title: Ancient harbour infrastructure in the Levant: tracking the birth and rise of new forms of anthropogenic pressure.
abstract: Beirut, Sidon and Tyre were major centres of maritime trade from the Bronze Age onwards. This economic prosperity generated increased pressures on the local environment, through urbanization and harbour development. Until now, however, the impact of expanding seaport infrastructure has largely been neglected and there is a paucity of data concerning the environmental stresses caused by these new forms of anthropogenic impacts. Sediment archives from Beirut, Sidon and Tyre are key to understanding human impacts in harbour areas because: (i) they lie at the heart of ancient trade networks; (ii) they encompass the emergence of early maritime infrastructure; and (iii) they enable human alterations of coastal areas to be characterized over long timescales. Here we report multivariate analyses of litho- and biostratigraphic data to probe human stressors in the context of their evolving seaport technologies. The statistical outcomes show a notable break between natural and artificial sedimentation that began during the Iron Age. Three anchorage phases can be distinguished: (i) Bronze Age proto-harbours that correspond to natural anchorages, with minor human impacts; (ii) semi-artificial Iron Age harbours, with stratigraphic evidence for artificial reinforcement of the natural endowments; and (iii) heavy human impacts leading to completely artificial Roman and Byzantine harbours.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Laboratoire Chrono-Environnement UMR 6249, Université de Franche-Comté, UFR ST, 16 route de Gray, 25030 Besançon, France.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marriner
authors.affiliation: Institut Universitaire de France, Aix-Marseille Université, CEREGE UMR 7330, Europôle de l'Arbois, BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence cedex 04, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morhange
authors.affiliation: Institut Universitaire de France, EcoLab, UMR 5245 CNRS UPS INPT, Université Paul Sabatier-Toulouse 3, Bâtiment 4R1, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaniewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Carayon
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce / Q000266:history; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D049690:History, Ancient; D006802:Human Activities; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D014507:Urbanization / Q000266:history*