The coast of Israel consists of north–south longitudinal, late Pleistocene calcareous sandstone (kurkar) ridges. The late Pleistocene-Holocene terrestrial sequence was deposited in the troughs between these ridges followed by wetlands overlain by late Holocene sand. The western freshwater wetlands along the coast and the shallow shelf, dried out at ~10 ka. Pre-Pottery Neolithic (12-9 ka) and the Chalcolithic (7-5 ka) human settlements are on these dry wetlands along the Galilee Coast and the Carmel shelf are now covered by sand. In Haifa bay, the short-lived wetlands are Mid-Holocene. The Kebara wetlands, Carmel Coast, fed by the Timsach springs, existed until modern times. The coastal wetlands formed when the Mediterranean coastline was west of its current position. Sea level rise indirectly triggered water-table rise, changes in river gradients, deterioration of drainage conditions together with sand incursion, creating barriers at the river mouths. These temporary wetlands indicate unstable transitional coastal environments.