Tracing the Alkinoos Harbor of ancient Kerkyra, Greece, and reconstructing its paleotsunami history

Abstract

In this study, the Alkinoos Harbor of ancient Corfu was investigated by means of geomorphological and sedimentological methods in order to reconstruct the ancient harbor's construction, its period of use and spatial extent, and local paleoenvironmental changes. We present sedimentological evidence for the Alkinoos Harbor that shows distinct signs of dredging activities. Although the harbor must have been in use from the Archaic period onwards, a set of paleoenvironmental proxies based on vibracoring, geophysical prospection, electrical conductivity logging, microfaunal studies, and geochemical analyses revealed typical sediments of a closed, protected Roman harbor that was in use between the 1st and 6th century A.D. In addition, sedimentological and microfaunal evidence allowed us to differentiate between different parts of the Roman harbor. In contrast, the pre-Roman harbor and its shipsheds were built on a sandy seashore. Our data revealed two distinct stratigraphic disruptions related to tsunamigenic impact. These paleotsunamis were dated between the 3rd and 6th century A.D. and between the 5th and 6th century A.D., most probably correlating with the A.D. 365 (Crete) and 6th century A.D. (Peloponnese) supraregional events, respectively. The Alkinoos Harbor turned out to be an outstanding geoarchive to reconstruct human-environment interactions during the late Holocene.