Tsunami Or Melting Glaciers: What Caused Ancient Atlit To Sink?

Haaretz ^ | 6-3-2008 | By Ofri Ilani

[blam]

Tsunami or melting glaciers: What caused ancient Atlit to sink?

By Ofri Ilani

At the bottom of the sea, some 300 meters west of the Atlit fortress, lies one of the greatest archaeological mysteries of the Mediterranean basin. About 20 years ago, archaeologists discovered a complex of ancient buildings and ancient graves with dozens of skeletons at the underwater site of Atlit-Yam. The team of marine archaeologists that excavated the site, headed by Dr. Ehud Galili of the Israel Antiquities Authority, came to the consclusion that an ancient settlement once existed there, but sank beneath the surface of the sea some 8,000 years ago. The finds at the site, including goat and pig bones and wheat seeds, indicate that it was a well-established community whose residents supported themselves by agriculture, hunting, fishing and animal husbandry.

Over the past few months, a major argument has erupted among researchers over what caused the village and the surrounding region to flood. A few months ago, a team of geologists from Pisa, Italy published a paper that offers a dramatic theory about how the ancient settlement met its end. They claim that the settlement was submerged all at once by a tsunami in the Mediterranean, causing the death of dozens of its inhabitants. This theory attributes the tsunami to something that happened thousands of kilometers away.

About 8,300 years ago, there was a mighty volcanic explosion at Mt. Etna in Sicily. The Italian geologists examined the area of the volcano, which is still active today, and found that the explosion caused a tremendous avalanche of rocks to go tumbling into the sea. They came to the conclusion that this event gave rise to a giant tsunami that crossed the Mediterranean, reached its eastern shore and, among other things, caused the destruction

[blam]

GGG Ping.

I'm choosing the melting glaciers/end of Ice Age as the cause of sinking.

[Just another Joe]

I postulate that a GREAT BIG FAT elephant sat on that portion of the land and it sank because it couldn't support the weight.

Either that or an earthquake maybe sank the portion of land beneath the waves.

[bert]

I thought the rise in the level of the Black Sea that broke the dam and formed the Bosporus caused the water level rise in the Med.

[RightWhale]

Polar shift did all that.

[thackney]

. He believes that changes in the climate about 8,000 years ago, which caused glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise, were responsible.

If a rise in sea level was cause, should not the Meditraian be littered with such underwater settlements? Would we not expect every river/shoreline have at least one?

[RightWhale]

should not the Meditraian be littered with such underwater settlements?

It is, hundreds of them.

[thackney]

Meditraian = Mediterranean

Meditraian ????

I don’t know how I came up with that spelling

Bad even for an engineer.

[stefanbatory]

I’m postulating that it sank along with the ancient continents of Atlantis and Lemuria right after their thermonuclear exchange that wiped out both populations.

Or Orca Winfrey was swimming nearby...

[Red_Devil 232]

I thought the flow of water was from the Med into the Black Sea when that happened.

[pabianice]

*cough*thegao’uld*cough*

[RightWhale]

There are not enough polar shift threads.

[steelyourfaith]

From the link:

"So what did cause the village to flood? Galili argued that the flooding was caused by a slow rise in the level of the Mediterranean that led to a gradual evacuation of the village. He believes that changes in the climate about 8,000 years ago, which caused glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise, were responsible. "The flooding occurred as the result of the melting of the glaciers, as is happening today," he said."

What? Impossible !
Surely climate change is exclusively the result of the SUV and the affluence of American freedom and capitalism only. < / sarcasm >

 

Calculate your one-day Carbon Belch !

[Waco]

Smokers!

[OESY]

Obesity!

[Bender2]

My guess is first a mega tsunami, then the rising sea as the ice age ends covers the site.

[Jim Noble]

Over the past few months, a major argument has erupted among researchers over what caused the village and the surrounding region to flood.

5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.

[raven92876]

ping

[tet68]

Baaaaah, waiting for it, George Bush’s fault!
Indigenious Mediteranian Minorites and children hit worst.

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

Bad even for an engineer.

Oh wow! Do you actually get to drive the whole train???

My hero!

[pipecorp]

It was the aliens, just ask tom cruise.

[junkman_106]

Don’t be dissin’ the Engineers...My grandfather used to take me on his steam freight runs in N. Wisconsin in the ‘50’s. Good times!

[thackney]

I’ve had projects considered train wrecks before they were completed.

[arthurus]

I think the break at the Dardanelles went the other way. The Black Sea was a fresh water lake at a lower level when the Med broke through and filled it up with salt water.

[Rebelbase]

13 posts to arrive at the ancient SUV culture as a reason. I thought you folks were smarter than that. :-)

[Rebelbase]

If you got to blow the whistle I’m jealous.

[dalereed]

It just fell into a gia t sinkhole!

[blam]

"I thought the rise in the level of the Black Sea that broke the dam and formed the Bosporus caused the water level rise in the Med."

