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CategoriesAncient ports
Harbours, quays and anchorages that moved cargo before the coastline shifted.
🇮🇹 Italy · Submerged site
Etruscan Archaic to Roman (c. 700 BCE – 300 CE) · Etruscan / Roman
Etruscan iron-smelting harbour drowned under Baratti slag beach – quay blocks at –1 to –2 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Old Kingdom to New Kingdom (2500 – 1400 BCE) · Middle Kingdom Egyptian
12th dynasty pharaonic harbour at Mersa Gawasis — limestone anchor shrine with Senusret stele at –1 m and 8 cedar anchors at –1.5 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Old Kingdom to New Kingdom (2500 – 1400 BCE) · Middle Kingdom Egyptian
12th dynasty pharaonic harbour at Mersa Gawasis — limestone anchor shrine with Senusret stele at –1 m and 8 cedar anchors at –1.5 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Predynastic to Late Antique (4000 BCE – 400 CE) · Egyptian Predynastic / Early Dynastic / Saite / Ptolemaic
Wadjet cobra city — Early Dynastic palace 3400 BCE and Sebennytic harbour 500x200 m now sebkha at +2 m.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Buried city
Classical to Byzantine (400 BCE – 1200 CE) · Aeolian Greek / Attalid Pergamene / Roman / Byzantine
Attalid royal harbour — 400 m closed basin 26 km from Pergamon, silted 2nd c. CE as Bakırçay delta prograded; magnetic walls at −1 m.
🇮🇹 Italy · Submerged site
Archaic to Roman (c. 540 BCE – 400 CE) · Phocaean Greek / Lucanian / Roman
Phocaean silted harbour now 1 km inland – buried ashlar mole and ship-sheds under 3 m alluvium at Ascea.
🇹🇭 Thailand · Ancient city
Iron Age 4th c BCE–2nd c CE early historic port · Kra isthmus Iron Age port — Thai–Indian–Han–Silla crossroads
Khao Sam Kaeo Chumphon — Iron Age trans-Asian port (4th c BCE–2nd c CE) on Khao Sam Kaeo hill at Thai Kra Isthmus 5 km Gulf of Thailand 5 km from Chumphon, excavated 1991–2007 by B. Bellina–P.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (543 BCE – 600 CE) · Ionian Greek / Bosporan Kingdom
Western roadstead of Phanagoria 2–4 m under Taman Bay west of Tuzla Spit — timber jetties and salting quarter 220 m offshore.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (543 BCE – 600 CE) · Ionian Greek / Bosporan Kingdom
Western roadstead of Phanagoria 2–4 m under Taman Bay west of Tuzla Spit — timber jetties and salting quarter 220 m offshore.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (654 BCE – 400 CE) · Teian / Klazomenian Ionian
Western lagoon harbour of Abdera at Bulustra West — 55 m mole at –2 m and bastion.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (550 BCE – 260 CE) · Sindian / Bosporan Kingdom
Central city harbour of Gorgippia in Anapa Bay — 110 m quay at –2 m and salting vats.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Hellenistic to Byzantine (300 BCE – 600 CE) · Seleucid / Roman / Byzantine
Antioch's silted harbour basin 600×400 m now meadow at Çevlik with 1.4 km Roman flood tunnel.
🇳🇱 Netherlands · Buried city
Medieval (1230–1584 CE) · Flemish / Dutch / Zeelandic
Scheldt viscountcy drowned 1404–1584 — 55 km² peat polder with 4 villages now Europe largest salt marsh at +0.5 m.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Hellenistic (560 BCE – 50 BCE) · Toretae Maeotian / Greek
Southern cape harbour of Toricos at Toretae Cape — 45 m jetty at –2.5 m and breakwater spur.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Roman (647 BCE – 4th c. CE) · Milesian Greek
Milesian Dnieper–Bug emporium — second-phase lower harbour terrace 2–6 m submerged under Bug Liman estuary.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Roman to Mamluk (25 BCE – 1450 CE) · Roman / Islamic (Ayyubid-Mamluk)
Western mangrove bay of Quseir al-Qadim at Marsa Nakari west — gypsum quay at –1.2 m and 14th c. Islamic warehouses.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Roman to Mamluk (25 BCE – 1450 CE) · Roman / Islamic (Ayyubid-Mamluk)
Western mangrove bay of Quseir al-Qadim at Marsa Nakari west — gypsum quay at –1.2 m and 14th c. Islamic warehouses.
🇮🇹 Italy · Buried city
Archaic to Hellenistic (720 – 300 BCE) · Achaean Greek / Sybarite
Southern stoa quarter of Sybaris 5 m under Crati alluvium — 80 m Doric stoa at –5 m and potters' kilns south of main park.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Submerged site
South Arabian to Himyarite (c. 500 BCE – 630 CE) · Hadrami / Himyarite
Hadrami sea harbour rock-cut channel 600 m at –0.5 m off Bir Ali – mole with incense altars.
🇩🇪 Germany · Ancient city
Viking Age (c.770–1066 CE) · Danish Viking (later German Ottonian)
Hedeby (Heiðabýr, 8th–11th century CE), on the Haddebyer Noor inlet at the base of the Jutland Peninsula, was the largest Viking Age emporium in Scandinavia, a 27-hectare semicircular…
🇮🇳 India · Submerged site
Iron Age Sangam to Early Chola (c. 500 BCE – 500 CE) · Tamil Sangam / Early Chola
Sangam Chola drowned wharf 1.5 km at –2 to –4 m off Kaveri mouth – U-breakwater at –4 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (305 BCE – 350 CE) · Greco-Roman Fayum
North-central Fayum grain port Euhemeria 1–2 m buried at Qasr el-Banat — double Harpocrates temple at –1 m and harbour basin 100×80 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (305 BCE – 350 CE) · Greco-Roman Fayum
North-central Fayum grain port Euhemeria 1–2 m buried at Qasr el-Banat — double Harpocrates temple at –1 m and harbour basin 100×80 m.
🇮🇹 Italy · Submerged site
Phoenician to Classical (c. 800–397 BCE) · Phoenician / Carthaginian
Phoenician lagoon island with 1 km submerged causeway at –0.5 m and cothon harbour, Stagnone.
