Coastline Shifts and Probable Ship Landing Site Submerged off Ancient Locri-Epizefiri, Southern Italy

Coastal margin evolution and postulated “basin‐shipyard” area at ancient Locri‐Epizephiri, Calabria, Italy

“…This offshore sector was examined by means of closely spaced surface bathymetric and subbottom geophysical profiles. Description of the high‐resolution seismic reflection equipment used is reported in Stanley et al (2007), and findings are detailed in Tennent et al (2009).…”

“… Survey lines obtained in the offshore sector of study area (modified after Tennent et al, 2009). (a) Map shows present seafloor bathymetry (depth in m) and position of two subbottom seismic reflection profiles (dotted lines 15 and 18) that cross over a hook‐shaped low rise (LR; denoted by −5 m contour with heavy line); low depressed area (LDA), partially shielded by the LR, is aligned with elongate depression on land (Figure 2).…”

“…Herein, the gently inclined subaerially exposed ground surface that extends from the city to the present shoreline and the innermost shelf sector immediately adjacent to it are examined. In a first survey made offshore by us, as part of this study, the now‐submerged sector was examined by seafloor bathymetric and subbottom geophysical surveys, and results are presented in a separate article (Tennent et al, 2009). In the present investigation, attention is paid to petrologic, biogenic, and stratigraphic findings in subsurface sediment both on land and offshore, in a sector that is about 200 m wide and extends ∼550 m in a southeastward direction away from Locri's city wall (Figures 1a, 2).…”

Buried and Submerged Greek Archaeological Coastal Structures and Artifacts as Gauges to Measure Late Holocene Seafloor Subsidence off Calabria, Italy

“…This feature is positioned ˜200 to 250 m off the present Locri shoreline and seaward of the Greek stoà and coastal marine basin now on land (Figure a). On seismic profiles, it appears as a near‐transparent, poorly stratified lens with a thickness of at least 2 m (low‐amplitude lens, in Figure b, c) and is interpreted as a breakwater (Tennent et al, ; Bernasconi & Stanley, ). This feature lies buried by >1.5 m of stratified sediment, mostly sand, that forms the core of what in plan‐view appears as a large, angular, hook‐shaped mass of sediment ˜450 m long with an average width of ˜200 m. The sediment mass forms a low rise on the seafloor surface and extends seaward, toward the NE, from the present coastline (Figure a).…”

“…Landward of both the Locri and Kaulonia settlements are strata of Pliocene to Quaternary age that have been deformed and offset by faults (Gasparini et al, ; Sorriso Valvo, ; Dumas et al, ; Bordoni & Valensise, ; Ferranti et al, ). Seafloor lowering is likely associated with faulting and deformation of the substrate (Tennent et al, ). Geoarchaeological study indicates that, as a result of these controlling parameters that affected land and offshore terrains, both settlements experienced significant back‐and‐forth shifts of coastline and changes of sea‐level positions during the mid‐ and late Holocene to the present (Stanley, ; Stanley et al, ; Bernasconi & Stanley, ).…”