Coastal zones of the Indo-Pacific, encompassing tropical littorals and estuarine belts, have often been interpreted mainly through the lens of maritime trade and long-distance exchange. While important, this view underplays the deep cultural, ecological, and symbolic relationships that coastal communities developed with their environments. This session re-envisions the coast as a dynamic archaeological and cultural landscape where adaptation, ritual, and economic systems flourished alongside interaction networks between circa 600 BCE and 1200 CE. Archaeological material culture, including ceramics, lithic and bone tools, terracotta figurines, shell ornaments, fishing gear, salt-production implements, and faunal remains offers critical insights into daily lifeways, social organisation, and cosmological thought. We also seek studies on ritual and religious traditions embedded in maritime landscapes, particularly the veneration of folk and local deities reflecting ecological intimacy and the perceived power of the sea. Furthermore, the session invites contributions exploring how coastal economies, reconstructed through archaeological evidence, sustained hinterland development via marine resource circulation. Proposed subthemes include:

1. Early coastal settlements and adaptation strategies

2. Fishing, salt-making, shell working, and related crafts

3. Ritual and sacred traditions linked to the coast

4. Ethnoarchaeological perspectives on maritime technologies

5. Coastal networks and hinterland economic linkages