitosa dated at San Marcellino core, described above. However, a recent 475 work (Cerrone et al., submitted) correlates the formation of this raised marine terrace to an older MIS, constrained by new U-Series dating. This point was therefore not inserted in the database.
Last Interglacial sea-level proxies in the Sorrento Peninsula crop out mainly on the southern edge, at elevations comparable with those recorded in other tectonically stable areas of the Tyrrhenian Sea. In particular, at Cala di Ieranto (RSL ID 721) and Conca dei Marini (RSL ID 720) Brancaccio et al. (1978) dated C. caespitosa and mollusks to constrain the age of tidal 480 notches at 7.5 m a.s.l. According to these authors, their sample C-2 (USeries ID 1955, on a mollusk shell) yields an age younger than the one obtained for the C. caespitosa as a consequence of the opening of the chemical system as confirmed by the high 234 U/ 238 U ratio. In Conca dei Marini, U-Series dating and geomorphological investigations by Iannace et al. (2003) https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-49 and Riccio et al. (2001) allowed recognition of three distinct Last Interglacial sea-level peaks, with a double notch at 6.5 m (RSL ID 766) and ca. 8 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 3565) and another tidal notch at 3.5 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 767). Moreover, Riccio et al. 485 (2001) tentatively correlated to MIS 5a a tidal notch at 2 m a.s.l. at Conca dei Marini, and widespread visible on the southern edge of Sorrento Peninsula (RSL ID 3623). Such age estimation is supported by geomorphological correlation constrained on a date published by Brancaccio et al. (1978). Ferranti and Antonioli (2007) measured the elevation of the Tyrrhenian tidal notch along the coasts of the Capri Island. The elevation of the notch varies between 5.2 and 8 m a.s.l., and it has been assigned an MIS 5e age by correlation with a U-490 Series age on C. caespitosa from the bay of Ieranto, at the southern edge of Sorrento Peninsula (RSL IDs from 800 to 822, Figure 19) (Brancaccio et al., 1978).
In the Sele coastal plain, Brancaccio et al. (1986Brancaccio et al. ( , 1987 have recognized and dated with AAR two marine deposits bearing Glycimeris glycimeris specimens. Based on such dating, the Gromola ridge site (up to 13 m a.s.l.) has been correlated to MIS 5c (RSL ID 770), whereas the Ponte Barizzo ridge site, reaching an elevation of 25 m a.s.l., to MIS 5e (RSL 769). 495 Many records of MIS 5e were reported at elevations ranging from 7-8 up to 10-15 m a.s.l. along the coasts of the Cilento promontory. These were assigned an MIS 5 age with AAR, U-Series, and stratigraphic constraints (presence of P. latus). In particular, Brancaccio et al. (1990) dated marine deposits bearing Glycimeris glycimeris associated with the marine terraces of Ogliasto Marina (RSL ID 592), Sapri (RSL ID 791-792), and Palinuro (Lido Ficocella, RSL ID 593). The age provided from the Palinuro site is correlated to MIS 5. Also, the presence of P. latus fragments at elevations up to 2-3 m a.s.l. allowed 500 Antonioli et al. (1994a) to correlate a tidal notch in the same elevation range along the Palinuro Cape (RSL ID 732) to MIS 5e.
Between Ogliastro Marina (Licosa Cape) and Agropoli, Cinque et al. (1994) recognized a flight of marine terraces and related the three lowest ones to the 3 peaks of MIS 5. This chronological attribution has been confirmed by Iannace et al. (2001) using U-Series dating on coralline algae. In this area, the marine terrace at 1.5 m a.s.l. is related to MIS 5a, the one at 505 5 m a.s.l. to MIS 5c, and two distinct terraces at 9 and 6.6 m a.s.l. have been assigned an MIS 5e age. A detailed morphostratigraphic analysis based on cross-cut relationship and Th/U age on speleothems allowed Esposito et al. (2003) to identify MIS 5c and 5a sea-level proxies in the Cava/Riparo degli Infreschi at 8.5 and 3.5 m a.s.l., respectively. However, recent works by Bini et al. (2020), reported no evidence for MIS 5c and MIS 5a, proposing a different paleoenvironment reconstruction of the Riparo degli Infreschi outcrop (RSL IDs 3568 to 3576) based on new U-Series dating and tephra 510 correlations. The new U-Series dates were performed on speleothems and calcite filling L. lithophaga boreholes; since such materials take shape above sea level, they have been included in the database as terrestrial limiting. The top of L. lithophaga boreholes, measured at 8.9 m a.s.l. inside the Riparo degli Infreschi has been related to MIS 5e (RSL ID 3568).     (Carobene et al., 1986;Carobene and Dai Pra, 1991), and 540 northern Calabria coast, from Castrocucco to nearby Cetraro (Torre la Testa, Carobene et al. 1986;Carobene and Dai Pra 1990). Such interpretation is based on a geomorphological correlation derived from the identification of the Middle-Late Pleistocene terraces, which have been constrained by U-Series and AAR dating on C. caespitosa and Bivalvia respectively.
However, recently Cerrone et al. (2018Cerrone et al. ( , 2021a have rejected such dating and have reconstructed the evolution of the area spanning from nearby Fiumicello (Basilicata) to Scalea (Calabria), providing new U-Series dating on the marine deposits 545 (biocalcarenites bearing C. caespitosa corals) associated with the marine terraces corresponding to MIS 5a, 5c, and 5e, which stand up to some tens of meters.
The promontory of Capo Vaticano (RSL ID 267 to 270, 314 to 316, 3430, and 3431) has been deeply investigated in the last decades and many dating (OSL, TL, and U-Series) have been provided, but a debate on the age and spatial distribution of the correlation is strengthened by TL dating of Balescu et al. (1997). However, Pata (1947) reported P. latus specimens within the +50 m a.s.l. terrace in Vibo Marina (RSL ID 267), which allowed Dai , Dumas et al. (1991), and Roberts et al. (2013) to consider such terrace of MIS 5e age. The last interpretation is supported by Roberts et al. (2013) based on U-555 Series dating (USeries ID 2665 and 2666) and by the use of a synchronous correlation method.
Starting from the work of Gignoux (1913) who reported the presence of P. latus and Senegalese fauna in the Bovetto (RSL ID 306) and Ravagnese areas (RSL ID 304 and 305) up to ca. 130 m a.s.l., this area was investigated by Hearty et al. (1986ab) and Balescu et al. (1997), respectively dating the deposits with AAR and TL. Another terrace, at Altibano (RSL ID 313), was correlated by Balescu et al. (1997) to MIS 5e, while according to Dumas et al. (1988) and Dumas et al. (1987) the same 560 terrace was formed before the Last Interglacial.   first reported by Cortese (1895), and have been deeply studied by successive authors (Gignoux, 1913;Cosentino and Gliozzi, 1988;Selli, 1962;Palmentola et al., 1990;Mauz and Hassler, 2000;Ruggieri, 1948;Zecchin et al., 575 2009;Nalin and Massari, 2009). The MIS 5e marine terrace in this area has been traced up to ca. 80-110 m a.s.l., and was dated with AAR  and TL (Mauz and Hassler, 2000). However, based on such dating, the Capo Colonna Terrace (RSL ID 3634) has been correlated either to 5c or 5a. However, Nalin et al. (2012) and Palmentola et al. (1990) found P. latus fossils in the Capo Colonna Terrace. New findings of P. latus at the Crotone Peninsula have been reported by Bracchi et al. (2011) andNalin et al. (2012). 580 In Trebisacce (RSL ID 324), at the northern border of the Sibari coastal plain, Cucci (2004) attributed an MIS 5e age (AAR IDs 97 and 98) to the marine terrace at 128 m a.s.l. The elevation of the MIS 5e marine terrace mapped by Cucci (2004) between Trebisacce and Lauropoli spans between 145 m to 115 m a.s.l. In the database, only the inner edge of the marine terrace corresponding to the Trebisacce site has been included because here a direct age constraint has been provided. Even if a very well developed flight of marine terraces (decreasing in elevation towards North-East) crops out along the Ionian coast of Basilicata, their age is poorly constrained.
In Piano San Nicola (RSL ID 416), near the town of Nova Siri, the marine terrace, which inner edge was reported at 90 m a.s.l., was correlated to MIS 5c or 5a by AAR dating ). An MIS 5e terrace at the same site has been 590 identified based on geomorphological correlation. But, as no age constraints have been provided, it is not included in the database.

