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Middle and late Holocene sea‐levels along the Israel Mediterranean coast — evidence from ancient water wells
Author(s) -
NIR YAACOV
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1417(199703/04)12:2<143::aid-jqs297>3.0.co;2-7
Subject(s) - marine transgression , sea level , holocene , shore , geology , pottery , period (music) , water level , mediterranean climate , glacial period , archaeology , mediterranean sea , oceanography , physical geography , structural basin , paleontology , geography , physics , cartography , acoustics
During the course of a study of historical water wells along the Israeli shore, which has been in progress since 1984, an innovative method for investigating sea‐level fluctuations was developed. Eighteen ancient water wells were re‐dug, 14 by the author, and four by archaeologists. Most of the re‐dug wells are found at archaeological sites located a very short distance inland from the present shoreline. Evidence of ancient ground‐water levels found in the wells directly reflects on historic eustatic sea‐level changes, and the rate at which the end of the post‐glacial transgression advanced. A critical question concerns the durability and life span of these wells, as the true age is very important for the accurate reconstruction of a sea‐level curve. The Pre‐Pottery Neolithic well of Atlit‐Yam, which is the oldest known well in the world (ca. 8000 yr old), enabled the most accurate sea‐level reconstruction for early Holocene times. Sea‐level rise during that period of the Atlit‐Yam site was of the order of 20 mm yr −1 at the beginning, slowing to 6–8 mm yr −1 at the abandonment of this site at ca. 7.5 ka BP, when it was flooded by the advancing and rising sea. After reaching its present level, sea‐level fluctuations for the past 2.5 millennia were not greater than 1.5 to 2 m. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.