Researchers have recently found evidence of a major tsunami that hit Israel’s northern coast nearly 10,000 years ago that could have dispelled any evidence of prehistoric cities on the Mediterranean coast . He traveled inland for kilometers in the early Neolithic.
The study also revealed that the big wave was estimated to be around 50 to 130 feet high (15-40 meters) and may have been caused by a large earthquake in the area. It may shed light on why there is no evidence of that part of the coast that archaeologists have been baptizing for so long.
According to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, researchers have also found evidence of other ancient tsunamis in the region.
The findings of the study show that such incidents can be frequent and catastrophic even in relatively small but closed seas such as the Mediterranean Sea.
The aftermath of the discovered tsunami appeared to be much greater than others in the region over the past 6,000 years. The wave is thought to have hit the Tel Dor region between 9,910 and 9,290 years ago, making it the earliest known tsunami in the Mediterranean.
The study also revealed that most recorded tsunamis did not travel more than a few hundred meters, but this wave is believed to have washed away anywhere between 1.5 to 3.5 kilometers inland. The cause of the tsunami, however, is believed to be an earthquake across the Dead Sea fault system.
The research team also found marine sediments, including sea shells and sand in an area that was far inland at the time of the incident which is now thought to have occurred. They now believe that a tsunami could not have washed this cover here.
The team, which included a team of archaeologists and geologists from the University of California San Diego and the University of Haifa, found evidence of a prehistoric cataclysm at Tel Dor, an ancient seaside settlement, south of Haifa.
Gilad Shtienberg, a geologist from the University of California San Diego and who is also the lead author of the study, said they were not really looking for evidence of a tsunami but were analyzing the geological history of the area. to understand environmental changes and how it would have affected Dor ‘s life.
‘Our project aims to reconstruct ancient climate and environmental change over the past 12,000 years on the coast of Israel; and we never dreamed of finding evidence of a prehistoric tsunami in Israel ’, Shtienberg, in a report on the aforementioned conclusions.
The research team said the wave may have been the main reason it was difficult to find evidence of cities or people living between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago. However, by the end of the Neolithic, around 5,000 BCE, the area was re-settled.