Abstract
Event deposits of high-energy waves in the Eastern Thermaikos Gulf and Kassandra Peninsula (Northern Greece) are investigated, and evidence for the 479 BC "Herodotus tsunami" is described for the first time. One of the first historical descriptions of tsunami waves and its effects on Persian troops near Potidaea in 479 BC was made by Herodotus. Sedimentary traces of tsunamis were investigated in cores from different areas from Angelochori in the north to the ruins of ancient Mende in the south (Kassandra peninsula). Evidence for one, locally two high-energy events, on the coasts of Chalkidiki is found. These layers are preserved in flat and lagoonal areas at least from 100 m of the present-day beach. Within ancient Mende, a high-energy layer was encountered. Besides a vast amount of ceramics, the layer also contains articulated bivalve shells. These were dated to a time span between 712 and 521 cal yrs BC by radiocarbon including a reservoir effect of 400 ± 40 years. Resulting ages resemble the time the tsunami mentioned by Herodotus in 479 BC. Deposits of a further event affecting the Thermaikos Gulf were dated between the 7 th to 10 th cent. AD.
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