Page 149 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 135

the south and to insure the continuous flow of sea water in the direction of the
outlet of the harbor, thus flushing it naturally. Along the mole there remained, in
situ, a number of mooring stones with a hole all the way through (Fig. 150).

The intermediate basin coincides approximately with the area of today’s harbor.
It is bound on the south by a peninsula and on the north by a reef. This and the
outer basin were in deep-water that allowed the mooring of large cargo ships that
previously were forced to anchor at a distance from the shore and to unload their
freight onto cargo boats and barges. Cargo ships were tied to docks and secondary
piers of the type discovered in area L in the intermediate basin and in area F of the
outer basin, where paving of a quay measuring 4 x 12 m sunk to a depth of 4.9 m
below sea level was found. The passage from the intermediate basin to the outer
basin was located here. These quays were built of ashlar slabs laid as headers.

Two flushing channels 1.2 m wide, to which the influx of seawater could be
regulated by wooden planks set into carved slots, were opened from the south to
the intermediate basin. As the currents along the shore have a south to north
direction, the steady flow of the water in the flushing channels insured the
continuous movement of water outwards, thereby preventing the silting of the
entrance to the harbor. Some scholars assumed that a geological fault is located
west of the westernmost channel. Beyond this line the harbor sank. Its remains are
submerged today to a depth of 5–6 m below sea level.

The outer basin was bordered to the south and the west by a curved mole, and to
the north by a straight mole whose eastern section was set on a reef of coastal rocks
and its western section was built on deep underwater foundations. The entrance to
the harbor was from the northwest. The most advanced Roman harbor technology
was employed for constructing the underwater foundations of the moles. To be sure,
the building materials were imported from far away, as narrated by Josephus: rough
limestone pebbles originating in northern Syria or from the coast of Cilicia served for
the foundation and fill of the moles; volcanic ash and tuff were brought from Puteoli
near Naples, Italy, and used for marine concrete; pines and juniper trees were brought
from Italy or northern Anatolia and served for building large forms into which the
concrete was poured. Use was made here of several types of huge wooden barges,
which were built on dry land and moved in the water to their designated location,
where a filling of cement and stones was gradually poured in, until they sank into
their place, one next to the other, with their top protruding a bit above the water
surface. Then the fill was compressed and over it a paving of stones was laid and the
superstructure built. In the western mole a number of adjacent barges created a kind
of artificial islands, while the intervals between these islands were built in a different
technique, forming together a continuous mole. An artificial island constructed this
way constitutes the northern end of this mole (Area K), where five barges were
uncovered adjacent to each other being submerged under control by gradual filling
and equal distribution of the fill, binding the forms one to the other with iron chains
(remnants of a few have been uncovered). Used for the construction of this artificial
island, which measured 21 x 42 m, were forms whose dimensions were 14 x 7 m,
their height was more than 6 m so they would protrude above the water surface