<p>Rising post-glacial sea levels since the last glacial maximum have dramatically changed the configuration of coastal areas worldwide. On the western Anatolian coast of Turkey, rising Holocene sea levels and tectonic subsidence have drowned large areas of coastal and terrestrial landscapes that were once occupied by Neolithic peoples. These submerged landscapes have high potential for well-preserved Neolithic sites, but to date few systematic attempts have been made to investigate the prehistoric underwater archaeology. Further exploration for these sites is dependent on an improved understanding of the coastal paleogeography, sea level history and shoreline positions during prehistory.</p> <p>In this study, detailed coastal geoarchaeological investigations were conducted at Liman Tepe/Klazomenai, a long-occupied (Chalco lithic-Roman Age) coastal settlement near Izmir, Turkey, to reconstruct changes in the prehistoric coastal environments and to document coastal impacts associated with the construction of a Hellenistic causeway structure. Detailed sedimentological (lithofacies, grain size, magnetic susceptibility, loss on ignition), geochemical (trace metals) and micropaleontological analysis was conducted on five cores extracted from the Bay of Izmir. Core data were integrated with the results of a detailed marine geophysical survey (bathymetry, side-scan sonar, chirp seismic profiling) to reconstruct the shoreline positions from the Late Neolithic (ca. 4000 BC) to the present.</p> <p>The core results identified five distinct lithostratigraphic units (Units A-E), recording the development of transgressive barrier-lagoonal system prior to ca. 3800 BC and progradation of the coast during a subsequent high-stand phase after ca. 2800 BC. The transgressive barrier-lagoonal system is represented by a fining-upwards sequence of pebbly foreshore deposits (Unit E) overlain by laminated, organic-rich muds deposited in shallow wetland and lagoonal environments (Units C,D). The transition from beach to lagoonal sediments is represented in seismic profiles by a basin-wide, high-amplitude seismic reflector. Mapping of the reflector surface identifies the beach deposits as a linear, northeast-trending beach barrier ridge. <sup>14</sup>C dating of organics from Unit E yielded a Late Neolithic Age (3860 +/- 120 cal BC) for the beach deposits.</p> <p>At the top of the lagoonal sequence a sharp transition to muddy silt lithofacies (Unit B) with abundant <em>Posidonia Oceanica</em> fragments records sediment accumulation with a sheltered embayment formed by construction of a causeway commissioned by Alexander the Great (334 BC). The onset of causeway construction (Phase 3) is indicated by a shift to coarser mean grain size, the appearance of pottery and masonry and abundant olive pits which yielded a <sup>14</sup>C date of 450 ± 70 cal BC, confirming the early Hellenistic age for the causeway. The causeway construction dramatically altered the coastal sediment budget, contributing to accelerated sedimentation and rapid progradation of the coastline. An increase in the abundances of <em>Bolivinid</em> and <em>Rodalinid</em> genera below the causeway construction horizon indicates increasing eutrophication of coastal waters as Archaic populations increased at Klazomenai. The detailed record of changing coastal environments and shoreline configurations obtained through this study provide important baseline data for future underwater archaeological exploration at Liman Tepe/Klazomenai.</p> / Master of Science (MS)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/10661 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Krezoski, Gillian M. |
| Contributors | Boyce, Joe, Geography and Earth Sciences |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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