Puglia
Along the Ionian coasts of Puglia (Figure 22), near the border with Basilicata, at Ponte del Re-Castellaneta site (RSL ID 355) a marine terrace up to 40 m a.s.l. was correlated with MIS 5e thanks to the presence of Senegalese fauna with P. latus (Boenzi et al., 1985). The correlation was later confirmed by AAR dating on marine deposits bearing Glycymeris (Dai Pra  one century (Gignoux 1913;Cotecchia et al. 1969;Hearty and Dai Pra 1992;Gigout 1960;Gigout 1962;Verri and De Angelis D'Ossat 1899;Richetti 1967;Caldara 1987). These deposits are characterized by the widespread presence of P.   Towards the Adriatic Sea side of Puglia (Figure 23), at the bottom of Grotta Romanelli (RSL ID 1319), a marine deposit 635 (elevation between 7 and 8 m a.s.l.) was correlated with MIS 5 (Blanc 1920(Blanc ,1928) and re-assessed by Cosentino and Gliozzi (1988). These authors, though, wrongly reported the presence of P. latus (Mastronuzzi et al. 2007). with MIS 5e based on the dating of the Holocene plain (Mastronuzzi et al. 1989). Due to the lack of robust direct dating, this site has been inserted in the database as a limiting point (RSL ID 1317).

Molise, Abruzzo and Marche
The coastal sector from Molise to the southern boundary of Romagna Plain (Figure 24) extends for about 300 km and is 660 generally characterized by narrow sandy beaches occurring at the base of the pre-Quaternary bedrock, that is commonly very close to the Holocene coastal morphostratigraphic units and often separated from them by a cliff of 5-15 m of elevation. In Pleistocene, but they are referred to as MIS 3 and 2. In light of this new information, the sites described in Ferranti et al. 670 (2006) as the inner margin of terraces are considered in our compilation as alluvial and not related to MIS 5e.

