Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on December 1, 2015 Late Quaternary beach deposits and archaeological relicts on the coasts of Cyprus, and the possible implications of sea-level changes and tectonics on the early populations E. GALILI1*, M. S¸EVKETOG˘ LU2, A. SALAMON3, D. ZVIELY4, H. K. MIENIS5, B. ROSEN6 & S. MOSHKOVITZ3 1Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba-Khoushy Avenue, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel 2Centre for Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and Conservation, Cyprus International University, Nicosia, 99040, Cyprus 3Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhei Israel Street, Jerusalem 95501, Israel 4The Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, University of Haifa, 199 Aba-Khoushy Avenue, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel & School for Marine Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Michmoret, Israel 5The Steinhardt National Collections of Natural History, Department Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel 6Israel Antiquities Authority, PO Box 180, Atlit 30300, Israel *Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]) Abstract: Late Pleistocene beach deposits in 22 selected sites around Cyprus demonstrate the ver- tical changes in the Earth’s crust in that island over the last 125 ka. The beach/shallow-marine deposits were observed on the abraded coastal cliffs at 3–22 m above the present sea-level. They overlie Pliocene marls, and some of them contain the Senegalese marine gastropods Persististrom- bus latus, Bursa granularis and Conus ermineus that no longer live in the Mediterranean. These are index fossils for the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e in the Mediterranean and, as such, suggest an uplift of up to 15.5 m over about the last 125 ka: that is a maximal rate of 0.12 mm a21. These find- ings are in accordance with Holocene beachrocks, abrasion platforms, wave notches and Roman/ Byzantine fish tanks that retained their elevations, and thus enable the reconstruction of the coast encountered by the early colonizers. While the maximal uplift since the early Holocene has been minor and did not exceed 1.2–1.5 m, the sea-level changes have reached 40–50 m. The transition between the impermeable Pliocene marls and the porous Late Pleistocene deposits above them is the origin of freshwater springs and associated vegetation. The early colonizers seemed to recog- nize the potential of that essential permanent source of water and excavated wells, the earliest wells known so far. The locations of the Early Neolithic settlements (Mylouthkia and Akanthou) adjacent to visible water springs along the coastal cliffs may not be incidental. Not surprisingly, recent wells dug in the coastal Pleistocene deposits rely on the very same hydrological setting. Supplementary material: Appendices 1–4, which include tables and diagrams showing the ver- tical changes (m) and rates of vertical changes (mm ka21), assuming that MIS5e isotope stage deposits are 122 ka old and are at elevation of 7.2 m asl, or 116 ka at 6.5 m, are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18830. Cyprus, one of the largest islands in the Medi- of the eastern Mediterranean Neolithic culture and terranean, is situated some 60 km from southern the spread of agriculture (Peltenburg et al. 2000). Turkey and 100 km from the nearest Levantine The transition from hunting and gathering to a coast (Fig. 1). Open sea, about 1000 m deep, separ- food-producing economy in the Near East resulted ated Cyprus from the surrounding mainland for in a growing demand for land and water resources. several million years, long before humans appeared The unexploited natural resources of land, water, there in the Early Holocene (Broodbank 2006). fauna and flora of Cyprus attracted agro-pastoralists The island played a major role in the evolution from the mainland, where the population grew and From:Harff, J., Bailey,G.&Lu¨ th, F. (eds) 2016. Geology and Archaeology: Submerged Landscapes of the Continental Shelf. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 411, 179–218. First published online June 9, 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP411.10 # 2016 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved. For permissions: http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/permissions. Publishing disclaimer: www.geolsoc.org.uk/pub_ethics Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on December 1, 2015 180 E. GALILI ET AL. Fig. 1. Location map of the study area: (a) geographical setting of the eastern Mediterranean and the island of Cyprus; and (b) morphostructural and tectonic elements in the NE Mediterranean and Cyprus, modified after Google Earth. the natural resources became short, especially changes, and may provide invaluable information near large settlements (Galili et al. 2002, 2004a, b; on past sea-levels, coastal changes and tectonics. Bar-Yosef 2008). Yet, the mechanisms and exact In order to verify the nature of the coastal sections, timing of colonization in Cyprus and the origin we also studied the lowest exposed unit, which in of