Whether it is the fictional city of 'Atlantis' or the ship which was not supposed to sink, 'Titanic,' the underwater excavation always helped the researchers to pave new ways towards the mysterious history of this world. Now, in Israel, archaeologists discovered 2200-year-old Hellenistic fortress which they believe is linked to biblical battles.
As per the researchers, this discovery will help the maritime archaeologists to understand Hellenistic military fortifications, which are considered to be defence structures constructed during the Hellenistic Period of ancient Greek civilization and to withstand the impact of rising sea levels on ancient communities.
As per the researchers, this discovery was made at Tel Dor, which "overlooks the eastern Mediterranean on the southern Levantine coastline of Israel." It is a site which is also revealed as the evidence of Phoenician, Hebrew, Roman and Byzantine occupation.
Prof Assaf Yasur-Landau and Ehud Arkin Shalev from Haifa University along with American Prof. Thomas Levy of the University of California jointly investigated this underwater ancient site but the process was not very easy as it included challenges such as removal of tons of sand from a location while the sea sands shift regularly.
A few months ago the team of archaeologists came across three underwater stones which once formed part of a small wall.
As reported by Haaretz, Prof Yasur-Landau stated that when they started the excavation "we saw that these three stones were actually standing on a huge amount of neatly hewn stones."
Later, the team estimated that it was some kind of fortress from the Hellenistic period. On the basis of discovered artefacts, the researchers suggested that it was dated to be approximately 2200 years ago.
It should be noted that as per the experts, since the sea level has increased several feet over the millennia, this structure was once located on the shore.
The archaeologists revealed that during the research process that they also found the remains of a defensive structure that was once part of a coastal defence network during the ancient days.
As per the Book of Maccabees in the Bible, Tel Dor' history includes violent events. It was revealed that the fortress was built by a Hellenistic king to protect his stronghold at Tel Dor when the Greeks and the Jewish Hasmonaean Kingdom were battling for the land we currently call Israel.
While the wall and fortification, discovered by archaeologists, were part of the first line of defense on the south side of the city, researchers claimed that the walls on the shore were part of the inner defence.
This research process was a part of large academic study to understand the impact of sea level rising on communities and how they can defend themselves against the natural phenomena.
This study was published in the Journal of Maritime Archaeology.