Emilia Romagna
The alluvial plains facing the Italian side of Northern Adriatic, from Rimini to Monfalcone, are characterized by a subsiding tectonic setting, mainly related to the crustal flexuring connected to the Apennines and the compaction of Quaternary sediments (cf. Carminati et al., 2003;Ferranti et al., 2006). Thus, the deposits of MIS 5e are not cropping out in this area, but 675 they are buried in the subsoil of the coastal plain at depths ranging from 35 to 120 m b.s.l. Anyhow, in Emilia-Romagna the Geological Survey of the region collected a vast database of underground data (i.e. logs of stratigraphic boreholes, geotechnical tests, and water wells) in which a significant number of cores sampled the coastal deposits of MIS 5e ( Figure   24). The database has been mainly produced in the framework of the new geological map (CARG project) but has been also checked and tuned with specific stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental studies. In particular, Amorosi et al. (1999,2004) 680 defined the main architecture of the subsoil and characterized the depositional units for their sedimentological and palynological content.
Along the northwestern coast of Adriatic, the sediments dated to the Last Interglacial correspond to a coastal wedge consisting of a transgressive-regressive cycle, which has an average maximum thickness of 15-20 m, overlapping over the previous alluvial units, generally dating to MIS 6 (an example is reported in Figure 25). The marine transgression expanded 685 on the plain and induced the progressive shifting to lagoonal, beach, and marine environments. These deposits have been later covered by the seaward progradation of deltaic systems, which can be generally related to the Po river system and the streams fed by Northern Apennines. The development of deltas probably occurred during the marine highstand of MIS 5e, around the peak of sea level. Thus, the beach facies recorded at the top of the regressive cycle are considered index points of the past RSL with uncertainty between 7 and 10 m. A more significant role is played by the lagoonal and back-barrier 690 deposits connected to the beach ridges, which have to be considered the most representative index point, with uncertainty between 0 and -2 m with respect to the coeval RSL. Differently, the facies of prodelta and marine platform deposited several meters below sea level and are considered only as marine limiting points. The recognition of lagoonal and back-barrier facies is based on the micropaleontological content, but also on the mollusk association consisting of Cerastoderma glaucum, Loripes sp., Hydrobia sp., Bittium sp., Abra sp, and Cerithium sp. 695 The marine transgression invested large areas and after the submersion, the action of waves developed an important ravinement surface that in many cases eroded almost completely the previous sediments connected to the sea-level rise ( Figure 24). Thus, the beach and marine deposits of MIS 5e are often directly in contact over the older alluvial plain and separated from them by a sharp ravinement surface. It is worth noting that this sedimentary unconformity is rather easy to be recognized in the cores in northern Adriatic, representing a major tool for stratigraphic correlation, anyhow, it is not a 700 synchronous surface, but it is time-transgressive (Massari et al., 2004;Amorosi et al., 2008a-b).

Veneto
In the Venetian Plain ( Figure 26) the number of available cores for investigating the MIS 5e marine highstand is limited but, 745 North of the modern course of the Po River, the coastal plain has not been deeply involved in significant tectonic deformations as it is part of the foreland basin of both Alps and Apennines. Thus, despite the general regional subsidence affecting this area, the sediments of Late Quaternary have not been locally deformed by thrusts and folds and this setting preserved the original geometric relationships existing between the different sectors of the coastal wedge formed during the Last Interglacial ( Figure 25). 750 In the Lagoon of Venice, the deposits of MIS 5e are found underground at a depth spanning between 90 and 55 m b.s.l. and often the stratigraphic cores document a transgressive-regressive cycle. This trend can be recognized according to the landward migration of the marine facies at the base of the sequence, which overlaps on the pre-existing alluvial plain, and that was followed by the progradation of deltas and related lagoons. Near Valle Averto (core CARG 11, RSL ID 1304), in the southern part of the Venice Lagoon, deltaic sediments are found over the alluvial deposits between 67 and 64 m b.s.l., 755 covered by littoral facies at 64 and 62 m b.s.l., and after by lagoon deposits at 62-60.5 m b.s.l. (Donnici and Serandrei-Barbero, 2004). According to stratigraphic correlations, the vertical succession documents the marine transgression and the successive deltaic progradation with the formation of lagoon environments (Tosi et al., 2007b). A rather similar stratigraphic setting is documented also in the northern sector of Venice Lagoon, near Portegrandi (core CARG 12, RSL ID 1302), where paralic deposits are found between 70 to 55 m b.s.l. According to foraminifera analyses, from 70 to 65 m b.s.l. the 760 depositional environments pass from neritic to lagoon, whereas, from 65 to 55 m b.s.l. the sediments are mainly sandy with few fossils, probably related to the delta front (Tosi et al., 2007a). This core can be used as an example of the rather low importance of this sequence for constraining the position of the sea level at the peak of the marine transgression of MIS 5e as the top portion could be used only as a marine limiting point at 55 m b.s.l.
In Venice, the reference stratigraphy for Pleistocene is the core VE-1 and VE-1bis (RSL ID 1303), that were drilled in 1971 765 in the Tronchetto Island, NW of the city center (Kent et al., 2002;Massari et al., 2004 and references therein) and were analyzed for sedimentological, pollen and foraminiferal content. Core VE-01 arrived at a depth of 950 m and, as explained in Massari et al. (2004), the tie point between the two cores is represented by a characteristic Eemian pollen assemblage correlative to MIS 5e at 74.30 m b.s.l. in the VE-1 well and at 73.38 m b.s.l. in VE-1bis. The detailed investigations allowed to recognize biostratigraphic units, mainly based on pollen assemblages for Upper Pleistocene (Mullenders et al., 1996). 770 According to Massari et al. (2004) 5c by Massari et al. (2004) but, in the light of some new unpublished cores in the Venice mainland, it is here considered as the peak of the MIS 5e transgression. 775 In the eastern sector of the Veneto region, several cores have been drilled in the framework of the CARG project and allowed to follow the deposits of the MIS 5.5 from the alluvial plain to the marine facies ( Figure 25; Pini et al., 2009;Fontana et al., 2012). In particular, a stratigraphic section has been reconstructed from the mainland, at the boundary with Friuli Venezia Giulia (core AZX, RSL ID 1301), to core PRA (RSL ID 793), to the coast (core TdM, RSL ID 1295, Fontana et al., 2010. In core AZX the MIS 5e deposits correspond to alluvial sediments characterized by warm temperate pollen from 780 an elevation of 45.59 to 42.25 m b.s.l. (Pini et al., 2009), whereas 8 km south of this site, in core PRA, hyposaline internal lagoonal deposits are found at a depth between 49.5 and 55 m (i.e. 45.5 and 51 m b.s.l.). These latter ca. 5 m rest over an alluvial plain with temperate cold pollens (Fontana et al., 2012) and have been deposited at the peak of the marine highstand when the lagoon reached its most internal position. This stratigraphic interval of lagoonal sediments represents a significant index point for relative sea-level during the peak of MIS 5e in NW Adriatic as the base of lagoon sediments rests over an 785 over-consolidated alluvial plain referred to MIS 6 (Fontana et al., 2010).

