Report to the Trustees of the Honor Frost Foundation

By Dan Mirkin, Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University

Having been awarded a grant by the Honor Frost Foundation for the research of

the so called 'Apollonia Port', and having accomplished the field (sea) work for

which the Foundation had generously awarded the said grant, I take the liberty

of presenting my report.

1. General

The so-called 'Apollonia Port' or 'Military Harbour', located at the foot of the

Apollonia-Arsuf Crusaders' castle, about 2 Nautical miles north of the modern

city of Herzeliya, is approximately 33 meters wide, in the east-west direction,

and about 80 meters long in the north-south direction, (fig.1)

The so called Port has constructed walls or breakwaters along its northern and

southern ends, and a rock-reef to the west. Its four cardinal points are:

1. North-West Corner 32°11'45,18" N

34°48'21,12" E

2. South-West Corner 32°11'42,45" N

34°48'22,35" E

3. North-East Corner 32°11'44,52" N

34°48'22,27" E

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4. South-East Corner 32°11'42,04" N

34°48'21,53" E

As I have already described in the application submitted to the Honor Frost

Foundation opinions differ as to the true nature of the Site: was it a real port or

harbour? Was it just a small mooring basin for small craft? Or, as some

scholars claim, was it just an installation designed to prevent an approach from

the sea to the kurkar1 cliff on which the castle itself was erected.

Dr. Eva Grossmann is one of the scholars who pioneered the research of the

'Port' which was the subject of her PhD dissertation.2 However, among many

other observations, her work included an artist's impression of the 'Port' with a

number of ships moored therein, a description that has, indeed, defied

imagination. The site which was studied in the present work which, for the

purposes of this report I shall refer to as 'Port' or 'Site', was silted, and full of

rubble, including whole sections of walls which fell from the castle. The main

purpose of the study was to identify the archaeological characteristics of the

site. Therefore we excavated underwater three trenches by water generated

dredgers. During the work it became clear that a geo-morphological study is

required, taking into account the sea-level changes since the 13th

century3. We

have ,therefore, surveyed by water jetting probes the majority of the site,

including the alleged entrances.

2. Logistics

The Port is located at the foot of the cliff. However, in order to protect the cliff

against erosion by the sea waves, in the winter of 2009 huge boulders were

1 "Kurkar" is the common name for fossilized sand stone, or calcareous sandstone.

2 Grossman, E. Maitime Investigation of Tel-Michal and Apollonia Sites, Ph.D. Dissertation --

Macquarie University, 1995.

3 Toker, E., et al., Evidence for Centennial Scale Sea Level Variability during the Medieval

Climate Optimum (Crusader Period) in Israel, Eastern Mediterranean, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

(2011), doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.07.019

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placed on the narrow beach, to the south of the port, west of the castle, making

approach by foot extremely difficult and hazardous. As for the approach from

the north – there is no way to reach the beach by car, so there is no possibility

for overland transport of excavation equipment such as water-pump, dredgers,

or dive gear (e.g. air-tanks) and so forth. This obviously, prescribed the need to

find a solution of transport by sea. The dredge water-pump, which weights

approximately 250 kg, was installed on a wooden stage on a rubber boat,

(fig.2),

and sailed to the Site from the marina of Herzliya. The operation was done very

early in the morning when the sea is relatively calm as the boat, being very top

heavy, was not really designed for such a work, and any beam wave could have

caused a capsize. At the entrance to the Site the outboard engine of the boat

was raised, due to shallow reefs, and she was rowed in. The rest of the

equipment, air-tanks, dredgers, hoses pipes, dive gear, office supplies, food etc.

was transported on a very flat motorboat which was 'walked' into the Port,

through the narrow entrance in the reef (fig.3).

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In some works this reef was interpreted as part of a breakwater, and, actually,

acts as such to some extent. Except during the first stage of installation and,

later, the dismantling of the camp, the motorboat remained out of the reef and

air-tanks and provisions were sailed into the Port on a kayak, (fig.4).

Electricity and water were brought down, by long hoses and cables, from the

Apollonia National Park located at the top of the cliff, and a tent was erected

for a guardian who remained on the site during the entire operation.

3. Equipment

- Angus Fire LD 1800 water-pump used for operating

dredges and water-jetting.

- Many sets of ventury dredgers, hoses, pipes, crates and

one set of water-jetting.

- chests for transporting rubble and stones.

- Fifteen sets of dive gear and diving suits.

- Equipment for underwater documentation: drawing,

recording and photography.

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- Measuring equipment.

- Office supplies and dive log.

- Equipment for setting up a camp: tent, table, kitchen

equipment.

- Miscellaneous tools and equipment.

- Supply motor boat and rubber boat.

4. Work performed

General:

The work was divided into two main topics: studying of the breakwaters, on the

one hand, and studying the seabed, on the other hand. A total of 119 dives were

performed under supervision of the Maritime Workshop of the Leon Recanati

Institute for Maritime Studies, University of Haifa. The work included clearing

of stones and rubble, excavation of trenches, water-jetting and recording of the

constructions on the site

Seabed:

The first stage involved, mainly, clearing stones and rubble which littered part

of the bottom of the Port, most of which fell down from the castle over the

years. This was done to create areas of clear seabed that could later be

excavated, (fig. 5).

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The stones, generally ashlars often measuring about 40 × 30 × 25 centimeters,

were collected into crates, dragged under water and then deposited outside of

the northern wall.

When a substantial area located in the north-western part of the Port was

cleared of heavy rubble and stones, the excavation commenced, employing two

dredgers. It was decided to first try dredge a deep trench in order to examine

the foundation of the northern wall or breakwater, and the western reef and

when the trench has reached the depth of about 1.5 meters divers were

instructed not to excavate under the wall so as to avoid danger of collapse.

