“…Thick ballast stone layers have also been documented from a number of ancient harbour sites in the Mediterranean (e.g. Caesarea Maritima, Alexandria, Dor) Kingsley, 2003;Stanley and Bernasconi, 2004;Reinhardt et al, 2006) but have largely been disregarded as a potential archive of archaeological information, as there is a general perception that ballast layers are essentially ex-situ deposits, lacking proper stratigraphic and archaeological contexts (Parker, 1981;Lamb, 1986). Ballast deposits and associated pottery materials, however, can be preserved as in-situ layers under favorable environmental conditions; for example in low energy environments, such as sheltered harbour basins and in natural embayments where waves and currents are insufficient to erode or rework coarse deposits.…”