Jacob Sharvit

Stony corals are long-lived, calcifying cnidarians that can be preserved within archaeological strata, offering insights into past seawater conditions, anthropogenic influences, and harbor dynamics. This study analyzes sub-fossil Cladocora sp. colonies from ancient Akko, Israel, dated to the Hellenistic period (~335–94 BCE), alongside modern Cladocora caespitosa from Haifa Bay, Israel. We employed micromorphology, stable isotope analysis, and DNA sequencing to assess species identity, colony growth form, and environmental conditions experienced by the corals. Comparisons suggest that Hellenistic Akko corals grew in high-light, cooler-water, high-energy environments, potentially with exposure to terrestrial waste. The exceptional preservation of these colonies indicates rapid burial, possibly linked to ancient harbor activities or extreme sedimentation. Our results demonstrate the utility of scleractinian corals as valuable paleoenvironmental archives, capable of integrating both biological and geochemical proxies to reconstruct past marine conditions. By linking archaeological and ecological records, this multidisciplinary approach provides a comprehensive understanding of historical coastal dynamics, including ancient harbor use, climate variability, and anthropogenic impacts.

Stony corals are long-lived, calcifying cnidarians that provide critical records of past coastal environmental conditions. This study analyzes sub-fossil Cladocora sp. colonies from ancient Akko, Israel, dated to the Hellenistic period (~335–94 BCE), alongside modern Cladocora caespitosa from Haifa Bay. The sub-fossil corals, preserved within archaeological strata, offer insights into past seawater conditions, anthropogenic influences, and harbor dynamics. We employ micromorphology, stable isotope analysis, and DNA sequencing to assess species identity, colony growth form, and environmental conditions experienced by the corals. Comparisons suggest that Hellenistic Akko corals grew in high-light, cooler-water, high-energy environments, potentially with exposure to terrestrial waste. The exceptional preservation of these colonies indicates rapid burial, possibly linked to ancient harbor activities or extreme sedimentation. Our results demonstrate the utility of scleractinian corals as valuable paleoenvironmental archives, capable of integrating both biological and geochemical proxies to reconstruct past marine conditions. By linking archaeological and ecological records, this approach offers a more comprehensive understanding of long-term human-environment interactions in coastal areas. This multidisciplinary approach enhances our understanding of historical coastal dynamics, ancient harbor use, climate variability, and anthropogenic impacts.

Three excavation seasons conducted in the southern lagoon of Dor uncovered the remains of the Dor Wreck 2 (DW2) shipwreck—a 15.5 m-long trading coaster built from poor-quality but well-preserved wood. The ship was constructed using techniques characteristic of the Mediterranean shipbuilding tradition. The hull of the ship was well-preserved, indicating it could carry up to 20 tons of cargo. However, due to the scarcity of finds, it is not possible to determine the ship’s cargo. The identified wood species suggest that the ship was constructed in western Turkey or southwestern Syria. Carbon-14 dating, combined with electrochemical analysis of the corrosion layer and pipes uncovered in situ on the ship, places the ship’s activity in the early nineteenth century CE. Given the condition of the preserved wood, it is possible that the ship was relatively new when it sank.

An 8th century CE earthquake severely damaged inland cities across the southern-central Levant, but reported evidence of this earthquake along the coastline is scarce. In Caesarea Maritima, archaeologists have found contemporaneous anomalous sand and shelly layers within nearshore structures and interpreted them as construction fill, aeolian accumulation, or abandonment debris. Recently, similar sand deposits were exposed in a Roman-to-Islamic harbor-side warehouse. This presented the first opportunity to directly sample and systematically analyze in situ, undisturbed deposits in order to determine their origin and taphonomic (source and transport) history. Two sediment cores from the deposit as well as comparative reference samples from defined contexts were analyzed for grain size distribution, foraminifera (abundance/taphonomy), and relative age (POSL, archaeochronology). The results support the interpretation that the deposit was formed from the transport of offshore marine sediments during a high-energy inundation event, most likely a tsunami associated with the 749 CE earthquake.