Location of the ancient Tindari harbour from geoarchaeological investigations (NE Sicily)

Abstract

In the Greek and Roman periods, the fortified town of Tindari’s military and trading importance combined with its strategic location in north-east Sicily allowed it to control traffic on the Tyrrhenian Sea for many centuries. Historical sources (Polybius, Cicero, Livy and Appian) testify to the flourishing maritime activity of the ancient town, but do not supply any information on the location, size or configuration of its harbour. Because a town as important as Tindari must have had a landing place for ships, we examined new sources of information with the aim of identifying its location. Historiographical and archaeological surveys produced evidence of a well-organised harbour. Geomorphological investigations, performed along the Tindari Promontory, identified Holocene uplifted and submerged notches indicating past sea level changes. Furthermore, it was found that in the last four centuries the combined actions of marine and fluvial dynamics had produced a progressive filling of the Oliveri lowland and a progradation of the shoreline, which was responsible for the burial of ancient buildings. The palaeotopographic reconstruction of the Tindari Cape Promontory and Oliveri coastal plain in the 4th century BC shows a safe landing place south-east of the Tindari Cape that was suitably protected from prevailing winds.