Friuli Venezia Giulia
Along the coastal plain, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia are not separated by a physiographic boundary (Figure 26), so it is not surprising that the stratigraphic setting described for the eastern sector of Veneto seems to be documented also in the 800 easternmost region of northern Italy. Few kilometers north of the western boundary of the Grado-Marano Lagoon, Feruglio (1936) and Lipparini (1936) described for the first time in this sector the occurrence of a paralic unit of Pleistocene age at a depth around 40-50 m. In core PNC1 (RSL ID 1292), near Marianis of Piancada, paralic deposits are found between 57.7 b.s.l. and -35.6 m b.s.l. (Fontana et al., 2010). The top portion of this interval is characterized by the presence of coastal and lagoon mollusks and this layer has been used as a marine limiting point by Antonioli et al. (2009) Mosetti, 1987;Antonioli et al., 2009), but in the light of this review of data, they seem not reliable. Recently, in the marine area of Miramare, the geophysical investigations highlighted the occurrence 815 of a buried prograding wedge at a depth between 70 and 50 m b.s.l. that has been interpreted as a coastal wedge and related to MIS 5e (Romeo, 2009). It is worth noting that this sedimentary body is onlapping over the Flysch bedrock and, thus, its present elevation should have been produced by tectonics, downlifting the bedrock for at least 60 m in the last 125 ka.
According to the structural framework of this region, it seems not likely to consider this unit as the product of the marine highstand of the Last Interglacial.

Istria, Kvarner Gulf and Dalmatia
Along the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea, the coast presents rather homogeneous characteristics from the Gulf of Trieste, in Italy, to the northern boundary of Albania. In particular, this stretch of coast, which includes the coasts of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Montenegro, is influenced by the tectonic structures of the Dynaric Alps, which have NW-SE direction and largely consist of carbonatic bedrock (Pikelj and Juračić, 2013).  Surić et al. (2009) to infer that they have been submerged by marine waters during highstands of MIS 5a and, thus, in case of stable conditions, sea level was higher than 14 m b.s.l. The authors suggested also the possible occurrence of a general regional tectonic uplifting in the area with long-term rates of 0.15-0.25 mm/a.
According to the reconstructions of the global sea-level curves, it is likely that the RSL at the peak of the MIS 5e was over 845 20 m higher than the level reached for MIS 5a. Thus, these points can be eventually interpreted as marine limiting points also for MIS 5e, but with a larger uncertainty.
This setting strongly contrasts with the situation reconstructed along the western coast of Northern Adriatic, where subsidence has been a leading process during Quaternary. Anyhow, this asymmetric evolution of the opposite sides is not surprising, as along the Dalmatian coast the long-term geological data suggest general stability. 850 Another interesting site is located east of Lošinj Island, where Brunović et al. (2020) investigated the deposits recorded in the so-called Lošinj Channel, an isolation basin that during sea-level fall was separated by the rest of Adriatic because of a sill at 50 m b.s.l. In the area, the analysis of a core from a water depth of 64-62 m documented the occurrence of marine deposits and these have been tentatively dated to MS 5a based on correlation with the data produced by Surić et al. (2009). Also in this case the area is considered a stable sector because the Lateglacial and Holocene RSL index points are in 855 agreement with the predicted sea-level curve, suggesting a limited vertical displacement.
In the northern sector of Albania, near the Bay of Drini, Marku and Gjani (2018) suggested the existence of a tidal notch at an elevation between 30 and 40 m a.s.l. referred to MIS 5e. Anyhow, as the morphological evidence supporting this interpretation is not very consistent and the age estimation is only hypothesized, this site is not considered in WALIS as a proxy for the RSL of Last Interglacial.

