Geoarchaeology: underwater archaeology in the Canopic region in Egypt

摘要

The coastal zone is one of the most vulnerable and dynamic environments on the Earth's landscape. In this timely new publication, Stanley presents the geoarchaeological component of an extensive collaborative campaign of underwater excavations conducted by the Institut Europeen d'Archeologie Sous-Marine (IEASM) and the Hilti Foundation in Aboukir Bay, Egypt. East Canopus and Heracleion, once described as part of the coastal skyline and now submerged within the Bay, are estimated to have begun their descent below the waterline 1200 years ago. Stanley is primarily concerned to describe the approach and partial results used to address the discrepancy between the expected 2-m submergence of coastal features caused by global sea-level rise and local subsidence, which in Aboukir Bay reaches 6 m on average. Understanding the story of the disappearance of East Canopus and Heracleion from the terrestrial landscape is an important model for predicting what modern cities built on deltaic deposits may face.