Mediterranean Seaport Research Articles

Standing at the crossroads — ‘En Ḥaẓeva in the Early Iron Age IIA

This paper presents, for the first time, an analysis of the early Iron Age IIA occupation at ‘En Ḥaẓeva. A series of radiocarbon measurements from short-lived samples obtained from the site’s earlier occupation levels (Strata VIII–VII) were all dated to the 10th century BCE. It is noteworthy, that Stratum VII occupies the second half of the 10th century BCE exclusively, with its final phase around 900 BCE. Fixing the site’s absolute chronology has far-reaching implications, enabling the placement of the early Iron Age IIA settlement within the broader historical context. Situated c. 20 kilometres from the most significant copper industry centre in the Levant — Khirbet en-Nahas, ‘En Ḥaẓeva enjoyed a strategic location in the transport network of copper through the Negev Highlands and the Beer-Sheba Valley to the Mediterranean seaports. It is claimed that the economic prosperity related to copper production at Khirbet en-Nahas during the early Iron Age IIA was ‘En Ḥaẓeva’s raison d’être.

PIRAEUS: A NEW CITY FOUNDED AT THE DAWN OF THE 19TH CENTURY, AROUND THE BIRTH OF THE GREEK STATE

Book review of Nikos Belavilas, History of the City of Piraeus. 19th and 20th century (in Greek), Alexandria Publications, Athens 2021, 599 pages.Piraeus is a charming seaside city, bustling and vibrant, filled with contradictions; a Mediterranean seaport of regional importance, with geophysical singularities and an extensive lace-like coastline; a major cultural and social urban hub of national importance, which played an instrumental role in the industrialization and economic growth of Greece. Piraeus was a newly-founded city that was designed and situated by the sea, in order to serve the maritime transportations of the newly established state. Piraeus developed around the core of the deep bay formed by the Piraeus peninsula, on the site of the ruined ancient settlement and around the humble medieval port facilities, which framed this natural anchorage, in a location that would offer the new Athenian capital the necessary sea link and the infrastructure required for the development of its maritime and commercial activities.In this thoroughly engaging book, both in terms of methodological composition but also as a reading experience, Nikos Belavilas retrieves from an interdisciplinary domain and offers the main axes along which the narrative evolves: the city, the port and the industry. Around them revolves the history of the rapid strategic residential development of Piraeus.

BATTLING WATER: THE FRONTIERS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT BUTRINT (1928–2014)

This article examines the impact of sea level (water table) on archaeological research at Butrint (Bouthrotos/Buthrotum) from 1928 to 2014. Rising relative sea levels over the past three thousand years have shaped the actions not only of its ancient inhabitants but also of its modern archaeologists, conditioning archaeological objectives, fieldwork and the interpretation of the archaeological record. Butrint's first archaeologist, Luigi M. Ugolini, considered groundwater to be a detriment to archaeological research at the site. Subsequent archaeologists have viewed it as the limit of excavation. Battling water at Butrint, archaeologists have shared a universal perception of groundwater as an enemy and thereby have overlooked one of Butrint's most important areas of archaeological research – its wetland and wet-site archaeology. The Roman Forum Excavations (RFE) Project undertook the first wet-site excavations at Butrint, reaching depths of up to four metres below the water table in stratigraphic excavations in the ancient urban centre. The results demonstrate that the ancient urban centre formed much later than is presently thought: the lower city emerged as dryland in the second half of the second centurybc. Relative sea levels have increased since antiquity at many coastal regions in the Mediterranean, often submerging archaeological sites either partially or completely. Butrint is a case study that shows how sea level is inextricably tied to archaeological practice and interpretation at this major ancient Mediterranean seaport.

Economic implications for Adriatic seaport regions of further opening of the Northern Sea Route

The article examines the possible implications of climate change for seaport competition and for the local hinterlands of ports of countries that border the Adriatic. The focus is on the effects that further increases in the annual durations over which the Northern Sea Route is navigable will have on costs of shipping between Asian and Europe and, in turn, the effects of this on the various small Mediterranean seaport regions around the Northern Adriatic. The simulation based analysis finds that while North European seaports may, as might be expected, benefit from the new routings, there would be adverse affects on the hinterlands of most North Adriatic ports as fewer sailing pass them.

