History lies in the silt of Tyre

Nineveh is now a collection of dusty mounds on the Tigris near Mosul, endangered by looting in the lawlessness of modern Iraq, but Tyre survives as a modest port on the coast of Lebanon. It is also an archaeological site of immense potential importance, a study concludes. The silting up of its ancient northern harbour “means that the heart of the Bronze Age, Phoenician, Greek, Roman and Byzantine ports could be excavated on land, in much the same way as a classic terrestrial dig,” say Nick Marriner, a British archeologist.

Marriner, who has been working with Christophe Morhange of the Université de Provence and his colleagues in their investigation of historic Mediterranean ports, notes in the Journal of Archaeological Science: “Tyre’s ancient northern harbour has been a source of scientific intrigue and debate for many centuries. Many scholars have long questioned whether the modern port corresponds to its counterpart in antiquity.”

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