Geoarchaeology of Magdala harbour and Tel Akko (Israel)

With the support of the MISTRALS-ENVIMED-GEOSISRAEL program and A*MIDEX GEOMED project, we have been able to reconstruct the palaeo-environmental evolution of two ancient harbours in Israel. Harbour geoarchaeology was mainly developed in Israel by the late Avner Raban, founding member of the RIMS multidisciplinary research unit in 1972 at Haifa University. Since these pionneering years, a series of geoarchaeological projects have focused on different ancient harbours, mainly at Caesarea, Dor, and Atlit. Paradoxically, landscape evolution of the major harbour sites of Magdala and Tel Akko have been neglected until two comprehensive multidisciplinary archaeological projects were recently started. Recent excavations undertaken in the ancient city of Magdala, located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, have unearthed a harbour structure extending for more than 100 m, dating from the late Hellenistic (167-63 BC) to the middle Roman (70-270 AD) periods, with well-preserved quays and mooring stones. An integrated (geomorphological, sedimentological, micropalaeontological and archaeological) study of the sedimentary succession buried beneath the ancient harbour area reveals the harbour’s main evolutionary stages, shedding new light on the natural versus anthropogenic controls on sedimentation. Three sedimentary sequences reflect the recent palaeoenvironmental evolution of Magdala. These include: 1) a pre-harbour foundation sequence; 2) a harbour sequence from the 3rd-2nd centuries BC to the first half of the 1st century AD. The substantial increase of ostracod species (Pseudocandona albicans) preferring calm waters and fine-grained facies point to the establishment of a protected, shallow and organic-rich setting. The increase in sodium and potassium concentrations is accompanied by the sudden appearance of Heterocypris salina, a brackish-tolerant species, and by the dominance of noded valves of Cyprideis torosa ; and 3) a harbour abandonment sequence dated ca. 270-350 years AD. Archaeological excavations at Tel Akko, east of the present city, revealed imported artifacts and evidence for maritime trade from the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1500 years BC) onwards. The findings strongly indicated that a harbour had been developed on this site even though its exact location and associated facilities were still to be determined. Sedimentological and paleontological analyses together with 14C dating of cores provide new palaeo-environmental information allowing for the reconstruction of shoreline changes over the last 4000 years. Firstly, we propose that the southern face of the tell constituted the harbor environment,with lagoonal-marine characteristics until ca. 2800 years BP; and that the site was protected by a natural rocky breakwater and a spit which were eventually silted up and transformed into a continental marsh. This environment might have been used as a harbour by inhabitants before the archaic period. Secondly, it seems that the west side of the tell was lined by a sandy coast that had prograded offering an open anchorage until the Persian period. 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