A formalized approach to analysis of geoarchaeological sediment samples: The location of the early punic Harbor at Carthage, Tunisia

Abstract

This article concerns, first, the development of an approach to data analysis of sedimentological, micro‐ and macrofaunal, and artifactual data obtained from analysis of geoarchaeological sediment core samples and, second, an algorithmic ordering of resulting sediment groups to arrive at a definitive stratigraphic sequence. Correspondence analysis (CA) was the principal data analysis technique applied, and the algorithmic ordering is one developed for discrete sampling sequences such as core transects. From a methodological standpoint, this approach allows an assessment of the usefulness of different types of analytical information pertaining to a paleoenvironmental reconstruction of a coastal archaeological site. In terms of the geoarchaeological problem that initiated the study, the results permit a possible reconstruction of the location and nature of the first Punic port at Carthage, Tunisia.