its population are not fully understood. Recon- most cases, was the Miocene–Pliocene marl. The structing the coastal landscape met by the first colo- data collected enabled us to resolve both the nizers may help in understanding the effect of values of vertical movements of the Earth’s crust the landscape on the colonization process. Such and relative sea-level changes in the last 125 ka, an investigation requires defining the changes in as well as reconstructing the environment encoun- coastal morphology, sea-level and tectonics around tered by the early colonizers of the island. Cyprus during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. It is difficult to determine the vertical changes of Geological and geomorphological setting the Earth’s crust during the short time interval of the Holocene because of its low values (Ferranti et al. Cyprus lies in the NE Mediterranean Sea, sur- 2006). However, it is reasonable to assume that rounded by the deep Cilicia–Adana Basin in the these changes are gradual and constant over time, north, the Kyrenia–Misis Ridge, and Latakia Ridge and thus the average vertical rate of movements and Basin in the east, the Cyprus Trench and Era- since the last interglacial can be extrapolated to tosthenes Seamount in the south, and the Florence the Holocene. This will enable us to determine Rise and Antalya Basin in the west (Harrison et al. how the vertical crust and sea-level changes modi- 2004) (Fig. 1). The present configuration started fied the coast that the early populations of Cyprus in the Early Miocene with the migration of the encountered. subduction boundary between the subsiding Afri- This paper presents a synthesis of the existing can Plate and the overriding Anatolian (Eurasia) geological, sedimentological and archaeological Plate towards the south of Cyprus (Kempler & evidence, along with an original field survey of 22 Ben-Avraham 1987; Poole et al. 1990). During selected sites on the coasts around the island (Fig. that collision, the island emerged and was pushed 2). The fieldwork focused on identifying and sam- onto the overriding plate to its present position. pling in situ Late Pleistocene and Holocene beach This caused north–south compression in the Early and shallow-marine deposits (abbreviated here as Pliocene that was accommodated by thrusting in B/SM) and coastal archaeological features. These the Kyrenia Range and along the northern coast of deposits are archives of climatic and environmental Cyprus, from Cape Andreas in the NE to Cape Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on December 1, 2015 LATE QUATERNARY BEACH DEPOSITS ON CYPRUS 181 Fig. 2. The main localities studied along the coasts of Cyprus. The numbers denote the sites described in the section on ‘Observations on the coastal sites around Cyprus’, modified after Google Earth. Kormakitis to the NW. Later, in the Quaternary, the The coasts of Cyprus are encircled by shallow- deformation transferred into north-dipping strike- marine and terrestrial Pleistocene deposits, mainly slip faults in the NE and NW, one of which was sandstones, conglomerates, and beach and shallow- found to be still active in the Holocene (Harrison marine (B/SM) deposits about 10 m thick and et al. 2004, p. 193). several hundred metres wide, lying unconformably Overall, the tectonic framework of the island is above the Miocene and Pliocene marls (Poole & composed of several subparallel east–west-trending Robertson 2000). Pleistocene terraces and B/SM belts, namely the Kyrenia Range in the north, deposits were found at the present sea level and the Troodos and Mamonia ophiolite complexes up to 360 m above it (Poole & Robertson 2000; in the south and the Mesaoria Plain in between Poole et al. 1990). In low coastal areas such as the (Figs 1 & 2). Akrotiri Peninsula, as well as in river channels, The island hence represents a piece of oceanic there are concentrations of reworked fluvial mate- crust, and the thickening of the lithosphere has rials such as conglomerates and ‘Havara’ depos- resulted in uplift of several hundred metres since its (a local term referring to limestone deposited the Late Pliocene (c. 2.2 Ma) (e.g. Bear 1960; de through the evaporation of calcium-rich ground- Vaumas 1962; Poole & Robertson 1991; Kinnaird water) (Simmons 1999). In places, the Havara is et al. 2011; Weber et al. 2011). capped by a thick calcrete (caliche) crust, locally In the Late Miocene and Pliocene, marine marls called ‘Kafkalla’. These marine and terrestrial and calcarenites were deposited in and around the deposits are the result of a series of marine trans- island, in the areas that were submerged at the gressions and regressions induced by the glacial time. During the Pliocene, coarse clastic mate- and interglacial cycles. This section is abraded by rials derived mainly from the Troodos Ophiolite the sea, in many places forming coastal cliffs associ- Complex and the surrounding Miocene marls were ated with the collapse of large blocks, as well as deposited as fanglomerates on the slope of the rock-cut platforms and wave notches at or close to mountain range that emerged at that time (Poole & the present shoreline.