Archaeological and Natural Indicators of Sea-Level and Coastal Changes: The Case Study of the Caesarea Roman Harbor
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
You should not forget to correct the following grammar mistakes:
line 299 – write Roman instead of roman
line 363 – write 2nd instead of 2ed
line 454-455 – write …..have never recovered instead of …has never recovered
line 648-650: The sentence on these lines is missing a verb.
Caption to Fig. 6 is missing the explanation of symbol (letter) g
In my view the term AD instead of CE should preferably be used, but it is up to your decision.
Author Response
Dear reviewer #1
Thank you for the useful notes, which helped us to improve our manuscript.
line 299 – write Roman instead of roman
line 363 – write 2nd instead of 2ed
line 454-455 – write ... have never recovered instead of …has never recovered
line 648-650: The sentence on these lines is missing a verb.
All the notes above (lines 299 to 650) were corrected.
Caption to Fig. 6 is missing the explanation of symbol (letter) g
The missing symbol was added to the figure caption
In my view the term AD instead of CE should preferably be used, but it is up to your decision.
We decided to use CE and BCE
Sincerely Yours
Reviewer 2 Report
This is a well written and thoughtful paper that questions the validity of previous research within the contaxt of a review of the evidence. The evidence is well presented and the conclusions are appropriate. There are a number of minor changes noted below.
I would not use the term mega-tsunami for the 2004 and 2011 tsunami events. Mega tsunami is a term that has been used to describe much larger events associated with the collapse of volcanic islands/bollide impacts rather than earthquake generated tsunami.
The term sea bottom is used and it should be replaced with sea bed.
In places the text refers to sea level change and earth crustal movements. AT many sites it is often difficult to determine whether the sea surface has changed or the crust moved. As a consequence it is better to refer to relative sea-level changes. So the evidence suggests that relative sea-level has remained similar over the last 2,000 years at this site.
Line 18 – change to - …. may be displaced, submerged or eroded by natural…..
Line 20 change … employment… to …use..
Line 24-25 - change to …either tectonic subsidence associated with a local, active fault line, or as a result of an earthquake/tsunami that struck the harbor.
Lines 29-30 – change to … a reliable historical account for such catastrophic destruction.
Line 34 – change to … and undercut the breakwaters.
Line 43 – change “devastations” to “events”
Line 44 – change “earth-crust” to “crustal”
Line 45 – change to …displaced, submerged, , eroded and affected by natural
Lines 47, 48, 50 and in the rest of the text – suggest use “sea bed” rather than “sea bottom”.
Line 60 – change to .. the destructive tsunami events… The 2004 and 2011 tsunamis are not mega-tsunamis
Line 65 – Suggest that first work to identify tsunami deposits in the literature is also included in the reference list
Smith D.E., Shi S., Cullingford R.A., Dawson A.G., Dawson S., Firth C.R., Foster I.D.L., Fretwell P.T., Haggart B.A., Holloway A.K. & Long D. 2004: The Holocene Storegga Slide tsunami in the United Kingdom . Quaternary Science Reviews,23, 2291-2321.
Line 77 change to - Figure 1. Location of the Caesarea study site. ….
Line 86 – change to ….coastal displacement along the….
Line 91 – change to … above present sea level;
Line 92 – would suggest use the term early Holocene rather than first half of the Holocene
Line 101 – change “ Pirazzoly” to “ Pirazzoli”
Line 111 – change to .. for identifying relative sea level changes…
Line 128 – change …earth-crust.. to crustal
Lines 175-176 – change to - by tectonic subsidence associated with an earthquake [36-39], by settlement due to…
Line 187 – change to …Caesarea in 11 years….
Line 363 – change to …the 2nd century CE…
Line 444 – change to - earthquake that struck Antiochia was believed to have generated a tsunami that impacted Caesarea
Line 521 – change to - … who studied the 2011 tsunami…. Remove mega
Lines 528-529 -change to- … 115 CE tsunami that is supposed to have destroyed the harbor,
Line 529 – change to …are questionable, as are the…
Line 550 -change to- Furthermore, boreholes taken in lowlands a few….
Line 555 – change to - There are a number…
Line 650 – change to …is equivocal and….
Line 660 – Conclusion – Suggest that this section starts by stating that the archeological and geomorphological evidence indicate that relative sea level along this section of coastline has been stable during the last 2,000 years.
