Archaeological remains of dwellings that were originally built in wetland environments and today in many cases are waterlogged, offer rich materials and data due to their outstanding preservation[aut]Preservation. At the same time, off-site[aut]Off site deposits in wetlands bear detailed information on palaeoenvironmental conditions. The unique methodological possibility to correlate archaeological settlement[aut]Settlement sequences[aut]Settlement with temporally uninterrupted palaeoenvironmental records in a high temporal resolution, and thus to reconstruct coherent long-term human–environment relationships, is of particular significance. In this opening chapter, the authors introduce the basic parameters of an overarching, contextual perspective to prehistoric wetland settlements[aut]Settlement of Mediterranean Europe, not only in geographical terms, but also in (inter-) disciplinary, or methodological terms, respectively. Sites from eastern SpainSpain, southern FranceFrance, ItalyItaly, SloveniaSlovenia, theBalkan/s Balkan Peninsula[aut]Peninsula, and the Bulgarian Black SeaBlack Sea coast[aut]Coast, coastal are[aut]Coast, coastal discussed by archaeologists, dendrochronologists, bioarchaeologists, and palaeoecologists. Whereas the waterlogging[aut]Waterlogging of the anthropogenic remains and environmental data allow for advanced archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research, at the same time the in situ-preservation[aut]Preservation of the relevant sites, deposits and findings is at stake due to natural erosion[aut]Erosion processes and human interventions, as well as increasingly to climate change[aut]Climateclimate change. To preserve this exceptional cultural heritage[aut]Heritagecultural heritage, the authors underline the pressing necessity and importance to record, inventory, and protect, or professionally excavate and document these sites.