After the foundation of the breakwater was examined, it was decided to extend

the trench eastward, toward the shore. At a later stage the trench was extended

southward and deeper.

As much of the area of the Port was covered with large wall sections of the

castle, and since the excavated trench proved that the bedrock is much deeper

than was first considered, it was decided that better knowledge could be gained

by performing water-jet probes in many areas of the Site, and measuring the

depths of the seabed (fig.6).

The jetting was preformed with 2 meters intervals between each probe, in order

to establish the depth of the port. A total of 74 probes were performed, some

going so deep that the probe itself, about two and a half meters long, was sunk

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completely into the sea bed. Some probes hit rocky bottom at a shallow depth.

The probes were performed in many axles, (marked in red lines on fig. 7),

and, at each probe, the depth of the seabed under the water was marked, as

well as the depth of penetration of the probe. The probes have easily penetrated

the bottom of the Site which has often consisted of soft kurkar surfaces.

Northern and Southern constructions (Breakwaters?)

After excavating the trench, an easier access to the base of the northern

construction became accessible. Measurements of the construction and the

ashlars, of the northern wall were taken and drawings were made, as, for

example, a drawing of a part of the northern wall, or "breakwater", (fig. 8).

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Measurements and drawings were made also of the southern wall, the remains

of which are much less substantial. Photographs above and underwater were

taken, mainly of the trenches, indicating the depth thereof below water level,

(fig. 9).

Many underwater photographs of the northern wall were also taken, as, for

example, fig.10.

When the trench at the base of the northern wall reached a certain depth, one

could notice a "clean" course of newly uncovered stones, as opposed to the

upper courses covered by sea-fouling, (fig. 11).

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5. Results and preliminary conclusions

Finds

Some pottery fragments, including a spout of a Gaza type jar of the 6th and 7th

centuries AD and some other ceramic fragments found (mostly medieval in

date) were not very significant. A modern piece of jewelry as well as a modern

Israeli coin were found about 1.5 meters under the sand slightly to the east of

the north western corner of the Port, which proves that the sand silting the Site

kept moving and was not stationary.

Breakwaters (??)

Until the research was carried out it was considered that the Site was

surrounded by man-made breakwaters, and that the western seawall has

disappeared, but that there was a foundation for such a wall. Having carefully

studied the western wall, which is constituted by a long reef positioned roughly

in the south-north direction, it is now certain that it is part of a natural rock.

However, the builders of the Port have, apparently, cleverly used it and built

walls roughly in the east-west direction at both ends of this reef, between its

both ends and the shore, and have positioned a watch tower at the corner where

the southern breakwaters meets the natural reef.4 On the reef itself there

appears a narrow shallow trench, (fig. 29), very probably man-made, too

narrow to serve as a basis for a wall, and its purpose should be the subject of a

further study. The walls are built from kurkar ashlars, often in the fashion of

'headers', presenting the narrow face of the stone to the sea.

The lowest layer of the stones constitutes a protruding ledge, slightly wider

than the upper part of the wall. However, it is not certain that this protrusion

constitutes a ledge and, perhaps, the whole construction was wider, and part of

4 The direction of the northern breakwater is 210°–130°, and that of the southern breakwater is

260°–80°.

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it, above the 'ledge' disappeared with the years, leaving a ledge-like wider

section.5

The northern wall is built on a soft kurkar ramp. This may help to uphold the

theory that the Site or 'Port' was deeper then thought until today, and that the

builders found the need to create a ramp and build a stone breakwater at the

upper part so that it could withstand the waves.

Depths

It was generally thought that the Site is too shallow to have been anything but a

basin that can be used only in a calm sea, which is quite rare in the open coast

of the Eastern Mediterranean. The probes and the excavated trench prove this

to be wrong, and the average depth – except where the probe hit rocks (or

sunken building stones), some of them were deep and some at the seabed level.

The average depth of the water was approximately 90 centimeters,6 and if,

indeed, the depth of the water was as deep as the probe went in and the trench

excavated, then theoretically small to medium sized vessels could have been

moored in the Port. The trenches, some reaching down to the harder rock, are

between 1 and 2,6 meters deep below the water level.

However the question of the shallow entrance, still needs to be addressed.

Entrances

When we sailed with the rubber and supply boats in order to establish the

camp, the outboard motors had to be tilted up, to preserve the propeller, and the

boats had to be 'walked in' by man-handling them through the entrance on the

south-western corner. This shallow entrance most certainly precludes the use of

the Site by large vessels of any kind. However, a small boat, (or, maybe, even a

small galley??) could be 'walked in' or rowed in, during exceptionally calm

5 Similar construction in larger and smaller stones is evident in the castle itself.

6 The water depth measurements were carried out at low tide. However, in this part of the world,

the difference between high and low tide rarely reaches 40 centimeters and this would happen

rarely, and only during Proxigean Spring Tide, which occurs once every one-and-a-half years.

The difference between high and low tide during the research period were approximately 40

centimeters. The tide table for local waters at the relevant period is shown on fig. 33.

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sea, the depth of the water above the reef being about 60 centimeters at

medium tide. The supply boat had to be walked out, (fig.12).

Further works

We also intend to use a geodetic surveyor in order to establish a total station

map and incorporate it in a GIS data base.

We intend to take rock samples out of the trench existing on the reef which

constitutes the western "breakwater", (fig.13)

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and have them chemically/petrographically tested for cement residues. If such

are found it might indicate that a man-made wall was built there, with the

trench serving as its foundation. This may provide additional proof that the

"Port" was artificially protected in order to enhance its performance as a

mooring basin.

We also intend to employ a geodetic surveyor and perform total station

measurements in order to include all the recorded remains in the GIS site map.