Relative Sea‐Level Changes During Roman Times in the Northwest Mediterranean: The 1st Century A.D. Fish Tank of Forum Julii, Fréjus, France

Abstract

In memory of Jacques Laborel (1934Laborel ( -2011 for his exceptional contribution to the multidisciplinary study of relative sea-level changes

The Purpose and Age of Underwater Walls in the Bay of Elaia of Western Turkey: A Multidisciplinary Approach

“…The lack of any extended foundation was documented by core ELA 41 ( Figure 4A, 5A) and by nine sediment cores that explored the sedimentary context of the underwater structures ( Figure 2B). An interpretation as piscinae-artificial fish ponds-is also improbable as those installations are by far smaller, of another layout and a different building technique than the wall structures in the Bay of Elaia (Higginbotham, 1997;Grüner, 2006;Evelpidou et al, 2012;Morhange et al, 2013). We conclude that a utilisation as harbour infrastructures, shipyards, breakwaters or other solid structures can be excluded.…”

Climatic signature of two mid–late Holocene fluvial incisions formed under sea-level highstand conditions (Pisa coastal plain, NW Tuscany, Italy)

“…Nevertheless, the two models misfit. Although the amount of available index points concerning the Holocene sea level in this area is remarkable and constantly increasing, there is still a certain amount of uncertainty on sealevel elevation even during the late Holocene (Morhange et al, 2001(Morhange et al, , 2006(Morhange et al, , 2013Antonioli et al, 2007Antonioli et al, , 2009Furlani et al, 2011;Primavera et al, 2011;Spampinato et al, 2011;Bini et al, 2012;Evelpidou et al, 2012;Amato et al, 2013). Small-amplitude sea-level lowering along the Tyrrhenian coastline during the late Holocene has been hypothesized by Benvenuti et al (2006) and Marra et al (2013).…”

The environs of Elaia's ancient open harbour – a reconstruction based on microfaunal evidence

“…Morhange et al (2013) use Roman fish tanks in combination with biological markers to state a relative rise in sea level of 40 ± 10 cm since those days for the region of Fr ejus, southeastern France. Similar work is published, e.g., by Evelpidou et al (2012) for the Tyrrhenian Coast of Italy, by Mourtzas (2012) for the Greek island of Crete, and by Florido et al (2011) for the Istrian and Dalmatian coast, Italy and Croatia.…”