The European Marine Board launched its 21st position paper, ‘Land Beneath the Waves, Submerged landscapes and sea level change’, during its 15 year anniversary celebration in Rome as a side event of the EurOCEAN 2014 conference on 7 October. The paper, written jointly by experts from geoscience and humanities disciplines, highlights the importance of exploring sea-submerged human settlements and provides recommendations for the new scientific field termed ‘European Continental Shelf Prehistoric Research’. Dr. Nicholas Flemming of the UK National Oceanography Centre chaired the Working Group, comprising experts from 11 European nations. During a presentation of the paper at the launch event Dr. Flemming highlighted that more than 2,500 submerged prehistoric artefact assemblages, ranging in age from 5,000 to 300,000 years, have been found in the coastal waters and open sea basins around Europe, yet few have been properly mapped by divers, or assessed for preservation or excavation. The new position paper provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress in the study of our submerged cultural heritage and sets out key research questions and policy priorities needed to support this research in the future. Download the press release here. Picture features (from back left): Gilles Lericolais, Alar Rosentau, Alan Stevenson, Francesco Chiocci, Ricardo Serrão Santos, Sigi Gruber, Tine Missiaen, Nan-Chin Chu, Jan Mees, (from front left): Niall McDonough, Dimitris Sakellariou, Nicholas Flemming.