Harbours of the central levantine coast from the late bronze and iron age periods

Résumé

Since the dawn of time, the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean have been rich in maritime activity. At various periods in history, (for example, the early Bronze Age) these coasts served as highways and trading routes connecting various civilizations. Millenniums of commerce, seafaring, marine wars, and fishing have left an enormous amount of archaeological remains and artifacts on the coast and seabed in the heart of the eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Lebanon. There shipwrecks, ports, anchorages, and submerged rock-cut coastal installations have established its maritime archaeological heritage and mark large portion of human history as ancient as the exportation of the alphabets. This study focuses on two major points: the ancient texts that illustrate ports on the eastern Mediterranean sailing from Byblos, Tyre, and other Levantine cities, mainly to Egypt; and the underwater archaeological surveys on the ancient harbour of Tyre and Byblos. Despite the uncertainty regarding the existence of harbour installation in the Bronze Age, it is certain that various forms of ports were used at the time to transport freights using sizable vessels that correspond to the period, and were big enough to handle the bulky cargoes of the era. Major changes in the eastern Mediterranean occurred during the 12th century BC with the disappearance of the two great-centralized states that exercised the role of police in territory, the Hittites and the Egyptians. Egypt did not disappear from the scene completely, but lost control over Canaan during the middle of the 12th century BC. (Finkelstein and Piasetzky, 2009: 373-386). In my thesis, I discussed the geographical location and the history of the Phoenician cities and their expansions, their relationship with Egypt and the rest of the ancient world using textual references. Also I propose that the power vacuum created in the Levant was the first major impetus for the rise of the Sea People, who I believe played a major role in the development of harbours. Archaeological data from land excavations, as well as underwater archaeological surveys and excavations, helped in developing the argument for this thesis. Currently, built harbours are confirmed on the eastern Mediterranean to belong to the Iron Age period. The fact that the only other area where this construction method is attributed to the Sea People is at their settlements along the Levantine coast following their arrival during the early Iron Age would lends credence to the idea that the Sea People’s technology, imported from the Mycenaean world, had influence on the local eastern Mediterranean technology; therefore, the ashlar-building techniques implemented on harbours were introduced as a kind of a marriage between both cultures. Evidence of ashlar-building harbour jetties has been noted clearly on the Levantine proper since the Iron Age II; for instance, the harbour construction at Tabbat al-Hammam dates to the 9th century BC (Braidwood, 1940: 203-210, Marriner and Morhange 2007:175), with the closest comparison to Tabat al-Hammam being Tyre, identified as the Phoenician harbour 8th century BC (Noureddine, 2010: 180), and finally, the Atlit harbour that is considered to be a replica of Tyre’s, and dates to the 7th century BC (Raban and Elisha, 1993: 120). Two important factors in this study, which help shed light on the maritime history of the Levant, are the stone anchor discoveries at Byblos and the identification of the Iron Age Phoenician built Harbour at Tyre. The existence of these anchors adds to the fact that exterior anchorages were considered fundamental in the Bronze Age period due to the lack of built harbours that provide instant security to vessels. Perhaps the emergences of the “cothon” and “slipway” shore modifications during the Bronze Age period were alternatives to a fully-protected area, which became the built harbours of the Iron Age Period. However, this prompts several questions: how did Bronze Ages sailors manage to load and unload frights in the offshore areas? Or more specifically: how did they even pull anchors under substantial weights? Did they use a form of rollers, tackles or any kind of bobbins to help them pull up the heavy stone anchors? More studies that focus on the means used to load and unload offshore cargos would help to understand the harbour works and anchorages of this era. Furthermore, excavating the harbour at Tyre presents the possibility of discovering a depth of information since it is clear, ancient maritime people must have used Tyre’s natural bay and formations and modified it to create types of harbour installations even prior to the Iron Age Period. Presently, geomorphology and geo-archaeology have become crucial in understanding the major changes to the reef levels in ancient sites. Therefore, it is highly recommended that additional geological, geo-archaeological and geomorphologic studies be conducted on the sites mentioned in this study in order to facilitate maritime archaeology investigation in the Eastern Mediterranean.