Tyre – Al-Mina Egyptian Harbour (Submerged Northern Harbour)
Tyre Egyptian Harbour · Al-Mina Harbour · Northern Harbour of Tyre
Iron Age Phoenician to Roman (c. 990 BCE – 500 CE)·Phoenician (Tyrian) / Persian / Hellenistic / Roman·🇱🇧 South Governorate, Tyre District, Lebanon
About
About Tyre – Al-Mina Egyptian Harbour (Submerged Northern Harbour)
Northern (Egyptian or Sidonian) harbour of Tyre – the sheltered basin north of the former island city, now partly drowned after Alexander's causeway (332 BCE) transformed hydrodynamics. Poidebard's 1939 aerial/diving survey and Frost's 1960s underwater mapping revealed submerged Phoenician jetty, north mole and classical quay walls 150 m offshore at 2–3 m depth, buried under 2 m Holocene silt. Noureddine (2013–2018) topographic survey confirmed ashlar jetty with tower footings reused from Iron Age to Roman.
Southern harbour remains elusive, hypothesized as offshore south of island, consistent with El-Amouri et al. diving surveys showing submerged walls inconsistent with harbour basin but representing drowned city sector 3 m below sea-level.
Why it mattersType-site for Phoenician harbour geoarchaeology; Marriner's Tyre isthmus and harbour sequence anchors Eastern Mediterranean sea-level curves. Only Phoenician island harbour with in-situ mole and tower.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether southern harbour ever existed as built basin or was natural roadstead
- 02Chronology of causeway-induced siltation vs. co-seismic subsidence
Theories
- 01Northern mole reused Iron Age ashlar spolia indicating Phoenician engineering continuity
- 02Harbour abandonment after 6th c. CE tsunami and siltation cluster
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 10th c. BCE (Iron Age harbour foundations); mole enlarged Persian–Hellenistic
- Period
- Iron Age Phoenician to Roman (c. 990 BCE – 500 CE)
- Culture
- Phoenician (Tyrian) / Persian / Hellenistic / Roman
- Purpose
- Primary Phoenician emporium harbour – cedar, purple dye and glass export; naval base of Persian fleet
- Abandoned
- Middle ages siltation; progressively infilled after 332 BCE causeway
- Rediscovered
- 1934–1939 Poidebard aerial diving; 1971 Frost; 2013 Noureddine survey
- Excavation
- Submerged
c. 10th c. BCE (Iron Age harbour foundations); mole enlarged Persian–Hellenistic
Initial construction
c. 1455 CE
Abandonment
On the ground
Structures & features
33.2708° N · 35.1961° E · -2 m · 3 mapped features
Egyptian (Northern) Harbour Basin
harbourSheltered 400×250 m basin north of island with Phoenician jetty at –2.5 m
33.2712° N · 35.1965° EPhoenician Northern Jetty with Tower
moleAshlar jetty 120 m with tower footing surveyed by Noureddine 2013
33.2705° N · 35.1955° ESouthern Harbour Submerged Sector
harbourEl-Amouri diving sector south of island – submerged walls at –3 m hypothesized southern harbour zone
33.2685° N · 35.1945° E