La côte de la Marmarique d’après les anciens géographes grecs.

Changing Urban Environments and the Impact on Coastal Cultural Heritage at Marsa Matruh, Egypt

“…In the harbor area several modern developments have been added, including a sluice gate system connecting the inner harbor with the Eastern Lagoon, which was installed in 1946, and a concrete deep-water docking facility along the southern shore of the western lagoon that was completed in 1983 (White 1986: 58;White and Gardner 2002: 23-24). The latter has completely destroyed any archaeological remains of the ancient pier and a classical urban settlement reported in the early twentieth century (Fourtau 1914;Bates 1927: 136;Harding-King 1927: 189;White and Gardner 2002). Additionally, dredging of the western lagoon by the Egyptian Navy prior to the mid-1980s would have destroyed any traces of previous maritime activity in the port (Hulin and White 2002: 185, n.133).…”

“…The first case study focuses on the ancient town and port features of Paraetonium, which was a fairly substantial settlement that spread from the Western Lagoon to the first Eastern Lagoon but has been extensively destroyed by modern construction. Consequently, our knowledge of this important site is nearly completely reliant on documentation carried out in the early twentieth century (Fourtau 1914;Bates 1927), with the exception of the work of the Pennsylvania Expedition in the 1980s (White 1986(White , 1989(White , 2002.…”

“…Three main areas for the settlement (Fig. 2) were identified during Bates' investigations: (i) along the southern shore of the Western Lagoon (Bates' Site 31); (ii) along the coastal ridge north of the Western Lagoon (Bates' Site 100); and (iii) at the eastern end of the East Lagoon (Bates' Site 54;Fourtau 1914;Bates 1927;Hulin and White 2002: 179). The second of these three locations is described by White as displaying signs that it was once relatively densely built up (White 1986(White : 56, 1996.…”

“…3B) located north of the West Lagoon but, despite being anticipated for several decades, publication of the results of these excavations unfortunately has not appeared and documentation is not known to be available (see White 1986White : 51 n.3, 1989White : 87 n.4, 1996White : 74, 2002. In addition to the town itself, Fourtau referred to traces of habitation along the lagoon system continuing east from Marsa Matruh, although no further details were provided (Fourtau 1914;White 1996: 67).…”

“…Roman harbor facilities were reported in the southeast corner of the West Lagoon consisting of a cut-stone quay or pier with a series of stone jetties projecting into the water (Fourtau 1914;Bates 1927: 131;White 2002: 3). Fourtau also described stone towers at either end of the pier when he visited in 1904 but these seem to have been absent when Bates was at the site nine years later (White 1996: 67, White 2002).…”