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CategoriesAncient ports
Harbours, quays and anchorages that moved cargo before the coastline shifted.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Old Kingdom to New Kingdom (2600 – 1200 BCE) · Old Kingdom Egyptian
Northern Galala pharaonic anchorage of Ayn Sukhna — sandstone quay at –1.5 m and 100 m slipway for Sneferu Sinai fleet.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Old Kingdom to New Kingdom (2600 – 1200 BCE) · Old Kingdom Egyptian
Northern Galala pharaonic anchorage of Ayn Sukhna — sandstone quay at –1.5 m and 100 m slipway for Sneferu Sinai fleet.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Archaic to Byzantine (800 BCE – 700 CE) · Argive Greek / Carian / Hellenistic / Roman
Carian fishopolis — 120 m agora stoa now −3 m under Güllük Gulf with red marble quarries and isthmus lagoon.
🇲🇱 Mali · Submerged site
Iron Age to Medieval (c. 250 BCE – 1400 CE) · Soninke / Jenné-Jeno / Djenné
Inland Delta harbour mound 25 ha – seasonal wharves 200 m buried 1.5 m at Bani bank, Djenné.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Medieval (543 BCE – 10th c. CE) · Ionian Greek / Bosporan Kingdom
Easternmost third of Phanagoria submerged 1–5 m in Taman Bay — harbour mole, shipwreck and street grid 300 m offshore.
🇩🇰 Denmark · Ancient city
Early Medieval Viking Age 704–900 (Denmark's oldest town dendro 704) · Danish Viking Age (South Jutland emporium — Frisian–Frankish contact)
Ribe — Viking Age emporium and Denmark's oldest town (dendro 704–710 market 8th c foundation, peak 700–900), on Ribe River 5 km from Wadden Sea tidal flats, southern Jutland. Excavated M.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Archaic to Hellenistic (c. 650–100 BCE) · Ionian Greek
Archaic olive-oil harbour – ashlar quay at –0.5 m off Liman Tepe, Urla.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Submerged site
Phoenician to Byzantine (11th c. BCE wording – 7th c. CE) · Phoenician / Punic / Roman African
Tyrian port older than Carthage — 320m Punic-Roman mole now reef off Sousse kasbah, overlaid by modern beach.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Submerged site
Qatabanian to Himyarite (c. 700 BCE – 400 CE) · Hadrami South Arabian / Himyarite
Incense road river harbour 200 m silted in Wadi Hadramawt – warehouses sealed 4th c. Himyar sack.
🇮🇹 Italy · Buried city
Archaic to Roman (720 BCE – 300 CE) · Achaean Greek / Thurian / Roman
Achaean Sybaris underneath 6 m Crati alluvium — western trapezoid buried port quay and archaic stoa, 3 cities stacked.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Ionian to Byzantine (10th c. BCE – 600 CE) · Ionian Greek / Lydian / Roman
Silted imperial harbour 600×300 m now 5 km inland – quay walls buried 4 m, Selçuk.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Archaic to Medieval (c.700 BCE–1100 CE) · Rhodian → Persian → Hellenistic → Roman Cilician
Cilician harbour city with 1 km Corinthian colonnade and vast man-made basin re-founded by Pompey.
🇱🇾 Libya · Submerged site
Archaic Greek to Fatimid (620 BCE – 10th c. CE) · Greek Cyrenean / Roman / Byzantine
Cyrenaican grain port founded 620 BCE — ashlar quay and slipways now reef-submerged with Justinian fortress above.
🇸🇪 Sweden · Ancient city
Viking Age Scandinavian 750–975 (8th–10th c) · Scandinavian Viking Age (Svear) — Svear–Gotlandic emporium
Birka (Björkö) — Scandinavian Viking Age emporium (c.750–975 CE) on Björkö island in Lake Mälaren, 30 km west Stockholm, Sweden's oldest town and UNESCO 555 (with Hovgården Adelsö estate).
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Archaic to Classical (680–350 BCE) · Thasian Greek / Thracian
Thasian colony 7th c. BCE at Nestos mouth — twin 90 m moles at −4 m in lagoon disputed by Thasos and Maroneia (Herodotus).
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Byzantine (c.260 BCE – 450 CE) · Ptolemaic Greek / Roman Egyptian
Peak Fayum metropolis on Lake Moeris — harbour pier and quay 1–3 m under lake-edge reeds, papyrus capital of Arsine.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Classical to Medieval (370 BCE – 1500 CE) · Megarian / Boeotian / Hellenistic
Megarian border fort — 18 m SE tower with original roof above 60 m mole at −2 m guarding Kithairon pass.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Bronze Age to Hellenistic (1570 – 300 BCE) · Hyksos / New Kingdom Egyptian / Late Period
15th c. BCE Thutmose III naval arsenal town on Canopic delta sandbar — quay now –1.5 to –3 m under Idku lagoon fish farms.
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka · Submerged site
Iron Age to Portuguese (c. 800 BCE – 1500 CE) · Anuradhapuran / Indo-Roman / Islamic
Anuradhapura's lagoon harbour – jetty at –1 m off Mantai dunes and silted basin under mangrove.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Ptolemaic to Roman (c.280 BCE – 150 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman Egyptian
Myos Hormos system southern mangrove lagoon at Marsa Nakari — 0.5–1.5 m mangrove-enclosed harbour 18 km south of Marsa Alam, Nechesia hypothesis.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (600 BCE – 400 CE) · Heraclean Greek / Bosporan
Eastern bay harbour of Tauric Chersonesos in Sandy Bay — 110 m quay at –1.8 m and twin ship-shed ramps.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (600 BCE – 400 CE) · Heraclean Greek / Bosporan
Eastern bay harbour of Tauric Chersonesos in Sandy Bay — 110 m quay at –1.8 m and twin ship-shed ramps.
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Submerged site
Ghana to Almoravid (c. 500–1200 CE) · Soninke Ghana / Almoravid / Wagadu
Ghana Empire caravan harbour 300×200 m dune-sealed at Kumbi Saleh – moated stone town 15 ha.
🇮🇹 Italy · Submerged site
Roman Imperial (42–64 Claudian, 103–113 Trajan) · Roman Claudian/Trajanic
Rome's 234-ha Claudian outer moles and 32-ha Trajan hexagonal inner basin — outer moles now lagoonal –1 to –2 m in Maccarese wetland.
