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CategoriesAncient ports
Harbours, quays and anchorages that moved cargo before the coastline shifted.
🇬🇷 Greece · Buried city
Classical to Late Roman (333 BCE – 365 CE) · Greek / Hellenistic / Roman
333 BCE closed harbour of Phalasarna now stranded +6.6 m above sea by the AD 365 Crete earthquake — rock-cut basin and canal uplifted overnight.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Middle Kingdom (1991–1783 BCE) · Middle Kingdom Egyptian
Northern Pharaonic anchorage of Wadi Gawasis north — 55 m breakwater at –1.5 m and cedar timbers.
🇬🇷 Greece · Submerged site
Hellenistic (309–281 BCE primary; to Roman 100 CE) · Hellenistic Macedonian
Northern distributary harbour of Lysimacheia on Hebros — 80 m quay at –2.2 m and palace causeway.
🇨🇾 Cyprus · Buried city
Late Bronze Age (1600–1050 BCE) · Cypriot-Alashiyan / Mycenaean / Levantine
Alashiya capital 1600 BCE — Pedieos estuary harbour 400x200 m silted 3 km inland with Cyclopean walls 15 m thick and copper oxhide ingots.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Roman to Early Islamic (1 CE – 800 CE) · Roman / Byzantine / Early Islamic
Southern roadstead of Quseir al-Qadim — 65 m coral breakwater at –3 m and mangrove quay.
🇳🇱 Netherlands · Buried city
Medieval (1200–1632 CE) · Dutch / Flemish / Zeelandic
Zeeland third city 1374 — 84 m church and brick quays at −3 m in Oosterschelde, drowned 1530–1632 after St Felix flood.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Middle Kingdom to Byzantine (2000 BCE – 400 CE) · Egyptian / Ptolemaic
Southern lake approach of Narmouthis at Medinet Madi — 45 m dromos quay and 70 m basin.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Late Period to Late Antique (600 BCE – 400 CE) · Egyptian / Greek / Ptolemaic / Roman
Mendes twin capital — Mendesian Branch harbour 400x150 m with 120 perfume workshops and 70 kilns, now 2 m sebkha.
🇷🇺 Russia · Submerged site
Archaic to Hellenistic (550 BCE – 50 BCE) · Sindian / Milesian Greek / Bosporan
Cape roadstead of Bata on Gelendzhik Bay — 50 m breakwater at –3.5 m and quay at –2.8 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Predynastic to Late Antique (3300 BCE – 400 CE) · Egyptian / Thinite / New Kingdom / Late
Osiris mysteries canal — Shunet el-Zebib 2700 BCE enclosure (oldest standing 11 m walls) with sacred lake harbour 400x100 m for barque procession.
🇩🇪 Germany · Buried city
Medieval (1150–1362 CE) · Frisian / Danish
Edomsharde marsh capital drowned 16 Jan 1362 Grote Mandrenke — church terp and harbour channel at −1.5 m in Wadden flats 12 km off Pellworm.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
New Kingdom to Coptic (1500 BCE – 650 CE) · Egyptian / Greco-Roman
Northern limestone quarry harbour of Akoris 1–2 m under Nile silt below 40 m cliffs — slipway 60 m with rope grooves and quarry chapel.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
New Kingdom to Coptic (1500 BCE – 650 CE) · Egyptian / Greco-Roman
Northern limestone quarry harbour of Akoris 1–2 m under Nile silt below 40 m cliffs — slipway 60 m with rope grooves and quarry chapel.
🇮🇹 Italy · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (700 BCE – 400 CE) · Greek Syracusan / Roman
Syracusan colony 700 BCE — 120 m submerged ashlar quay at −3 m on the Tellaro mouth where Athenians landed in 413 BCE.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Submerged site
Archaic to Late Antique (550 BCE – 400 CE) · Cimmerian / Bosporan / Scythian
Northern lagoon marina of hillfort Kimmerikon below Opuk North — 45 m quay at –1.2 m and fish-pond.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Byzantine (300 BCE – 600 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman (Diocletian)
Western feeder harbour of fort Dionysias at Qasr Qarun — 50 m quay at –2 m and 90 m canal.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Hellenistic to Early Islamic (300 BCE – 800 CE) · Hellenistic / Byzantine Egyptian
Eastern Mareotis harbour of Marea behind Lake Mareotis — 90 m Pharos mole at –1.5 m and eastern quay with chirho dumps.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Predynastic to Medieval (5000 BCE – 1000 CE) · Egyptian / Greek / Roman / Coptic
Thoth capital 2.5 km enclosure — Bahr Yussef-Nile confluence harbour 400x80 m for ibis mummies and Book of Dead papyri.
🇮🇹 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.
🇷🇺 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 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.
🇪🇬 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.