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CategoriesAncient ports
Harbours, quays and anchorages that moved cargo before the coastline shifted.
🇱🇾 Libya · Fortress
Ptolemaic to Byzantine (3rd c BCE – 7th c CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman / Byzantine (Cyrenaica–Marmarica)
Desert–lagoon frontier tower at Marmarica's Cyrenaica edge, Boreum guarded the coastal road's last water before Egyptian desert and lagoon fishery.
🇵🇪 Peru · Ancient city
Middle Horizon Wari (600–800 CE) coastal · Wari
Castillo de Huarmey? Actually Castillo Huarmey — Huarmey Wari Port in Ancash Region (coastal), Peru is a Middle Horizon Wari (600–800 CE) coastal ancient-city attributed to Wari.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Late Neolithic (4000–3000 BCE) · Bronze Age
Heracleion Temple Annex West in Alexandria Coast, Egypt is a Late Neolithic (4000–3000 BCE) submerged city attributed to Bronze Age culture.
🇯🇵 Japan · Submerged site
Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) · Iron Age
Pavlopetri Outlier House South in Yonaguni, Japan is a Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) submerged city attributed to Iron Age culture.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Early Bronze Age to Late Antique (3500 BCE–375 CE) · Minoan-Mycenaean maritime
Pavlopetri Outer Harbour — Laconia Beyond Walls in Laconia, Greece is a Early Bronze Age to Late Antique (3500 BCE–375 CE) submerged-city attributed to Minoan-Mycenaean maritime.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Submerged site
Lycian–Roman–Byzantine (400 BCE–700 CE) · Lycian / Roman provincial
Tymnessos? Actually Aperlae — Lycian Submerged Harbour Town in Antalya Province, Turkey is a Lycian–Roman–Byzantine (400 BCE–700 CE) submerged-city attributed to Lycian / Roman provincial.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient port
Ptolemaic to Byzantine (3rd c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman
Lagoon annex east of Paraetonium with fish weir and warehouse strip.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Ptolemaic to Roman (275 BCE–600 CE) · Ptolemaic Trogodytica trade port
Berenike Trogodytica Eastern Ridge — Red Sea Port Ridge in Red Sea Governorate, Egypt is a Ptolemaic to Roman (275 BCE–600 CE) ancient-city attributed to Ptolemaic Trogodytica trade port.
🇮🇹 Italy · Submerged site
Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) · Iron Age
Drowned Harbour Mole West in Pozzuoli Bay, Italy is a Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) submerged city attributed to Iron Age culture.
🇱🇾 Libya · Quarry
Greek to Byzantine (5th c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Greek / Roman (Cyrenaica–Marmarica)
Mesa quarry for Tobruk harbour works with slip road cart ruts.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient port
Archaic Greek to Byzantine (6th c. BCE–7th c. CE) · Greek (Cyrenean) / Roman
Rock-cut shipsheds and breakwater on Phycus headland north of Cyrene.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Roman to Byzantine (2nd–7th c. CE) · Roman (Cyrenaica)
Dune suburb of Hadrianopolis with fish vats and submerged mole.
🇱🇾 Libya · Fortress
Roman to Byzantine (3rd–7th c. CE) · Roman (Tripolitana/Syrte)
Salt-pan watchtower south of Boreum with sebkha causeway.
🇱🇾 Libya · Ancient city
Hellenistic Berenice 246 BCE Ptolemy III → Roman to Arab 642 CE · Hellenistic Berenice (Benghazi) port
Berenice excavated by Lloyd 1960s Benghazi grid.
🇵🇸 Palestine · Tell
MB to Iron Age (c.2000–600 BCE; peak Hyksos–Egyptian anchorage 1750–1550) · Hyksos → Egyptian (Thutmosis III) → Philistine
Tell el-Ajjul near Gaza is the Hyksos–Egyptian port-town (likely ancient Sharuhen of Ahmose sack, or Gaza) with gold hoards — Petrie 1930–34 yielded 1200 gold o...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Pharaonic to Byzantine (New Kingdom – 7th c CE; Ptolemaic port 300 BCE) · Egyptian / Ptolemaic / Roman / Byzantine
Egypt's western gate on Mediterranean lagoon, Paraetonium began as Ramesses II's western chain fort, then great Ptolemaic lagoon port with Alexander–Cleopatra stopover tradition; l...
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Old Kingdom (2650–2200 BCE) · Old Kingdom Egyptian
Southern Pharaonic harbour of Ayn Sukhna — 75 m jetty at –1.5 m and 10 gallery caves with Khufu jars.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Roman to Byzantine (130 CE – 650 CE) · Roman / Hadrianic
Northern Nile bay of Hadrian's Antinoopolis — 120 m quay at +0.5 m and tetrastyle gate.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Early Islamic (300 BCE – 800 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman / Byzantine
Western wine harbour of Marea on Lake Mareotis — 90 m quay at –1.2 m and 120 m basin.
🇨🇾 Cyprus · Submerged site
Late Bronze Age to Medieval (1400 BCE – 1200 CE) · Mycenaean / Phoenician / Ptolemaic / Roman
Phoenician Kition 9th c. BCE — 6 ship sheds at −1 m and 60 m mole at −1.5 m under Larnaca Bamboula seafront.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Predynastic to Late Antique (3200 BCE – 600 CE) · Egyptian / Ptolemaic / Roman
Fayum canal capital — Bahr Yussef harbour 300x100 m now desert sebkha 3 km from shrunken Lake Moeris (40,000 papyri).
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (275 BCE – 250 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman Egyptian
Northern mangrove roadstead of Myos Hormos at Marsa Nakari — timber jetty stumps at –1.5 m behind mangroves.
🇹🇷 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.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Bronze Age to Classical (2000 BCE–300 CE) · Bronze Age–Classical
Antirhodos Island Submerged Palace of Cleopatra in Alexandria, Eastern Harbour, Egypt is a Bronze Age to Classical (2000 BCE–300 CE) submerged city attributed to Bronze Age–Classical.
