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CategoriesAncient ports
Harbours, quays and anchorages that moved cargo before the coastline shifted.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Submerged site
Numidian to Genoese (c. 400 BCE – 1542 CE) · Numidian / Carthaginian / Roman / Genoese
Numidian marble-shipping double harbour – causeway at –0.5 m and Roman quay at –1 m off Tabarka island.
🇱🇾 Libya · Submerged site
Archaic Greek to Early Islamic (560 BCE – 643 CE) · Greek Cyrenean / Ptolemaic / Roman
Overlapping Greek harbours of Euesperides (560 BCE) and Berenice (247 BCE) preserved as lagoon moles and fish-tanks under Benghazi lagoon.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Classical to Byzantine (360 BCE – 700 CE) · Dorian Greek / Hellenistic / Roman / Byzantine
Cape Crio twin harbours — northern trireme sheds silted and southern mole now 3.2 m submerged, warning yachts at Knidos.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Classical to Late Antique (5th c. BCE – 370 CE) · Bosporan Greek
Chushka Spit ferry harbour of Porthmion at Kerch Strait — 100 m rubble causeway at –2 m with wheel ruts and customs quay 60 m.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Classical to Late Antique (5th c. BCE – 370 CE) · Bosporan Greek
Chushka Spit ferry harbour of Porthmion at Kerch Strait — 100 m rubble causeway at –2 m with wheel ruts and customs quay 60 m.
🇳🇴 Norway · Ancient city
Viking Age (early, c.800–980 CE) · Viking Norse (Yngling/Danish sphere)
Kaupang in Skiringssal (c.800–930 CE) was Norway's first urban trading center, a 54-hectare seasonal and permanent emporium on the sheltered Viksfjord beach at the head of the Skagerrak.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Classical to Venetian (456 BCE – 1571 CE) · Athenian / Aetolian / Venetian
Athenian-to-Venetian harbour – Classical mole at –1 m under Venetian mole at Lepanto.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (600 BCE – 370 CE) · Milesian Greek / Bosporan Kingdom
North mole of Bosporan capital Pantikapaion at Kerch Bay — 140 m ashlar-concrete mole at –2 m.
🇮🇳 India · Submerged site
Early Historic Iron Age to Medieval (c. 200 BCE – 1000 CE) · Tamil / Indo-Roman
Podouke silted brick quay 45 m at 1.5 m above former estuary – Rouletted ware warehouses.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Middle Kingdom (2000 – 1650 BCE) · Middle Kingdom Egyptian
Southern 12th dynasty anchorage of Mersa Gawasis — slipway 80 m at –1 m with copper workshop 6 m behind reef bar.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Middle Kingdom (2000 – 1650 BCE) · Middle Kingdom Egyptian
Southern 12th dynasty anchorage of Mersa Gawasis — slipway 80 m at –1 m with copper workshop 6 m behind reef bar.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Archaic to Hellenistic (493 BCE – 86 BCE Sulla siege) · Classical Athenian
Themistoclean war harbours where 196 trireme sheds launched the fleet of Salamis — slipways still under 6–8 m harbour water.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Archaic to Hellenistic (656 BCE – 200 BCE) · Clazomenian / Teian Ionian Greek
Clazomenian Archaic harbour of Abdera at Bulustra lagoon — 90 m mole at –2 m and walls 400 m, Thrace intelektual port.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Archaic to Hellenistic (656 BCE – 200 BCE) · Clazomenian / Teian Ionian Greek
Clazomenian Archaic harbour of Abdera at Bulustra lagoon — 90 m mole at –2 m and walls 400 m, Thrace intelektual port.
🇬🇪 Georgia · Submerged site
Archaic Greek to Byzantine (6th c. BCE – 6th c. CE) · Milesian Greek / Colchian / Roman
Milesian colony 6th c. BCE now –5 to –9 m under Sukhumi Bay — 400-m Hellenistic mole and Roman fortress half under sea promenade.
🇨🇾 Cyprus · Submerged site
Hellenistic to Early Byzantine (c. 300 BCE – 550 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman / Early Byzantine
Roman quay at –2 m beneath Kourion cliffs – anchorage with amphora piles at –8 m, Episkopi Bay.
🇮🇳 India · Submerged site
Early Historic Sangam (c. 600 BCE – 1000 CE) · Early Pandyan / Sangam Tamil
Early Pandyan pearl harbour 8 km inland silted – beacon mound and salt-pan wharf under pasture.
🇨🇾 Cyprus · Submerged site
Hellenistic to Byzantine (320 BCE – 600 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman / Byzantine
Ptolemaic harbour breakwater 300 m at –1.5 m off Paphos castle – quay at –1 m.
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Submerged site
Tiahuanaco to Inca (c.600 – 1532 CE) · Tiahuanaco / Inca (Pilko Kaina Inca palace hypothesis)
Titicaca highest submerged temple — 10×8 m offering reef and 120 m causeway 2–8 m under lake at 3810 m off Pilko Kaina, Tiahuanaco-Inca votive gold/mullu.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient port
Postclassic (c.1200–1519 CE) East Coast – Mayapan league; Late Classic hamlet antecedents · Maya (East Coast Coastal)
Xcaret (ancient Polé) is the walled Postclassic port-temple town on a Caribbean caleta 5 km south of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, at 8 m.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (600 BCE – 400 CE) · Ionian Greek / Bosporan
Southern Strait mole of Hermonassa on Tuzla South — 180 m rubble mole at –3 m controlling Kerch Strait.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (600 BCE – 400 CE) · Ionian Greek / Bosporan
Southern Strait mole of Hermonassa on Tuzla South — 180 m rubble mole at –3 m controlling Kerch Strait.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (6th c. BCE – 300 CE) · Milesian Greek / Bosporan
Northern pier of Myrmekion at Voikovo — 90 m ashlar pier at –1.8 m with wine presses at –1.2 m on Strait north shore.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (6th c. BCE – 300 CE) · Milesian Greek / Bosporan
Northern pier of Myrmekion at Voikovo — 90 m ashlar pier at –1.8 m with wine presses at –1.2 m on Strait north shore.
