geoscience of ancient mediterranean harbours abstract although much has been written on the subject of ancient mediterranean harbours the relatively new area of harbour geoarchaeology remains dispersed in the geoscience and archaeological literature over a decade of research has amassed rich and varied datasets of anthropogenically forced coastal evolution with a remarkable number of between site analogies this new research field also shows the rich potential of geoscience to reconcile important archaeological questions no single publication however has yet drawn on these geological patterns to yield a detailed overview suitable for geoscientists and environmental archaeologists the aim of this review article is to 1 discuss how ancient harbours have come to be preserved in the geological record 2 expound the basic principles and palaeoenvironmental tools underpinning ancient harbour geoarchaeology 3 outline some of the most significant research advances made and 4 discuss a new chrono stratigraphic model applicable to harbour sequences

holocene sea level changes along the mediterranean coast of israel based on archaeological observations and numerical model local sea level curves reflect global eustatic changes regional isostatic adjustments of the crust to changing ice and ocean volumes and tectonically controlled crustal movements in this study we evaluate the relative contribution of each of these factors to the holocene sea level curve of the mediterranean coast of israel we use archaeological data as constraints on palaeo sea levels and we then compare the observational limits with isostatic models for sea level change across the region the isostatic model includes the contribution arising from the relative minor increase in ocean volumes for the past 6000 years due to residual melting of ice sheets the effect of the changing shape of the ocean basin the time dependence of shorelines as sealevel changes and the changing surface area occupied by ice sheets differences if significant between the observed and predicted change are interpreted as being of tectonic origin the archaeological observations and the model sea level curve along the mediterranean coast of israel were found to be generally consistent and any discrepancies lie within the uncertainties of both values our model predicted that 8000 years ago sea level at the israel coast was at about 213 5 2 m whereas the archaeological data place it at 216 5 1 m by 7000 bp the predicted level has risen to about 27 1 m consistent with the archaeological evidences according to both observations and predictions sea level was still lower than 2 3t o24 5 m at 6000 bp and remained below its present level until about 3000 2000 bp the comparison between the model sea level curve and the archaeological observations also enable to conclude that the average rate of vertical tectonic movement for the last 8000 years at the carmel coast israel has been less than 0 2 mm year q 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

distinct phases of relative sea level changes in the central adriatic during the last 1500 years influence of climatic variations abstract we present a new sea level reconstruction for the past 1500 years based on biological indicators from the central adriatic islands biogenic littoral rims built by the coralline rhodophyte lithophyllum byssoides were found on the particularly exposed sites on the rocky coasts of the islands of vis ravnik and bisevo in croatia the presence of thick and well developed lithophyllum rims considered to be precise 10 cm sea level indicators points directly to the rising sea level environment biogenic rims were mapped measured and sampled for 14c dating the obtained results point to four phases of sea level changes the sea level was near stable from around 550 till 770 cal ad in the dark ages cold period dacp then during the medieval climate anomaly mca 770 till 1330 cal ad the sea level increased at a rate of 0 71 mm yr during the little ice age lia 1330 till 1640 cal ad it was near stable again later the sea level started to rise at a much higher rate particularly during the current warm period cwp these data were compared with local predictions derived from a glacio hydro isostatic models associated with the last glacial cycle if the isostatic eustatic component is separated this area seems to have almost stable tectonic conditions during the past 1500 years our results show that the large algal rims most likely grew during near stable sea level conditions that occurred during two relatively colder periods in the past 1500 years they also reveal that well developed up to 1 8 m wide upper levels of algal rims were formed during 300 years of stabilisation throughout the lia