Corsica
Corse (Corsica) is the third-largest western Mediterranean Island and hosts a great number of Quaternary marine deposits ( Figure 27) which span the whole perimeter of the Island (Conchon, 1985(Conchon, , 1999. Along the northern coasts of the Island 865 (Macinaccio and St. Florent) the presence of upper limit of Lithophaga boreholes (RSL ID 931) and shallow coastal deposits (RSL ID 299, Figure 28) dominated by Arca noe and Patella ferruginea (Ottmann, 1954) seems to indicate that the maximal transgression during the last interglacial did not exceed 6.25 m a.s.l. The single chronological constrain available in this area is represented by a Glycimeris shell dated with AAR techniques (AAR ID 93, Hearty et al., 1986a) which yielded MIS 5e age. 870 Along the mid to southern coasts of the Island, Conchon (1999) reports several shallow marine or lagoonal deposits that were found at elevations ranging from 1 to 3 m a.s.l. Among these, the most robust indicator is represented by some oysters found in lagoonal facies (RSL ID 321) near Figari, which allowed reconstructing a paleo-sea level at 4 ± 1.1 m a.s.l. This is consistent with the elevation of some marine encrustations which constrain the paleo sea level above 3.25 m a.s.l. near Bonifacio (RSL ID 277, Nesteroff, 1984). We assumed a general MIS 5 age of this paleo sea-level stand even if a robust 875 chronological attribution is currently not available. The shells found in all these deposits were only dated with radiocarbon techniques yielding unreliable (19 to 40 ka) ages (Delibrias et al., 1972;Nesteroff, 1984).

