Sea of Galilea
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Recent papers in Sea of Galilea
Despite several studies have focused on the past bio-sedimentary response of the Mediterranean coastal areas to ancient seaport activities, only few geoarchaeological and palaeoecological data are available on strictly lacustrine... more
Despite several studies have focused on the past bio-sedimentary response of the Mediterranean coastal
areas to ancient seaport activities, only few geoarchaeological and palaeoecological data are available on
strictly lacustrine harbours, to date. At the archaeological site of Magdala/Taricheae (Sea of Galilee, north
Israel), an interdisciplinary study, combining ostracod fauna composition and shell chemistry with
sedimentology, geochemistry of sediments and archaeological data, was undertaken on the sedimentary
succession buried beneath the Roman harbour structures in correspondence of two key-sections. This
approach provided detailed information about past environmental changes, otherwise not visible, into a
high-resolution pottery-based chronological framework at the transition from a natural (pre-harbour) to
anthropogenically influenced (harbour) lacustrine depositional setting.
New bio-sedimentary and archaeological (pottery) data document that remarkable hydrodynamic and
hydrochemical changes took place during the Hellenistic period (from the 3rde2nd century BC to the first
half of the 1st century AD), in response to the construction of the oldest Magdala harbour installations
and, possibly, to the following Hasmonean structures. The high VeCr concentrations observed in the
harbour sediments, and the substantial increase of ostracod species (Pseudocandona albicans) preferring
slow moving waters and fine-grained substrates point to the establishment of a semi-enclosed, shallow,
and organic-rich setting. Coupled ostracod-geochemical analyses also testify to an alkali ions (Naþ and
Kþ) enrichment within whole-sediment samples, reasonably driven by increasing evaporation in
response to the partial isolation of the lake margin. The increase in sodium and potassium concentrations
is accompanied by the sudden appearance of Heterocypris salina, a brackish-tolerant species, and by the
almost absolute dominance of noded valves of Cyprideis torosa, whose shells are enriched in Na, K and Cl.
The positive covariance between Na2O þ K2O values and the frequencies of noded C. torosa seems to
confirm the relation between node development and changes in ionic concentration within hypohaline
settings.
areas to ancient seaport activities, only few geoarchaeological and palaeoecological data are available on
strictly lacustrine harbours, to date. At the archaeological site of Magdala/Taricheae (Sea of Galilee, north
Israel), an interdisciplinary study, combining ostracod fauna composition and shell chemistry with
sedimentology, geochemistry of sediments and archaeological data, was undertaken on the sedimentary
succession buried beneath the Roman harbour structures in correspondence of two key-sections. This
approach provided detailed information about past environmental changes, otherwise not visible, into a
high-resolution pottery-based chronological framework at the transition from a natural (pre-harbour) to
anthropogenically influenced (harbour) lacustrine depositional setting.
New bio-sedimentary and archaeological (pottery) data document that remarkable hydrodynamic and
hydrochemical changes took place during the Hellenistic period (from the 3rde2nd century BC to the first
half of the 1st century AD), in response to the construction of the oldest Magdala harbour installations
and, possibly, to the following Hasmonean structures. The high VeCr concentrations observed in the
harbour sediments, and the substantial increase of ostracod species (Pseudocandona albicans) preferring
slow moving waters and fine-grained substrates point to the establishment of a semi-enclosed, shallow,
and organic-rich setting. Coupled ostracod-geochemical analyses also testify to an alkali ions (Naþ and
Kþ) enrichment within whole-sediment samples, reasonably driven by increasing evaporation in
response to the partial isolation of the lake margin. The increase in sodium and potassium concentrations
is accompanied by the sudden appearance of Heterocypris salina, a brackish-tolerant species, and by the
almost absolute dominance of noded valves of Cyprideis torosa, whose shells are enriched in Na, K and Cl.
The positive covariance between Na2O þ K2O values and the frequencies of noded C. torosa seems to
confirm the relation between node development and changes in ionic concentration within hypohaline
settings.
- by Sarti Giovanni and +1
- •
- Geochemistry, GeoArcheology, Sea of Galilea, Ostarcods