Author Response
Dear reviewer #2
Thank you very much for the useful notes, which helped us to improve our manuscript. We accepted all the notes and the suggestions and corrected the manuscript accordingly.
"This is a well written and thoughtful paper that questions the validity of previous research within the context of a review of the evidence. The evidence is well presented and the conclusions are appropriate. There are a number of minor changes noted below".
I would not use the term mega-tsunami for the 2004 and 2011 tsunami events. Mega tsunami is a term that has been used to describe much larger events associated with the collapse of volcanic islands / bollide impacts rather than earthquake generated tsunami.
We changed the term mega tsunami as proposed.
The term sea bottom is used and it should be replaced with sea bed.
We changed the term sea-bottom to sea bed as proposed.
In places the text refers to sea level change and earth crustal movements. AT many sites it is often difficult to determine whether the sea surface has changed or the crust moved. As a consequence, it is better to refer to relative sea-level changes. So the evidence suggests that relative sea-level has remained similar over the last 2,000 years at this site.
Archaeological and geomorphological evidence from the Carmel coast (including the Caesarea region) suggest that the area has been tectonically stable in historical times. Also, it is agreed that isostatic changes along the Israeli coast are minor. Thus, any relative change in sea level observed in the region may be considered as sea-level change. However, when needed, we changed to relative sea level as proposed.
Line 18-- change to - …. may be displaced, submerged or eroded by natural ….
Line 20 -- change … employment… to … use ...
Lines 24-25 -- change to …either tectonic subsidence associated with a local, active fault line, or as a result of an earthquake/tsunami that struck the harbor.
Lines 29-30 -- change to … a reliable historical account for such catastrophic destruction.
Line 34 -- change to … and undercut the breakwaters.
Line 43 -- change “devastations” to “events”
Line 44 -- change “earth-crust” to “crustal”
Line 45 -- change to …displaced, submerged, eroded and affected by natural
Lines 47, 48, 50 and in the rest of the text -- suggest use “sea bed” rather than “sea bottom”.
Line 60 -- change to ... the destructive tsunami events … The 2004 and 2011 tsunamis are not mega-tsunamis
Line 65 -- Suggest that first work to identify tsunami deposits in the literature is also included in the reference list
All notes above (lines 18 to 65) were corrected
Smith D.E., Shi S., Cullingford R.A., Dawson A.G., Dawson S., Firth C.R., Foster I.D.L., Fretwell P.T., Haggart B.A., Holloway A.K. & Long D. 2004: The Holocene Storegga Slide tsunami in the United Kingdom. Quaternary Science Reviews,23, 2291-2321.
We added Smith et al. 2004 to the reference list and cited it as proposed.
Line 77 -- change to - Figure 1. Location of the Caesarea study site. ….
Line 86 -- change to … coastal displacement along the….
Line 91 -- change to … above present sea level;
Line 92 -- would suggest use the term early Holocene rather than first half of the Holocene
Line 101 -- change “Pirazzoly” to “Pirazzoli”
Line 111 -- change to ... for identifying relative sea level changes…
Line 128 – change … earth-crust … to crustal
Lines 175-176 -- change to - by tectonic subsidence associated with an earthquake [36-39], by settlement due to…
Line 187 -- change to … Caesarea in 11 years….
Line 363 -- change to … the 2nd century CE…
Line 444 -- change to - earthquake that struck Antiochia was believed to have generated a tsunami that impacted Caesarea
Line 521 -- change to - … who studied the 2011 tsunami…. Remove mega
Lines 528-529 -- change to - … 115 CE tsunami that is supposed to have destroyed the harbor,
Line 529 -- change to … are questionable, as are the…
Line 550 -- change to - Furthermore, boreholes taken in lowlands a few….
Line 555 -- change to - There are a number…
Line 650 -- change to … is equivocal and….
All notes above (lines 77 to 650) were corrected
Line 660 -- Conclusion – Suggest that this section starts by stating that the archeological and geomorphological evidence indicate that relative sea level along this section of coastline has been stable during the last 2,000 years.
We added the proposed sentence to the conclusion, as proposed.
In addition, we added a paragraph concerning the lack of historical evidence for a destructive tsunami in Caesarea and support it with some primary sources indicating that tsunami events were recorded by historians had they occurred. Thus, the lack of such historical evidence in Caesarea is indicative.
All the Best
