PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OF LATE HOLOCENE COASTAL SEDIMENTS ALONG THE SOUTHERN DEAD SEA TRANSFORM IN AQABA, JORDAN

Aqaba, Jordan located at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba along the southern Dead Sea transform has been a major cross roads for people and goods throughout antiquity. Stratified cultural remains from the Roman to Late Islamic periods in the coastal zone of Aqaba and analyses of thirteen sediment cores drilled to a maximum depth of 12 m provide evidence for changes in the depositional environment of Aqaba during the mid to late Holocene. Local tectonic subsidence of the region likely formed a coastal embayment ca. 8000 yr B.P. that was subsequently filled in by human-induced siltation by ca. 4000 yr B.P. based on radiocarbon and microfossil analyses. The range in sediment accumulation rates for this fine-grained sedimentation is 2-5 mm/yr. Overlying deposition is dominated by fluvial and aeolian processes until after the first century B.C. when Nabataean to Early Roman mudbrick structures were built in this area. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) was conducted to identify heavy metals buried within the sediments. Strong lead and copper peak concentrations in the sediment appear to stratigraphically constrain the Chalcolithic (5000 yr B.P.) and Roman layers. Furthermore, an examination of the numerous archaeological sites near Aqaba also suggests that people migrated to avoid the flood waters of Wadi Yutim and Wadi ‘Arabah rather than moving their settlements based solely on changing sea-level during these periods.