This synthesis integrates recently acquired archaeological and geological data with earlier documented observations to shed light on the subsidence of ancient Greek coastal facilities in southern Italy. These are now positioned between former shorelines and inner shelf sectors at five Calabrian margin localities. Submergence of coastal to inner shelf facilities has resulted in part from sea‐level rise by about 2 m associated with glacio‐hydro‐isostatic factors since archaic to classic Greek time. This phenomenon alone, however, does not explain the wide variation of measured subsidence rates from site‐to‐site. The marked lowering of coastal site substrates by seismo‐tectonic activity (including extensional fault motion), stratal readjustments at depth, and compaction of underlying sediment sequences is significant. Four of the subsided facilities are positioned near emerged Calabrian areas where prevailing Holocene average annual land uplift rates range to ˜1.0 mm/yr; at the fifth, near Hipponion, terrains have risen by nearly 2 mm/yr. In marked contrast, submerged and/or buried structures record the following late Holocene long‐term average rates of coastal margin subsidence: Sybaris‐Thuri on the Taranto Gulf margin (˜0.5–1.0 mm/yr); Hipponion‐Vibo Valentia along the Tyrrhenian coast (˜0.8 to ˜3.2 mm/yr); and Locri‐Epizefiri, Kaulonia, and Capo Colonna on Calabria's Ionian margin (˜1.6, ˜1.6–2.4, and ˜4.0 mm/yr, respectively). © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Holocene molluscan and foraminiferal faunas, sensitive ecological markers, are statistically treated to define their temporal and spatial distributions in radiocarbon-dated cores in Alexandria's Eastern Harbour. Up-core variations of these benthic biofacies record the evolution of depositional environments during the past 8000 years in this long-occupied Eastern Mediterranean port. The most important change occurred in the mid-Holocene between 6300 and 4300 yr ago, a time of lower sea level and minimal human activity. This faunal change, indicating a transition from a somewhat protected to a more open and higher-energy marine environment, resulted primarily from rise of sea level, lowering of the harbour floor and diminished shielding by Pleistocene coastal ridges and reefs near the bay mouth and within the harbour. Since that time, faunal assemblages have remained generally constant, except during the period from 2100 to 1800 yr ago when Greeks and Romans built the Heptastadion that connected Alexandria to Pharos Island; this construction effectively separated the Eastern from the Western Harbour. Absence of a well-marked faunal change during the past 18 centuries is unexpected, particularly in light of the much-increased population and associated human effects. The harbour's overall large size, rise in relative sea level and continued exchange of marine water between the open shelf and port have maintained an active circulation pattern. The strong current regime and reworking of bottom sediments have generally masked short-term human effects and altered the harbour's late-Holocene sediment stratigraphy. These factors help explain why benthic biofacies primarily record influences of natural processes that prevailed in this relatively unconfined, high-energy marine setting rather than those of a more constricted and anthropogenically impacted port.

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Environmental settings on the Ionian coastal plain and inner shelf seaward of Locri-Epizephiri in Calabria, Italy, differed markedly before, during, and following settlement by the Greeks. Sediment core analyses and geophysical surveys in this study support recent archaeological findings and the hypothesis that the margin may once have served as a harbor and/or shipyard. The subsurface Holocene stratigraphy records that (1) the shoreline advanced to a maximum landward position before Greek settlement, then regressed offshore to what is now the inner shelf before once again migrating landward. These marked coastal shifts were triggered primarily by land uplift and probable subsidence offshore along this structurally active Calabrian Arc segment. Associated with this are: (2) a sediment fining-upward sequence in Greek-Roman time that indicates only partial protection of the coastal area, and (3) possible presence of subsurface structures seaward of the city wall in a sector now positioned ϳ200 m offshore.

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