coastal reconstruction of vista alegre an ancient maritime maya settlement abstract past coastal reconstruction is useful for understanding archaeological coastal settlements and predicting how coastal change might affect modern populations the ancient maritime maya inhabitants of vista alegre in the northeastern yucatan were active seafaring peoples however the past coastal landscape environmental history is unknown previous research concentrated on the fully terrestrial component of the site and did not approach the issue from an earth sciences sedimentological perspective in this study a sediment core campaign in the shallow offshore of vista alegre aimed to reconstruct the coastal and environmental changes that occurred over the past 3000 years and specifically identify the changes in sea level nine cores were analyzed using a multi proxy approach including a range of sedimentological parameters such as granulometry micropaleontology foraminifera radiocarbon dating and loss on ignition the sediment cores provided an archive of environmental changes related to sea level change anthropogenic influence and shifting microenvironments which can be associated with cultural time periods the environmental phases and shifts show some linkage to the archaeological chronology suggesting an association between the environmental conditions and human activities sea level changes and shifting shorelines have always been and still are a challenge for coastal settlements and ancient sites can be a harbinger of what to anticipate in the future in addition to this current natural and anthropogenic pressures on coastlines are placing archaeological sites at increasing risk and thereby threatening this important scientific and cultural archive therefore efforts to identify characterize and record natural and anthropogenic pressures prior to destruction are increasingly important

new insights on the relative sea level change during holocene along the coasts of tunisia and western libya from archaeological and geomorphological markers new data of sea level changes for the mediterranean region along the coasts of northern africa are presented data are inferred from archaeological sites of punic roman age located along the coast of tunisia between tunis and jerba island and along the western coast of libya between sabratha and leptis magna data are based on precise measures of presently submerged archaeological markers that are good indicators of past sea level elevation nineteen selected archaeological sites were studied in tunisia and four in libya all aged between 2 0 and 1 5 ka bp the functional elevations of significant archaeological markers were measured with respect to the sea level at the time of measurements applying corrections for tide and atmospheric pressure values the functional elevations of specific architectural parts of the sites were interpreted related to sea level at the time of their construction providing data on the relative changes between land and sea observations were compared against sea level change predictions derived from the glacio hydro isostatic model associated with the last glacial cycle the results indicate that local relative sea level change along the coast of tunisia and libya has increased 0 2 0 5 m since the last 2 ka besides minor vertical tectonic movements of the land the observed changes are produced by eustatic and glacio hydro isostatic variations acting in the mediterranean basin since the end of the last glacial maximum

ancient coastal wells of caesarea maritima israel an indicator for relative sea level changes during the last 2000 years abstract during the detailed excavations of ancient caesarea israel east mediterranean 64 coastal water wells have been examined that date from the early roman period with the oldest occurring in the 1st century ad up to the end of the crusader period mid 13th century ad the depths of these coastal water wells establish the position of the ancient water table and therefore the position of sea level for the first century ad up to 1300 ad the connection between the coastal water table and changes in sea level has been established from modern observations in several wells on time scales of days and months and this is used to reconstruct sea level during historical time the results indicate that during the byzantine period sea level at caesarea was higher by about 30 cm than today the late moslem and crusader data shows greater fluctuations but the data sets are also much smaller than for the earlier periods the consistency of the data indicates that the near coastal well data from caesarea provides a reliable indicator of sea level change with an accuracy of about 10 15 cm these results are consistent with observations for earlier periods and with comparisons to model predicted glacio hydro isostatic sea level change indicate that ocean volumes have been constant for much of the past 2000 years the well data is also consistent with an absence of significant vertical tectonic movement of the coast at caesarea over about 2000 years

sea level change and vertical land movements since the last two millennia along the coasts of southwestern turkey and israel abstract this paper provides new relative sea level data inferred from coastal archaeological sites located along the turkish coasts of the gulf of fethye 8 sites and israel between akziv and caesarea 5 sites the structures selected are those that for effective functioning can be accurately related to sea level at the time of their construction thus their positions with respect to present sea level provide a measure of the relative sea level change since their time of construction useful information was obtained from the investigated sites spanning an age range of 2 3 1 6 ka bp the inferred changes in relative sea level for the two areas are distinctly different from a rise of 2 41 to 4 50 m in turkey and from 0 to 0 18 m in israel sea level change is the combination of several processes including vertical tectonics glacio hydro isostatic signals associated with the last glacial cycle and changes in ocean volume for the israel section the present elevations of the mis 5 5 tyrrhenian terraces occur at a few meters above present sea level and vertical tectonic displacements are small data from gps and tide gauge measurements also indicate that any recent vertical movements are small the mis 5 5 shorelines are absent from the investigated section of the turkish coast consistent with crustal subsidence associated with the hellenic arc the isostatic signals for the israel section of the coast are also small ranging from 0 11 mm yr to 0 14 mm yr depending on site and earth model and the observed eustatic average sea level change corrected for this contribution is a rise of 13 5 2 6 cm during the past 2 ka this is attributed to the time integrated contribution to sea level from a combination of thermal expansion and other increases in ocean volume the observed sea levels from the turkish sites in contrast indicate a much greater rise of up to 2 2 mm yr since 2 3 ka bp occurring in a wide area between knidos and kekova the isostatic signal here is also one of a rising sea level of up to 1 mm yr and site and earth model dependent and the corrected tectonic rate of land subsidence is 1 48 mm yr this is the primary cause of dramatic relative sea level rise for this part of the coast