The salt water from the Mediterranean flooded the fresh water Black Sea 7600 years ago. It probably flooded this Atlit town at the same time.

[junkman_106]

Blew the whistle, held the throttle and once (only) tried to pull the brake lever which was as tall as I was and I couldn’t even squeeze the clutch closed! Some of the best times of my youth along with dawn fishing for walleye, fighting off the bears in the blueberry patches and my grandma’s venison stew...from the deer SHE shot.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks blam.

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[SunkenCiv]

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[Grizzled Bear]

I postulate that a GREAT BIG FAT elephant sat on that portion of the land and it sank because it couldn't support the weight.

So you favor the school of thought that supports the "Rosie O'Donnel Event" theory?

[SunkenCiv]

A settlement (from the mainland, as determined by analysis of their rubbish containing bones from their food animals) on Cyprus also ended kinda sudden like about 8000 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory_of_Cyprus#Aceramic_Neolithic

[Fred Nerks]

SOURCE

Marcus Heinrich Hermanns

Atlit Country - Israel Locality - Atlit

Coordinates – Latitude: 32º48’46’’ Longitude: 34º57’14’’

Land excavations carried out by C. N. Johns, in the 1930’s revealed a series of rock-cut shaft tombs and cremation burials along the SE part of the kurkar (sandstone) ridge. The burial and the settlement on the north coast were dated to the periods between the 9th and the 5th centuries BCE. While studying the Crusader’s north walls, Johns found an older understructure beneath. It was at the ground level of the gate with a kurkar-paved passage and two flanking towers. The remains of the Phoenician harbor were first located in 1963, during underwater survey by a team from the Underwater Exploration Society of Israel (UESI). The mapping and trial excavations continued for two years (1963-1965), as part of the "Atlit Map Survey" carried out by the Archaeological Survey of Israel. In the following year (1966), surveys and trial excavations continued. A check was made on the relationship between the structures found along the shore and the gate discovered by Johns’ excavations, near the northern poterna, east of the crusader fosse. Additionally, the remains of a settlement from the 10th to the 6th BCE centuries were found east of the Crusader cemetery.

Within the northern harbor and the area around it were revealed several wrecks. In 1976, Dr. E. Linder and A. Raban (University of Haifa) carried out underwater excavations to study the marine structures, digging down to their foundations. In 1981, within the North Bay and close to the shore was found a very large bronze, one piece cast, battering ram (476 kg) known as the "Atlit Ram", dated to the Hellenistic period of the 4th - 2nd centuries BCE. Other finds were bronze objects from the Late Iron Age, Persian and Hellenistic periods, along with the ammunition from a Mameluk warship, including canons and copper helmets. In the early 1980’, during the underwater surveys carried out by E. Galili from the Institute for Maritime Studies, University of Haifa was revealed the unique site of a Neolithic (7000 BCE) submerged village (7th-12th m). Excavations were carried out between 1984 and 1991.

Cultural context – MB II age settlement and burials - Phoenican harbor and rock-cut shaft burials - Crusader Citadel and Fortress - Centuries – 16th century BCE - 7th-5th centuries BCE - end of 1291 Crusader rule was ended by the Mameluk Empire

There is not enough data to give a precise date for the ancient harbor at Atlit. The pottery vessels found during the underwater surveys and trial excavations was not earlier than the end of the 7th century BCE. The mole at Tabat el-Hammam, is dated to the 9th century BCE. The parallels between Akko, Tyre and Sidon are not earlier than 6th-5th century BCE. The Atlit harbor being more sophisticated than that at Tabat el-Hammam, and the pottery finds within the harbor basin, permit an estimated date for its construction to the 7th century BCE or even later. The Hellenistic and Roman pottery finds are quite limited, thus one may assume that during these periods the harbor was not at its high pick and use...

(must have been written before globull warming...I assume it's the same place?)

[bmwcyle]

ping

[CholeraJoe]

"Atlantis" by Donovan

The continent of Atlantis was an island
which lay before the great flood
in the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean.
So great an area of land, that from her western shores
those beautiful sailors journeyed
to the South and the North Americas with ease,
in their ships with painted sails.

To the East Africa was a neighbour, across a short strait of sea miles.
The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of The Atlantian culture.
The antediluvian kings colonised the world
All the Gods who play in the mythological dramas
In all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis.
Knowing her fate, Atlantis sent out ships to all corners of the Earth.
On board were the Twelve:
The poet, the physician, the farmer, the scientist,
The magician and the other so-called Gods of our legends.
Though Gods they were -
And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind
Let us rejoice and let us sing and dance and ring in the new
Hail Atlantis!
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be.
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be.
My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,
I wanna see you some day
My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,
My antediluvian baby,
My antediluvian baby, I love you, girl,
Girl, I wanna see you some day.
My antediluvian baby, oh yeah
I wanna see you some day, oh
My antediluvian baby.
My antediluvian baby, I wanna see you
My antediluvian baby, gotta tell me where she gone
I wanna see you some day
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, oh yeah
Oh glub glub, down down, yeah