The Proceedings of the International conference 'HOMER 2011' (Ancient maritime communities and the relationship between people and environment along the European Atlantic coasts) held at the Palais des Arts et des Congres, Vannes (France) between 28 September and 1 October 2011. This event was the first international scientific meeting devoted to the archaeology of coastal populations and the interactions between people and the environment in the geographical domain of the English Channel and Atlantic Europe. Recent advances in the archaeology of coasts and islands in the interlinked Atlantic, English Channel and north Sea complex were explored during the seven sessions of the conference, both through syntheses and through presentations focusing on individual research projects, some of them completed, others still ongoing."