Abstract
Geoarchaeological cores were retrieved in the centre of the old “Bahía-Caleta” palaeochannel located between the Erytheia and Cotinusa islands in the former Cádiz archipelago, in present-day southern Spain. The unprecedented coring depth (~ 35–50 m) allowed us to identify the bottom of a Phoenician–Punic and Roman harbour. Located at 20–40 m b.s.l. in the sedimentary sequence, silty sand deposits reveal a deep semi-protected shelter with abundant ceramic and archaeobotanical findings. Based on these new results, the palaeotopography of the islands of Cádiz is reinterpreted, demonstrating the presence of a harbour accessible from the west and possibly from the east until (at least) the Roman period. This major discovery opens meaningful perspectives for archaeological, geomorphological and palaeoenvironmental research.
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Acknowledgements
To the University of Cádiz who financed the archaeological works, especially to former Vice-Rector, José María Mariscal Chicano, and to Andrés Agudo Martínez, former Director of the Infrastructures Area. To María Rotllán, geologist of the company Control de Calidad Cádiz. These works are results of Projects GARVM III (PID2019-108948RB-I00) of the Government of Spain/FEDER; SACEIMAR of the CEIMAR Excellence Campus and ARQUEOSTRA (sol-201800104415-tra) of the Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020); ARQUEOFISH (P18-FR-1483) of the Programa de Ayudas a la I + D+i of the Plan Andaluz de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (PAIDI 2020); and the Project Retracer la paléotopographie et l’histoire de Cadix à travers ses archives sédimentaires under the framework of the IdEx Unistra (Université de Strasbourg) supported by the investments for the future programme of the French Government; Jacob Morales is a beneficiary of a Ramón y Cajal Research Contract funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RYC-2015-18072) of the Government of Spain. Paloma Vidal is a beneficiary of a Juan de la Cierva - Formación fellowship, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FJCI - 2017 - 32461). Archaeobotanical identifications have been made in the Archaeology Laboratory of the Department of Historical Sciences of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; the thermoluminiscence dating was performed in the Dating and Radiochemistry Laboratory of the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid (ref: MADN 6650bb.binx) and Beta Analytics performed the 14C dates.
Funding
This study was funded by University of Cádiz and Université de Strasbourg Projects mentioned in Acknowledgements.
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Bernal-Casasola, D., Salomon, F., Díaz, J.J. et al. Deeper Than Expected: The Finding of a Remarkable Ancient Harbour at Gadir/Gades and an Exceptional Sedimentary Archive (Cádiz, Southern Spain). J Mari Arch 15, 165–183 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-020-09258-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-020-09258-w