sea level changes and geoarchaeology between the bay of capo malfatano and piscinni bay sw sardinia in the last 4 kys abstract the bay of malfatano cape is the berthing home to one of the most important maritime structures from the punic roman times in the mediterranean two opposing monumental structures have been preserved between 7 and 2 m due to rising sea level recent studies have identified the paleo sea level relating the eustatic component to the glacio hydroisostatic deformations this paper through stratigraphic palaeontological and geochronological data aims to trace the bay of capo malfatano s evolution in relation to the sea level rise during the last 4 kys based on data derived from geophysical surveys paleoshore lines have been redrawn and compared with data derived from coring in the inner part of the creek finally we evaluated the relationship between changes in palaeogeography and human settlements from the bronze age the breakwaters have been surveyed in detail using d gps techniques correlated to the geodesic 0 level through this data the shape of the breakwaters has been reconsidered and consequently the palaeo sea level has been re evaluated

taken from the sea reclaimed by the sea the fate of the closed harbour of elaia the maritime satellite city of pergamum turkey abstract during hellenistic times when the pergamenian kingdom was prospering pergamum was operating an important harbour used by merchants and military at the city of elaia this paper focuses on the development utilisation and decay of the closed harbour of elaia which is discussed in the context of the landscape evolution of the environs of the ancient settlement based on geoarchaeological archaeological and literary evidence the construction of two harbour moles in order to provide shelter against wave action and enemies can be attributed to the early hellenistic period geoelectric measurements revealed the construction profile of the moles coring evidence indicated that together with mole construction a greater area of the formerly shallow marine and sublittoral terrain was consolidated most probably to create space for harbour installations the closed harbour basin was used intensely during hellenistic and roman times later continued siltation hindered further usage in combination with the decline of the city of elaia in late antiquity this was the reason why the harbour was abandoned scenarios for the time of the maximum transgression of the sea around 2500 bc the early hellenistic times around 300 bc and late antiquity ad 500 are presented

sea level in roman time in the central mediterranean and implications for recent change instrumental records indicate that ocean volumes during the 20th century have increased so as to raise eustatic sea level by f1 2 mm year and the few available records suggest that this is higher than for the previous century geological data indicate that ocean volumes have increased since the main phase of deglaciation about 7000 years ago but whether this continued into the recent past remains unclear yet this is important for establishing whether the recent rise is associated with global warming or is part of a longer duration non anthropogenic signal here we present results for sea level change in the central mediterranean basin for the roman period using new archaeological evidence these data provide a precise measure of local sea level of 1 35f0 07 m at 2000 years ago part of this change is the result of ongoing glacio hydro isostatic adjustment of the crust subsequent to the last deglaciation when corrected for this using geologically constrained model predictions the change in eustatic sea level since the roman period is 0 13f0 09 m a comparison with tide gauge records from nearby locations and with geologically constrained model predictions of the glacio isostatic contributions establishes that the onset of modern sea level rise occurred in recent time at f100f53 years before present d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

