Publication Date:
2017-04-04
Description:
In the Greek and Roman periods, the fortified town of Tindari’s military and trading importance
combined with its strategic location in north-east Sicily allowed it to control traffic on the
Tyrrhenian Sea for many centuries. Historical sources (Polybius, Cicero, Livy and Appian) testify
to the flourishing maritime activity of the ancient town, but do not supply any information on the
location, size or configuration of its harbour. Because a town as important as Tindari must have
had a landing place for ships, we examined new sources of information with the aim of identifying
its location. Historiographical and archaeological surveys produced evidence of a well-organised
harbour. Geomorphological investigations, performed along the Tindari Promontory, identified
Holocene uplifted and submerged notches indicating past sea level changes. Furthermore, it was
found that in the last four centuries the combined actions of marine and fluvial dynamics had
produced a progressive filling of the Oliveri lowland and a progradation of the shoreline, which
was responsible for the burial of ancient buildings. The palaeotopographic reconstruction of the
Tindari Cape Promontory and Oliveri coastal plain in the 4th century BC shows a safe landing
place south-east of the Tindari Cape that was suitably protected from prevailing winds.
Description:
Published
Description:
37-49
Description:
3.3. Geodinamica e struttura dell'interno della Terra
Description:
N/A or not JCR
Description:
reserved
Keywords:
geoarchaeology
;
Tindari harbour
;
marine notches
;
paleotopographic reconstruction
;
04. Solid Earth::04.07. Tectonophysics::04.07.02. Geodynamics
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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