Sardegna
Sardegna (Sardinia) represents a key Mediterranean region for the study of the Last Interglacial landforms and deposits. It is among the most tectonically stable areas of the whole Mediterranean and hosts a large abundance of late Pleistocene coastal deposits, as well as well-preserved erosional evidence of paleo sea-level highstands (Andreucci et al., 2010;Ferranti et al., 2006;Ulzega and Hearty, 1986, Figure 29). The most outstanding evidence of paleo sea-level stand is the presence of a 890 fossil tidal notch that can be observed, at different elevations, both on the eastern and western coasts of the Island (Antonioli et al., 2018). Along the eastern coast, the fossil notch was observed in several sites showing variability in elevation. In Pedralonga (RSL ID 432) and Capo Monte Santu (RSL ID 435), the notch is placed at average elevations between 7.4 and 7.6 a.s.l., while it increases to 9.5 m a.s.l. in the central part of the Gulf of Orosei (RSL ID 434). In the Northern portion of the East coast, the notch was observed both in Capo Figari (RSL ID 430) and in Tavolara Island (RSL ID 431) at average 895 elevations ranging from 4.7±0.4 m to 6.7±0.5 m a.s.l. In Tavolara, Glycimeris shells found in a marine deposit (correlated with the notch) yielded an MIS 5e age (AAR ID 92, Belluomini et al., 1986). This date is the only chronological constraint available for the whole eastern coast of Sardinia.
Along the Northern coast, Ozer et al. (1980) reported P. latus in beach deposits found at 2.5 m a.s.l. in Capo Testa. This level lies above a subtidal facies which was dated with AAR (AAR ID 90) yielding an age of 120 ka (Belluomini and 900 Delitala, 1988;Kindler et al., 1997). The lack of clear intertidal deposits at this location did not allow for a precise definition of the sea-level evolution during the whole last interglacial period. The available data only indicate that the paleo sea-level was above 1.5 m a.s.l. during the MIS 5e and at or slightly below 1 m during the MIS 5c (AAR ID 91). This trend is further confirmed by an additional date (AAR ID 94) which constrain the paleo sea level above 1.5 m a.s.l. during MIS 5e (Belluomini and Delitala, 1988). 905 The western coast of Sardinia hosts a large number of LIG littoral deposits which were already identified at the beginning of the last century (Issel, 1914) and widely investigated in the last 40 years (Ulzega and Hearty, 1986;Sechi et al., 2020;Carboni et al., 2014). In Capo Caccia, Alghero, and Bosa, the concomitant presence of well-preserved fossil notches (RSL area (Carboni et al., 2014;Andreucci et al., 2009;Lecca and Carboni, 2007). These are represented by a complete sequence 915 which includes shoreface, foreshore, lagoonal, and dunal deposits. The age of these deposits was investigated both with OSL (Andreucci et al., 2009) and with U/Th on corals (Carboni et al., 2014;D'Orefice et al., 2012). Both techniques, (LUM ID 81 and U-Series ID 550-551 and 555 to 557) confirmed the MIS 5 ages for most of these littoral deposits, as already suggested by the presence of Senegalese fauna (Carboni and Lecca, 2008). A further AAR date (AAR ID 203) yielded MIS 5c age (Ulzega and Hearty, 1986) while a basal unit found in the northernmost sector of San Giovanni del Sinis yielded MIS 920 7 age (LUM ID 81, Andreucci et al., 2009). The coupled analysis of all these data indicates RSL was placed between 2 and 5 m a.s.l. during MIS 5e (RSL IDs 262,263,265,266,271). The analysis stratigraphic facies of San Giovanni del Sinis seems also to indicate that the maximal sea-level highstand is preceded by millennial sea-level oscillations within MIS 5e, which were recorded by the different littoral facies (Carboni et al., 2014).
In the southwestern portion of the Island, the occurrence of a well-preserved tidal notch at ~2.8 to 3.5 m a.s.l. was observed 925 from Buggerru to the Island of Sant'Antioco (RSL IDs 433,436 and 437, Antonioli et al., 2018). An MIS 5e age was attributed to this paleo-shoreline thanks to the correlation with some littoral deposits found at similar elevations. They are rich in Senegalese fauna (including P. latus) and were dated with AAR techniques (AAR ID 127, Ulzega and Ozer, 1980;Ulzega and Hearty, 1986).
Along the southern coast of the Island, beach deposits rich in Senegalese fauna (including P. latus) were found in some 930 littoral deposits near the archeological site of Nora (Ulzega and Hearty, 1986;Kindler et al., 1997). Two AAR dates (AAR https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-49  IDs 204-205) yielded MIS 5e age even if some contrasting interpretation of the age of these deposits are present in literature (Kindler et al., 1997). The facies analysis of this outcrop allowed reconstructing a paleo-shoreline placed at ~3.3 m during MIS 5e (RSL ID 1337). This elevation is in agreement with the paleo-shoreline reconstructed in the Cagliari area (RSL IDs 132, 276, 1338) whose MIS 5e age was constrained by U-Series and AAR dating (Hearty et al., 1986a;Ulzega and Hearty, 935 1986).   the Egadi, Lampedusa, Ustica, and Eolian islands, updating former compilations, most notably the one by such as the one by Bordoni and Valensise (1999). Within the island, Antonioli et al. (2006) distinguished four distinct tectonic sectors, that are described separately hereafter.
Sector 1 (Figure 31) spans between the coastal towns of Trapani and Cefalù and includes the Egadi Islands to the West. 960 Along the Egadi island coasts, P. latus specimens and Senegalese fauna within fossil beaches have been found in the island of Levanzo, between 2 and 6 m a.s.l. (RSL IDs 852 to 854) by Malatesta (1957) Abate et al. (1992Abate et al. ( , 1996. Antonioli et al. (2002) measured the elevation of the tidal notches on Marettimo island at ca. 5-8 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 833 to 843). On the mainland, the areas surrounding the towns of Trapani and Marsala are characterized by marine deposits bearing P. latus at elevations of 2 to 5 m a.s.l. (Ruggieri and Buccheri, 1968;Ruggieri and 965 Unti, 1988, RSL IDs 919 and 920). A similar elevation range, 2-3 m a.s.l., with the presence of sediments bearing P. latus, has been evaluated also between Marsala and Mazzara del Vallo area (Ruggieri et al., 1975). These deposits lie on a terrace that has the inner edge at 34 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 899).
Towards the easternmost point of Sector 1, Antonioli et al. (2006) have constrained Glycimeris-bearing marine deposits to MIS 5a and 5c between ca. 7 to ca. 10 m a.s.l. in the area of Cefalù (RSL ID 862) with AAR. This constraint allowed to correlate to MIS 5e a tidal notch in Cefalù promontory and La Kalura promontory (RSL ID 863) at 29 and 30 m a.s.l. 980 respectively. The elevation of the tidal notch decreases considerably eastward, in fact, in Capo Zafferano (RSL ID 831) it has been found at 7 m a.s.l. and constrained by AAR dating on Arca shells (Antonioli et al., 1994b). In southwestern Sicily (Sector 2), Antonioli et al. (2006)  Sector 3 extends from the town of Pachino (to the South) to Monte Tauro (to the North). P. latus specimens embedded into a beach deposit have been reported by Malatesta (1985) at 15 m a.s.l. in the Pachino area (RSL ID 900). By geomorphological 1005 correlation with this terrace, beach deposits assigned to MIS 5e have been reported also in S. Lorenzo and Avola sites, at 4 and 5 m a.s.l. In Augusta (Monte Tauro), Di Grande and Scamarda (1973) and Di Grande and Neri (1988) report the presence of P. latus correlated with a marine terrace inner edge at 15 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 901). Meschis et al. (2020) have mapped the marine terraces along the Syracuse coast by synchronous correlation method using as age constraints U-Series dating on speleothems (Dutton et al., 2009a), which provide a terrestrial limiting point for the end of MIS 5a (Plemmiro 1010 Cave, RSL ID 3577). The MIS 5e terrace, according to the reconstruction of Meschis et al. (2020) spans from ca. 30 up to ca. 70 m a.s.l. This estimate, which was based on ESR dating on mammals teeth (Rhodes, 1996), is at odds with the interpretation of Bianca et al. (1999), according to which the MIS 5e marine terrace decreases from 10 m in Augusta to 75 m in Avola. In particular, the 5e terrace of Meschis et al. (2020) corresponds to the MIS 3.3 terrace of Bianca et al. (1999).
However, the dating of Rhodes (1996) used by Bianca et al. (1999) has not been included in the database, as it was discarded 1015 by Antonioli et al. (2006) as not robust.
The last sector covers the NE part of Sicily (Sector 4, Figure 32), and extends between the city of Catania and the town of Acquedolci, near Messina. MIS 5e sea-level proxies along the Etna coast were chronologically constrained indirectly by K-Ar dating on lava flows (Gillot et al., 1994), which was successively incised by a marine terrace (Monaco et al., 2000). The inner margin of this terrace has been reported at a maximum of 175 m a.s.l. in Aci Trezza (RSL IDs 846 to 848) and slowly 1020 decrease in elevation towards the south, reaching a maximum of 165 m a.s.l. in Catania (RSL IDs 849 to 851). (2003)   At the northern tip of Sector 4 lies Capo Peloro, where Bonfiglio and Violanti (1983) recognized specimens of P. latus at 86 m. a.s.l. These were correlated to MIS 5e with AAR by Hearty et al. (1986b). The marine terrace inner edge corresponding to MIS 5e has been placed at 110 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 902) by Antonioli et al. (2004) and at 125 m a.s.l. by . Since the elevation proposed by  is based only on a geomorphological correlation with a marine In the northern edge of Sector 4, Giunta et al. (2012) mapped five orders of marine terraces, two of which were dated by 1035 OSL on unconsolidated marine sands. These ages allowed correlating the terrace at 50 m a.s.l. to MIS 5e (RSL ID 924). Such correlation is supported by a synchronous correlation method (Meschis et al., 2018).

