Palaeogeography of Ancient Lasaia (SE Crete, Greece). The Evolution of a Harbour from the Minoan Palatial Period to Roman Times

The remains of the Hellenistic-Roman harbour-town of Lasaia are situated in southeastern Crete on a headland at the NE end of the bay of Kaloi Limenes, while at a short distance from the shore lies the island of Traphos. The application of a geoarchaeological method allowed us to reconstruct the palaeogeography of the coast and track the evolution of the ancient harbour of Lasaia from the Minoan palatial period to Hellenistic-Roman times to the 17th century AD.The palaeogeography of the seafront of ancient Lasaia followed the relative sea level changes that occurred during the last 4,000 years along the coast of central and eastern Crete: from a tied island connected to the mainland by a strip of land when the sea level was at 4.15 ± 0.30 m between ca. 1900 BC and ca. 1600 BC, and 2.50 ± 0.20 m bmsl between ca. 1600 BC and ca. 1200 BC, to a low promontory jutting out into the sea within a short distance from the coast of Traphos when the sea level was at 1.20 ± 0.10 m bmsl between ca. 1200 BC and AD 1604, and finally to a narrow shore opposite the island, when the sea level rose to 0.55 ± 0.05 m bmsl during the AD 1604 earthquake, which remained there for a significant period of time within the last 400 years.During the Minoan palatial period, an artificial outer breakwater at the SW end of Traphos Island appears to have formed a protected harbour basin. In Hellenistic-Roman times, the outer breakwater had been submerged and an inner breakwater was constructed, leaving a channel between it and the island that allowed mariners to pass from the western to the eastern basin depending on the weather. In the early 17th c., the island was isolated from the mainland and provided shelter for Cretan refugees.