Recent Holocene paleo-environmental evolution and coastline changes of Kition, Larnaca, Cyprus, Mediterranean Sea C. Morhange a, * , J.-P. Goiran a , M. Bourcier b , P. Carbonel c , J. Le Campion b , J.-M. Rouchy d , M. Yon e a CEREGE, UFR de Ge Âographie, Universite  de Provence, 29 avenue R. Schuman, 13621 Aix-en-Provence Cedex, France b CNRS, URA 41, COM, Station Marine d'Endoume, rue Batterie des Lions, 13007 Marseille, France c CNRS, UMR 5805 EPOC, Universite  de Bordeaux 1, Avenue des faculte Âs, 33405 Talence Cedex, France d Laboratoire de Ge Âologie (CNRS-ESA 7073), Muse Âum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 43 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France e Maison de l'Orient Me Âditerrane Âen, CNRS, Institut F. Courby, 7 rue Raulin, 69007 Lyon, France Received 1 February 1999; accepted 1 December 1999 Abstract Sedimentological, paleontological analysis and 14 C dating of 17 cores obtained in the vicinity of the Phoenician military harbor (VIII±IV BC) of Kition Bamboula (Cyprus) provide new paleo-environmental information for the reconstruction of shoreline changes for Kition and Larnaca Bay over the last 4000 years. We propose that a communication existed between the inner harbor of Bamboula (presently 400 m inland) and the northern district of Lichines, which was a marine embayment. Our core data led us to revisit the previous hypothesis of a direct east±west channel between the harbor and the open sea (Nicolaou, K., 1976. The historical topography of Kition. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Go È teborg, vol. 153, pp. 1±373; Gifford, J.A., 1978. Paleogeography of archaelogical sites of the Larnaca lowlands, southeastern Cyprus. PhD Thesis, University of Minnesota, pp. 1±192). We propose instead that a spit of coarse material isolated the lagoon from the open sea from 2600 to 1600 years BP. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Recent Holocene; Coastal changes; Relative Sea level changes; Mediterranean; Cyprus; Larnaca; Kition; Geomorphology; Geoarcheology 1. Introduction Since 1976, a French archeological team has been excavating the Kition Bamboula site below Larnaca, in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities and the University of Cyprus. The site is approxi- mately 400 m inland from the current coastline. The land surface is situated 2 m above sea level. The ¯oor of Larnaca bay, which opens to the south- east, slopes down rather steeply: 1500 m offshore, the depth is 35 and 2000 m out, the depth is 50 m (Fig. 1). Coastal currents run SW±NE at the surface but this direction is reversed in deeper waters. Tide range varies between 25 and 40 cm in amplitude (Heikell, 1993). Larnaca is situated on a gently sloping coastal plain, with small hills 300±500 m in altitude. Small coastal rivers with intermittent ¯ow (wadis) drain modest watersheds with a diversi®ed substrate includ- ing Cretaceous strata from the Ophiolitic Troodos massif and peripheral sedimentary series from the Marine Geology 170 (2000) 205±230 0025-3227/00/$ - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0025-3227(00)00075-X www.elsevier.nl/locate/margeo * Corresponding author. E-mail address: morhange@cerege.fr (C. Morhange).