Performance Analysis of a Southern Mediterranean Seaport via Discrete-Event Simulation

Modeling & Simulation (M&S) has proved to be a day-to-day highly indispensable tool for complex systems design, management and monitoring. Therefore, the proposed research study aims to develop a simulation model to recreate the complexity of a medium-sized Mediterranean seaport and analyse the performance evolution of such system with particular reference to the ship turnaround time. After the input data analysis, simulation model development, verification and validation, a design of experiments (according to a 24 factorial experimental design) was carried out in order to evaluate how some critical factors (i.e. inter-arrival times, loading/unloading times, number of cars and trucks to be unloaded/loaded) may affect the seaport’s performance. To this end an analysis of variance is performed and an analytical input-output meta-model was created to evaluate the system’s performance.

Before the Comuneros: Castilian and Genoese Traditions of “Liberty” in the 1516 Málaga Rebellion

ABSTRACT Following its Christian conquest in 1487, Málaga became the Crown of Castile's busiest Mediterranean seaport. The influence of Genoese merchants in Málaga's commercial and political life led historian López de Coca to suggest that the city's 1516 rebellion against the Cisneros regency reflected the influence of Genoese ideas. Using previously unexamined evidence, I conclude that while Genoese influence was important, the Málaga rebellion reflected Castilian traditions more than Genoese. Royal letters concerning the revolt also reveal that the administration of King Charles I exhibited remarkable sympathy toward the Málaga rebels' demands, which resembled those of the Comuneros rebellion in 1520.

Comparative Proteogenomics of Twelve Roseobacter Exoproteomes Reveals Different Adaptive Strategies Among These Marine Bacteria

Roseobacters are generalist bacteria abundantly found in the oceans. Because little is known on how marine microorganisms interact in association or competition, we focused our attention on the microbial exoproteome, a key component in their interaction with extracellular milieu. Here we present a comparative analysis of the theoretically encoded exoproteome of twelve members of the Roseobacter group validated by extensive comparative proteogenomics. In silico analysis revealed that 30% of the encoded proteome of these microorganisms could be exported. The ratio of the different protein categories varied in accordance to the ecological distinctness of each strain, a trait reinforced by quantitative proteomics data. Despite the interspecies variations found, the most abundantly detected proteins by shotgun proteomics were from transporter, adhesion, motility, and toxin-like protein categories, defining four different plausible adaptive strategies within the Roseobacter group. In some strains the toxin-secretion strategy was over-represented with repeats-in-toxin-like proteins. Our results show that exoproteomes strongly depend on bacterial trophic strategy and can slightly change because of culture conditions. Simulated natural conditions and the effect of the indigenous microbial community on the exoproteome of Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3 were also assayed. Interestingly, we observed a significant depletion of the toxin-like proteins usually secreted by R. pomeroyi DSS-3 when grown in presence of a natural community sampled from a Mediterranean Sea port. The significance of this specific fraction of the exoproteome is discussed.

Sea–river shipping competitiveness and its geographical market area for the Rhône–Saône corridor

The concept of sea–river shipping is simple: a single vessel sails both coastal and inland waters. Thus, seaport transhipment is avoided resulting in lower transport costs. However, this concept is limited to certain transport waterways. On the Rhône–Saône corridor, sea–river shipping can directly connect inland ports with Mediterranean seaports. The absence of transhipment raises the issue of the competition/complementarity between sea–river shipping and a transport chain associating inland and maritime transport. Sea–river vessels must abide by certain specifications, such as draught, height and length, all related to the navigational restrictions on rivers and canals. The question is: at what threshold, in terms of tonnage, are sea–river vessels more efficient than “barge + short-sea” transport service? After addressing this question, we determine, for different ports of the Rhône–Saône corridor, the competitive navigational area of sea–river shipping.

Another mythology for local development? Selling places with packaging techniques: A view from the Spanish experience on city Strategic planning

Abstract Since their origin, cities have been trading and somehow competing with each other. From the commerce of the East Mediterranean to Mesopotamia, through and within the Anatolia peninsula to the Indus Valley and the Yellow River. Greek city states made a substantial shift in city autonomy that marked their role thereafter. City rivalry arose again and was noticeable by the eleventh century, first through the development of Mediterranean sea ports and thereafter by inland and continental crossroads, whose strength lasted for centuries during medieval times, where strategic points in commercial axes became large urban settlements. The birth of the modern state forced them to lose their political notoriety but not their economic importance, mainly due to the fact that the dominant economic system, commercial and then industrial and financial capitalism, used the cities as their economic base and image of the new social system. Moreover, rapid changes in the social division of labour were taking place ...

News Reports

Of interest to Americans will be the recent visit to Spain of Salvador Dali. His return to his Mediterranean seaport home on the romantic Costa Brava created considerable furor in Spanish artistic circles.