Catalano and Guidi
In front of the northern coast of Sector 4, also the Aeolian Islands underwent long-term uplift. The inner edge of marine terraces related to MIS 5.5 spans from 40 m a.sl. in Filicudi (RSL ID 913-914, Lucchi et al., 2004a,b), 45 m a.s.l. on Lipari Island (RSL IDs 909 to 911), and 115 m a.s.l. in Panarea Island (RSL IDs 917-918, Radtke, 1986).  West of the Aeolian Islands, the Last Interglacial at Ustica Island is constrained by U-Series dating on Cladocora and by the 1050 presence of P. latus at 30 m a.s.l. (RSL 916) (de Vita et al., 1998;Ruggieri and Unti, 1988;Hearty, 1986). Southwards, in front of the coasts of Tunisia, Lampedusa Island is considered stable due to the presence of a fossil beach deposit bearing P.

Algeria
One of the earliest reports of Pleistocene deposits in Algeria (Figure 33) is contained in a paper written in 1911 by de 1055 Lamothe (de Lamothe, 1911). In the 1960s, this early study was further expanded upon by Stearns and Thurber (1965) and Vita-Finzi (1967), and later by Saoudi (1989). In the 1990s, studies on the tectonics of Algeria used Last Interglacial shorelines to calculate vertical tectonic rates (Meghraoui et al., 1996), an approach that has continued in more recent times . The most recent study related to the Last Interglacial sea-level indicators in Algeria was done by Authemayou et al. (2016), who focused on the record in the Tipasa Province, west of Algiers. The sea-level information 1060 reviewed for Algeria was extracted from two studies: Authemayou et al. (2016) for the Tipasa area and Meghraoui et al. (1996) for the areas of Oran and Ain Techmouchent.

Tipasa
In the Tipasa province, Authemayou et al. (2016)  and Age ID n. 48 are reported. Age ID n.4 was done on a sample taken from the profile AT1 (Chenoua, RSL ID 4) and gives an age of 67 ka. Age ID n. 21 was taken from the profile AT3 (Boun Haroun, RSL ID 6) and gives an age of 102 ka. Age ID 1070 n. 48 was taken from AT5 (Ain Benian, RSL ID 9) and gives an age of 130.5 ka (+4.5/-4.3). Other ages correlated to Terrace 1 come from Tipasa (AT2 and AT2', respectively RSL IDs 5 and 7) and were published by Stearns and Thurber (1965). They report U-Series ages of 140±10 ka (sample L-779a) and 125±10ka (sample L-779B); however radiometric data is not available and was not inserted in the database. The samples were taken from what the original authors called "low-Quaternary beach deposits". 1075  suggested that the "Terrace 1" in the area of Tipasa is located at 175-185m a.s.l., at odds with other descriptions of this terrace. Subsequent comments and replies (Pedoja et al., 2013;Maouche et al., 2013) did not clarify this controversy, until the work of Authemayou et al. (2016) where it seems clear that the "Terrace 1" is located only up to 10 m a.s.l.

Oran and Ain Techmouchent 1080
In the Oran and Ain Techmouchent provinces, the Last Interglacial terrace is reported by Meghraoui et al. (1996) in a table within the paper, with elevations derived most likely from topographic maps (Arzew, RSL ID 11 and Cap Figalo,RSL ID 12). The only chronologic constraint that points to the Last Interglacial age is the reported presence, on these terraces, of P. latus which grants a tentative chronostratigraphic correlation with "Terrace 1" in the Tipasa province deposits where the same species was found. 1085

Morocco
The Quaternary marine terraces cropping out along the Mediterranean Moroccan coasts ( Figure 33) testify uplift during the Quaternary (El Gharbaoui, 1977). However, they have not been studied deeply as the counterpart on the Spanish coast.
Pieces of evidence of the Last Interglacial from Tanger to Pointe Ciress have been related to paleo shorelines between 8 and ~20 m a.s.l (Cadet et al., 1977;El Fahssi, 1999;Poujol et al., 2014), whereas the marine Achakkar terrace at 6 m a.s.l. 1090 (Brébion et al., 1986), nearby Tanger on the Atlantic side has been U-Series constrained on mollusk shells by Stearns and Thurber, 1965 to the Last Interglacial (120 ± 10 ka).

The Dhâda terrace
The Dhâda terrace (RSL ID 248-249) has been identified between 13 and 15 m a.s.l. and was characterized firstly by (El Abdellaoui et al., 2016). The terrace, which extends for about 1 km along the coast, is made of marine sands within shell 1095 fragments and eolian deposits. (El Abdellaoui et al., 2016) recognized two transgressive phases related to the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e) based on four U-Series dating on Dendrophyllia ramea (Linnaeus) corals. The age provided must be considered as a minimum age because of the high 234U/238 activity ratio. Moreover, the Authors reject a U-Series age obtained from Lithothamnion calcareum algae sampled (USeries ID 2943) within the same Unit of the corals, as considered rejuvenated by secondary uranium. Such dating (USeries ID 546 to 549), allowed El Abdellaoui et al. (2016) to 1100 stratigraphically correlating the Zhâra (RSL ID 3598) and Hejar-Lasfar (RSL ID 3599) marine terraces, few kilometers eastward and westward respectively to Dhâda terrace, with the MIS 5e. The inner edge of the Zhâra and Hejar-Lasfar terraces is in the 13-14 m elevation range.

