Geoarchaeological insights into ancient ports of the northern Persian Gulf: A vanishing heritage

Abstract

The Persian Gulf is one of the earliest locations where sailing and maritime navigation originated. The Iranian coasts along the northern side of the Persian Gulf have played a key role in maritime history and its development due to the favorable natural and geographical conditions and access to major historical land routes. However, archaeological evidence of ancient ports and maritime activities in this area is scarce and limited to only a few poorly studied sites. This research aimed to identify several potential ancient ports in this region using ground penetrating radar and surface archaeological survey to verify the historical investigations that suggested them as potential ancient ports. The results confirmed that most of the nine suggested sites we investigated had archaeological evidence of maritime activities, but only four of them had buried structures with the others having only surficial evidence. These sites were also threatened by human activity, looting, and encroaching. This study not only highlights the rich and diverse maritime cultural heritage of the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, but emphasizes that more attention and protection needs to be made of this unique heritage, especially in the context of climate change and the need for Iran’s economic diversification.