Early seafaring activity in the southern Ionian Islands, Mediterranean Sea

► Seafaring started in the Middle Palaeolithic sometime between 110 and 35 ka BP. ► Seafaring was stimulated by the coastal configuration. ► The seafarers were the Neandetharls. ► The southern Ionian Islands in the Mediterranean were insular in late Quaternary. ► Tectonism and sea-level changes played a key role in the insularity of the islands.