Evidence of an Ancient Tsunami

100 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, marine archaeologist Eduard Reinhardt looks for signs of our violent ancient history

I check my depth gauge: 95 feet. My gas pressure: Good. My bottom timer: 34 minutes left before I have to decompress. I kick hard, my fin catches the water, and I glide through the silvery bubbles of my buddy, watching the seabed below. There is no silence today in my deep, strange office: the sound of a pneumatic jack-hammer starts pounding in my head, vibrating my entire body while an aluminum tube is repeatedly pounded into the sediment to collect a three-metre sediment sample.

I am at the beginning of my underwater shift where I lead a team of two: within a 40-minute time frame, breathing a mix of 36 percent Nitrox, underwater, we work to recover evidence of ancient tsunami deposits buried deep beneath the Mediterranean seafloor. As an associate professor at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, I spend my summers in my underwater office, with locations in Israel, Italy and Turkey.In winters, I analyze my data, and teach. My preferred topic: Ancient Disasters.

After we successfully complete our day of underwater work, I float at my decompression stop, and think about scuba divers in Thailand. Several divers reported being underwater blissfullyunaware of the giant wave, only to react with astonishment when they surfaced to see tragedy on the coast of Thailand.

I check my buoyancy to make sure I remain floating at my required decompression stop, and then, in the 16 minutes ascending to the surface, I contemplate the date of Dec 13, 115 AD.

On this date an ancient tsunami hit the Mediterranean coast of Israel and destroyed King Herod’s harbour and part of the city of Caesarea.

I am driven by questions: What was the ancient disaster like? Did the tsunami really destroy King Herod’s harbour? Thousands of loved ones were lost in inexplicable events that shattered the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The same shores I travel to get to my underwater site every summer. The same dunes, the same buildings, now ruins.

We are certain that the evidence we gather from the underwater sediment samples today tells a story about the tsunami that hit on December 13, close to 1,900 years ago.

There is a written account of the tsunami in the Talmud, and I have held fragments of shells in my hand, their jagged edges showing the sheer physical ferocity of the wave. Concrete blocks, or caissons, which formed the foundation of the ancient harbour built by King Herod, and weighing more than several tonnes, were dislodged from their carefully laid positions.

Photos: Amir Yurman

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 4:48 pm and is filed under Field Notes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.