archaeological remains as sea level change markers a review abstract the mediterranean sea constitutes a unique basin from an historical and archaeological point of view as it has been a privileged way of communication for thousands of years for the people that dwelled on its shores their passage has left many traces on the seabeds in the areas where the ancient commercial routes passed and remains of structures where moorings havens or dwellings existed some of these structures nowadays submerged offer interesting indications aiding the reconstruction of the ancient coastlines this contribution aims to examine recent work in coastal geo archaeology targeting both 1 gathering and discussion of the data particularly those pertaining to the italian coasts and 2 commentary on the methodological debate and verification of the possibility of a protocol that may contain unequivocal referring elements to investigate the archaeological evidence currently underwater because of the relative sea level variations harbour infrastructures fishponds villae maritimae caves nymphaei private or public buildings or town quarters pre and protohistorical villages quarries caves etc a clear and more coherent methodological assumption may be needed the archaeological interpretation must initially establish the maritime and or harbour nature and vocation of the site determine its typology and specific usage analyze the elements of its building techniques that reveal themselves as meaningful markers of height or depth at the time of building and its functional elements the measure of the emerged part with respect to the average sea level and point out the time of construction its chronological range of usage frequentation the dynamics of its abandonment destruction obliteration the evaluation of both the height and functional depth to the mean sea level depends on the typology of the archaeological evidence its use and the local tide amplitudes the surface of a pier surely has a functional elevation different from that of a haulage area or a platea or a pavement

the environs of elaia s ancient open harbour a reconstruction based on microfaunal evidence during hellenistic and roman times elaia the harbour city of ancient pergamum was an important place of trading and traffic intense mercantile and military activities are documented by literary sources and archaeological evidences geomagnetic and geoelectric investigations detected building structures close to the ancient coastline which are interpreted as ship sheds the aim of this study was to reconstruct the coastal evolution particularly with regard to harbour related facilities for that purpose a 10 m long sediment core was drilled in the area of the ancient open harbour immediately in front of the supposed ship sheds it was studied with the tools of micropalaeontology geophysics sedimentology and geochemistry to improve the reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental conditions reference samples of modern environments of the area were analysed as indicated by marine ostracod and foraminifer taxa the sediment core shows from bottom to top that the initially fully marine conditions changed to a more restricted fauna indicative for a more sheltered bay with brackish waters this layer dates to hellenistic times it can however be shown that the siltation process had produced a lagoon system already several hundred years bc the elaia embayment was first used as a natural harbour it was equipped with breakwaters in the hellenistic period the progressive siltation caused the abandonment of the harbour in late roman times

sea level change during the holocene in sardinia and in the northeastern adriatic central mediterranean sea from archaeological and geomorphological data abstract we provide new data on relative sea level change from the late holocene for two locations in the central mediterranean sardinia and ne adriatico they are based on precise measures of submerged archaeological and tide notch markers that are good indicators of past sea level elevation twelve submerged archaeological sites were studied six aged between 2 5 and 1 6 ka bp located along the sardinia coast and a further six dated 2 0 ka bp located along the ne adriatic coast italy slovenia and croatia for sardinia we also use beach rock and core data that can be related to holocene sea level the elevations of selected significant archaeological markers were measured with respect to the present sea level applying corrections for tide and atmospheric pressure values at the time of surveys the interpretation of the functional heights related to sea level at the time of their construction provides data on the relative changes between land and sea these data are compared with predictions derived from a new glacio hydro isostatic model associated with the last glacial cycle sardinia is tectonically relatively stable and we use the sea level data from this island to calibrate our models for eustatic and glacio hydro isostatic change the results are consistent with those from another tectonically stable site the versilia plain of italy the northeast adriatic italy slovenia and croatia is an area of subsidence and we use the calibrated model results to separate out the isostatic from the tectonic contributions this indicates that the adriatic coast from the gulf of trieste to the southern end of istria has tectonically subsided by 1 5 m since roman times

beachrock as sea level indicator a case study at the coastline of oman indian ocean abstract future sea level changes are a threat to coastal communities worldwide therefore reliable methods for the reconstruction of past relative sea level variations are essential to make predictions of future developments beachrocks are a widely distributed indicator of quaternary paleo coastlines with a high potential for preservation nevertheless their use as sea level indicator faces challenges in the determination of the exact elevation of beachrock formation with respect to paleo sea level this information is crucial to the establishment of a sea level index point our study area on the northeastern coastline of oman shows a set of twelve marine terraces that reach a height of 500 m above mean sea level while the upper terraces are erosional the lowest three are depositional on the erosional terraces beachrocks are the only sediment cover that withstood erosion on the depositional terraces however beachrocks occur alongside other sediments which can be fluvial alluvial or marine in origin the coastal development of the area is of high interest as uplift and tectonic activity are ongoing fieldwork and petrographic methods on eight outcrops on three terrace levels led to the identification of eight lithofacies in six facies associations we used facies analysis to improve the information on paleo sea level as derived by the sole use of geomorphological indicators here we demonstrate that facies analysis so far applied exclusively on sandy deposits is applicable also to gravel dominated systems the results contribute to knowledge on local changes in the depositional environment and help to reconstruct uplift rates