Cape Leona
The first attempt to date the Cape Leona staircase sequence of marine terraces has been proposed by El Kadiri et al. Moroccan Atlantic coast marine terraces (El Fahssi, 1999). However, in the same area, Abad et al. (2013) have been constrained by U-Series dating on flowstones covering marine sediments both a minimum elevation (marine limiting) and a tidal notch for the MIS 5e and 5a respectively at ca. 14 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 259) and 10 m a.s.l. (RSL ID 260). The notch at 10 1110 m has been assigned to MIS 5a by geomorphological correlation with a beach deposit bearing calcareous algae dated ca. 84 ka (USeries ID 554), but, according to El Abdellaoui et al. (2016), such dating is not reliable because of rejuvenation processes occurring in calcareous algae as evidenced for the Dhâda terrace (see the previous paragraph).

Al-Hoceima
The Al-Hoceima region is situated at the eastern edge of Mediterranean Morocco. At the Al-Hoceima site (RSL ID 929), 1115 Hearty (1986)   MIS 5 sea-level proxies have been preserved at several sites along the coasts of the Western Mediterranean in different geological facies. In stable to slowly uplifting sites, beach deposits containing warmer-water faunal assemblages can be found a few meters above present sea level, or inside coastal caves. Along uplifted coasts, marine terraces (locally capped by coastal or marine deposits) mark the peak of the Last Interglacial transgression, which is instead found as a transgressive 1135 sequence in cores drilled in subsiding areas.
Besides MIS 5e, several locations (especially in uplifted areas) preserved remnants of MIS 5a and 5c sea-level proxies (that were also inserted in the database) and former interglacials. For example, Zazo et al. (2013) report terraces attributed to MIS 7, MIS 9, and MIS 11 along the Spanish coasts. Recent studies on cave deposits in Mallorca allowed placing important benchmarks on Early Pleistocene and Pliocene highstands (Dumitru et al., 2021;Dumitru et al., 2019). Similarly, marine 1140 overgrowth on speleothems collected from the Argentarola Cave, in Italy, allowed to establish minimum positions of sea level during the penultimate interglacial (MIS 7, Dutton et al., 2009b;Bard et al., 2002). At the moment, a standardized review of pre-MIS 5 sea-level proxies is not available. Instead, Holocene sea-level studies were compiled within a single database (Vacchi et al., , 2018 following the standardized template of Khan et al. (2019). These recent reviews summarized the large tradition of studies related to Holocene sea-level proxies in this part of the Mediterranean basin (see 1145 Lambeck et al., 2004 for an overview).
While Western Mediterranean MIS 5 sites are often characterized by geological units with narrow indicative ranges, there has been a lack of precise measurement and datum attribution, which researchers started to address only recently (e.g., Stocchi et al., 2018;Lorscheid et al., 2017;Muhs et al., 2015;Antonioli et al., 2018). As sea-level studies progress in the Western Mediterranean, it is imperative that the elevation of the most relevant outcrops is re-measured with accurate 1150 instrumentation (e.g., differential GNSS systems) and that elevations are referred to well-defined sea level datums.
Another issue that is common within Western Mediterranean MIS 5 proxies is the paucity of reliable absolute ages. This is in part compensated with correlations between sites supported by (bio)stratigraphic and Amino Acid Racemization correlations, (e.g., Hearty et al., 2007), these are often inferred from either superimposed deposits with slightly different AAR ratios or from the concurrent presence of lower deposit and upper notches (that can be only dated indirectly). In this context, future studies should be aimed at obtaining more reliable ages at sites where the MIS 5e stratigraphy points to sea-level fluctuations. This is of particular importance for the southern coasts of France and Corsica, where several interesting Last Interglacial outcrops were never corroborated by robust and state-of-the-art dating techniques. These coastal zones, mostly 1160 occurring in regions with minimal or negligible neotectonics, have the potential to provide important insights into the magnitude and the sea-level fluctuations within the MIS 5e in the western Mediterranean.
A particular situation characterizes the coastal plains of the northwestern Adriatic Sea where, because of the regional subsiding setting, deposits related to MIS 5e are found at considerable depth. Despite the limited accessibility through stratigraphic cores, they allow investigating the 3D relations existing between different sedimentary facies formed during the 1165 marine transgression. In this area, the chronostratigraphy is mainly based on pollen analyses which correlate with the Eemian paleobotanic assemblages recognized in other European regions.
Gathering more reliable ages would also help solve several scientific debates over different sites (the main ones were briefly summarized in the regional descriptions above), as well as the long-lasting debate over the presence, in the Western Mediterranean, of Senegalese fauna (and, in particular, P. latus) also in stages other than MIS 5e. 1170

Data availability
The Western Mediterranean sea-level database is available open access and kept updated as necessary at this link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4497365 (Cerrone et al, 2021b). The files at this link were exported from the WALIS database interface on the 3 rd of February 2021. Description of each field in the database is contained at this link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3961544, which is readily accessible and searchable here: https://walis-1175 help.readthedocs.io/en/latest/. More information on the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines can be found here: https://warmcoasts.eu/world-atlas.html. Users of our database are encouraged to cite the original data sources alongside our database and this article. The background topography for geographic images has been obtained from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission void-filled DEM (Farr et al., 2007) unless specifically noted in the image.