Ливийн эрэг орчмын эртний усан боомт далайн түвшний өсөлтөөс бус, харин тектоник идэвхжилийн нөлөөгөөр 2.4 метр гүн рүү шилжсэн болохыг шинэ судалгаагаар нотолсон байна.
Кирена хотын оршин суугчид МЭӨ 631 онд суурьшсаны дараа Аполлониа боомтыг худалдаа болон цэргийн зориулалтаар ашиглахын тулд ойролцоогоор 170,000 шоо метр чулууг ухаж өөрчилжээ. Libyan Studies сэтгүүлд нийтлэгдсэн судалгаагаар, эртний инженерүүд байгалийн эрсдэлтэй булан тохойг боомт болгон хувиргахдаа тухайн бүс нутаг тектоник хагарлын сүлжээн дээр оршдогийг мэдээгүй байсан гэж дүгнэв. Их Британийн Үндэсний далай судлалын төвийн далай судлаач Ник Флемминг болон Ливийн Бенгазийн их сургуулийн археологич Ахмад Эмраж нарын баг уг газрын геоморфологи болон археологийн түүхийг дахин судалжээ.
Судалгааны үр дүнд тус боомт нь МЭ 8-9-р зууны хооронд тектоник хөдөлгөөний улмаас доошилсон болохыг тогтоосон байна. Өмнөх үеийн газрын гадаргын өргөгдөл болон дараагийн суултын нийлбэр дүнгээр уг байгууламж өнөөдөр далайн түвшнээс 8 фут буюу 2.4 метр доор оршиж байгаа аж. Судлаачид тус бүс нутагт болсон хүчтэй газар хөдлөлтүүд нь эртний Аполлониа хотын архитектурт ихээхэн хохирол учруулсныг тэмдэглэжээ.
Гэсэн хэдий ч боомтын хэсэгчилсэн живэлт нь ганц удаагийн хүчтэй газар хөдлөлтөөс үүдэлтэй эсэх нь тодорхойгүй хэвээр байна. Судлаачид Аполлониа нь эртний нийгэмлэгүүд эрэг орчмын хүнд хэцүү нөхцөлийг хэрхэн өөрчлөн удирдаж байсныг харуулах чухал жишээ гэдгийг онцолсон юм. Цаашид тухайн бүс нутгийн чулуун байгууламжуудыг хэзээ, ямар аргаар сийлж босгосон болон тектоник үйл явдлын нарийвчилсан хугацааг тогтоох нь чухал ач холбогдолтой юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Greek settlers in Cyrene removed roughly 170,000 cubic meters of stone to turn a small, dangerous cove into a working port. Yet the harbor, Apollonia, now lies about 8 feet (2.4 meters) underwater, and a new study points to earthquakes rather than rising seas.
Cyrene was founded in 631 BCE, when Battus of Thera, modern-day Santorini, colonized the inland city. The Greeks then built Apollonia as an artificial harbor for trade and military vessels, not realizing it sat on an active fault network.
The research, published in Libyan Studies, reassesses the geomorphological, oceanographic, and archaeological history of the site. It comes from oceanographer Nic Flemming and archaeologist Ahmad Emrage, affiliated with the U.K. National Oceanography Center and the University of Benghazi in Libya, respectively.
Carving a Coastline to Order
One goal of the study was to work out how much of the natural coastline Greek engineers deliberately reshaped. Earlier surveys had turned up pottery from earlier periods, which suggests fishermen and merchants “almost certainly” used the spot as a small trading hub. The natural harbor was too small and too dangerous for larger vessels, the team explained.
History offers a second clue. By the 4th century BCE, Cyrene was exporting silphium, an unidentified wonder plant of the era, and kept a fleet of ancient warships. According to the paper:
this shows the city was “far more than a minor staging post for vessels,” so major renovations to Apollonia’s natural features seem very likely.
As for the methods, the engineers probably built a rubble breakwater during their first century of occupation. Flemming himself found an area of rubble and large cut blocks during an underwater survey in 1959, which supports the idea, and the approach is consistent with Bronze Age tactics for protecting harbors from wave motion. Vertical carving is also visible on the submerged stone walls of Grotto Reef and Hammam Island, likely where the engineers sourced rock for their fortifications.
Living on Top of Braided Faults
The Greeks were probably not aware that Cyrene lay above a network of braided faults. The network is driven by the convergence of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, and it has consistently brought mild-to-serious earthquakes to the region. Some of the stronger ones are detailed in historical literature and caused “considerable damage” to Cyrene’s architecture, the researchers added.
That seismic backdrop matters because it offers an explanation for the harbor’s descent. The study points to earthquakes, not the sea level changes one might expect, as the reason Apollonia has sunk roughly 8 feet over the past 2,500 years.
Why the Harbor Sits 8 Feet Under Today?
However, the authors were careful, they stressed that it is unclear, if at all likely, that one particular earthquake triggered the sinking of Apollonia.
The figures come from past geophysical surveys. As reported by to those surveys, the region experienced a tectonic subsidence of around 12 feet (3.8 meters) between the eighth and ninth centuries CE. Earlier episodes of uplift offset some of that drop, leaving a net displacement of roughly 8 feet, which is consistent with the current underwater depth of artificial slipways on Hammam Island.
Many questions remain open. The team says it would be useful to uncover the precise chronology of how and when the rocks were carved out of the islands, as well as the timing and magnitude of significant tectonic events. Time may be short, they warned, given the increased natural and anthropogenic damage the region has experienced in recent decades. Still, the researchers that :
“Apollonia offers one of the most important case studies for understanding how ancient communities shaped and managed challenging coastal environments.” The team added: “The ingenuity of its early harbor works, the scale of its Hellenistic engineering, and the exceptional preservation of its submerged remains make it a site of outstanding significance.”
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