millstone quarries along the mediterranean coast chronology morphological variability and relationships with past sea levels abstract the coast of the mediterranean provide several remnants of ancient coastal quarries which are now useful to study sea level change occurring during the last millennia millstones quarries were exploited with same quarrying techniques from rocks like beachrocks sandstones or similar lithologies were shaped to be suitable to grind olives seeds and wheat to produce oil and flour or to break apart soft rocks in this study we integrated historical sources aerial photography field surveys and palaeo sea level modelling to investigate a number of millstones quarries with the aim to asses the intervening sea level change that occurred since the quarries were abandoned we investigated on their chronology spatial distribution and spatial relationship to the sea level our results indicate that most of these were carved close to sea level between 1 45 ka and 0 25 ka cal bp but mainly around 0 45 cal ka bp despite the uncertainties associated with the chronology in we found good agreement between their lowest elevation between 0 33 m and 0 06 m and the paleo sea levels as predicted by the gia models

bedrock erosion by root fracture and tree throw a coupled biogeomorphic model to explore the humped soil production function and the persistence of hillslope soils 1 in 1877 g k gilbert reasoned that bedrock erosion is maximized under an intermediate soil thickness and declines as soils become thinner or thicker subsequent analyses of this humped functional relationship proposed that thin soils are unstable and that perturbations in soil thickness would lead to runaway thinning or thickening of the soil to explore this issue we developed a numerical model that simulates the physical weathering of bedrock by root fracture and tree throw the coupled biogeomorphic model combines data on conifer population dynamics rootwad volumes tree throw frequency and soil creep from the pacific northwest usa although not hardwired into the model a humped relationship emerges between bedrock erosion and soil thickness the magnitudes of the predicted bedrock erosion rates and their functional dependency on soil thickness are consistent with independent field measurements from a coniferous landscape in the region imposed perturbations of soil erosion during model runs demonstrate that where bedrock weathering is episodic and localized hillslope soils do not exhibit runaway thinning or thickening the pit and mound topography created by tree throw produces an uneven distribution of soil thicknesses across a hillslope thus although episodes of increased erosion can lead to temporary soil thinning and even the exposure of bedrock patches local areas of thick soils remain these soil patches provide habitat for trees and serve as nucleation points for renewed bedrock erosion and soil production model results also suggest that where tree throw is a dominant weathering process the initial mantling of bedrock is not only a vertical process but also a lateral process soil mounds created by tree throw flatten over time spreading soil over bedrock surfaces

oxygen isotopic systematics of an open system magma chamber an example from the freetown layered complex of sierra leone abstract the freetown layered complex of sierra leone is a 7 km thick rift related tholeiitic intrusion that formed 193 ma ago during the opening of the middle atlantic ocean the complex was emplaced above archean basement gneisses granulites and schists of the kasila group at pressures of 2 8 to 5 1 kbar the 18o values of bulk cumulates 5 5 6 7 separated plagioclase 5 7 6 0 olivine 5 0 5 7 and clinopyroxene 5 1 5 8 spanning the entire stratigraphic section indicate that the complex has preserved its primary magmatic oxygen isotopic composition the 18o values of whole rocks are uniform in zone 1 average 5 74 0 01 but vary widely in zones 2 and 3 average 6 18 0 52 and 5 71 0 32 respectively variations in whole rock 18o with stratigraphic height correlate well with plagioclase mode with 18o values being highest in the strongly laminated anorthosites of zones 2 and 3 and lowest in olivine gabbro from the cyclically layered subzone of zone 3 the overall pattern of oxygen isotopic variation with stratigraphic height in the intrusion appears to the related to the accumulation of high 18o plagioclase rich rocks that are overlain by low 18o olivine or pyroxene rich rock types fractional crystallization in combination with mineral accumulation can explain the observed oxygen isotopic variations in the complex oxygen isotopic thermometry yields equilibration temperatures of 1040 to 1290 c which are similar to temperatures 1045 to 1381 c estimated from the plagioclase liquid thermometer applied to the freetown bulk magma for each zone obtained by geochemical summation the oxygen isotopic temperatures are highest where major influxes of new magmas have occurred indicating negligible subsolidus resetting of mineral compositions contemporary diabase dikes intruding the complex have whole rock and plagioclase 18o values of 6 6 and 6 7 respectively suggesting minimal interaction of the dikes with hydrothermal fluids archean gneisses from the kasila group have widely varying 18o values of 6 2 to 11 4 for whole rocks and 6 8 for quartz the whole rock 18o values for the gneisses suggest that the kasila group may have been selectively altered by hydrothermal fluids during retrograde m3 metamorphism associated with the pan african event however the kasila appears not to have significantly exchanged oxygen with the freetown magma the calculated average 18o value for the original freetown magma is 6 0 0 2 which is similar to the values reported for magmas parental to the kiglapait stillwater and duluth complex intrusions

