Tables on shore of modern-day Alexandria. Associated Press.

DTM Research Staff member Rick Carlson is coauthor of a new geoarcheological investigation of the ancient Egyptian coastal city of Rhakotis, buried beneath the city of Alexandria, built by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. The investigation, led by Jean-Daniel Stanley of the Smithsonian Institution, appeared under the title "Alexandria, Egypt, before Alexander the Great: A multidisciplinary approach yields rich discoveries,” in this month’s GSA Today. Prior to the group’s study, little was known of Rhakotis because the site had yet to be clearly identified beneath the surface of the modern city, despite its mention in various historic records.

Stanley, Carlson and colleagues studied sediment cores containing critical components for study—including ceramics, rock fragments derived from Middle and Upper Egypt, and sediment with markedly increased contents of lead, heavy minerals, and organic matter—from Alexandria’s East Harbor where pre-Alexander age (>2300 yr B.P.) radiocarbon-dated sections were obtained for study. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the group examined the five distinct core components from archaelogical, stratigraphical, petrological, and geochemical methodologies. They found that the diverse markers in the dated core sections enabled them to confirm human activity to at least seven centuries before B.C. 332 on the mainland coast, where Alexandria would later be established.

The group hopes their discoveries will prompt new exploratory efforts on land and offshore to further delineate Rhakotis’ position in history. The discovery has been covered in more than one-hundred press outlets, including The Washington Post and Science Daily.