clusters of megaearthquakes on upper plate faults control the eastern mediterranean hazard the hellenic subduction margin in the eastern mediterranean has generated devastating historical earthquakes and tsunamis with poorly known recurrence intervals here stranded paleoshorelines indicate strong uplift transients 0 7 mm yr along the island of crete during the last 50 kyr due to earthquake clustering we identify the highest uplift rates in western crete since the demise of the minoan civilization and along the entire island between 10 and 20 kyr b p with the absence of uplifted late holocene paleoshorelines in the east being due to seismic quiescence numerical models show that uplift along the hellenic margin is primarily achieved by great earthquakes on major reverse faults in the upper plate with little contribution from plate interface slip these earthquakes were strongly clustered with recurrence intervals ranging from hundreds to thousands of years and primarily being achieved by fault interactions future great earthquakes will rupture seismically quiet areas in eastern crete elevating both seismic and tsunami hazards

new relative sea level insights into the isostatic history of the western mediterranean abstract a recent suite of relative sea level rsl data for the past 12 ka bp has provided new insights into the sea level histories of the western mediterranean region our analysis of the chronostratigraphic context of sea level indicators from spain catalonia the balearic islands and the gulf of valencia france corsica island and italy sardinia island has yielded 162 new sea level index and limiting points these data have considerably enhanced previous rsl compilations in addition to improving the quality of spatio temporal sea level reconstructions and our capacity to estimate isostatic related vertical motions in the western mediterranean basin the glacial and hydro isostatic adjustment gia pattern elucidated by the new database shows discrepancy with respect to those predicted by the available gia models in particular the new results underscore a non coherent isostatic response of the central portion of the western mediterranean with the balearic islands manifesting significant departures from the sea level histories of corsica sardinia and more generally along most of the western mediterranean coast our results are a crucial contribution to defining both the pattern and the magnitude of the isostatic signal along the western mediterranean coast in fact vertical isostatic motions represent a key to better assess any possible post industrial acceleration in sea level rise and to define future scenarios of coastal inundation in the context of global change

submerged archaeological sites along the ionian coast of southeastern sicily italy and implications for the holocene relative sea level change abstract precise measurements of submerged archaeological markers in the siracusa coast southeastern sicily italy provide new data on relative sea level change during the late holocene four submerged archaeological sites have been studied and investigated through direct observations two of them are greek archaic in age 2 5 2 7 ka and are now 0 98 1 48 m below sea level the other two developed during the bronze age 3 2 3 8 ka and are now 1 03 1 97 m below sea level these archaeological data have been integrated with information derived from a submerged speleothem collected in a cave located along the siracusa coast at 20 m depth the positions of the archaeological markers have been measured with respect to present sea level corrected for tide and pressure at the time of surveys these data were compared with predicted sea level rise curves for the holocene using a glacio hydro isostatic model the comparison with the curve for the southeastern sicily coast yields a tectonic component of relative sea level change related to regional uplift uplift rates between 0 3 and 0 8 mm yr have been estimated