Clark Whelton posted the link www.haaretz.com/archaeology/1.782460 … which concerns tsunamis – and an exceptional one that has been dated at 2800 years ago. Apparently, there is nothing in the Bible or other textual sources that record an event around 800BC – but this may be due to C14 methodology (and dating anomalies). The field is wide open it seems to me. Has anyone any suggestions. For example, it is close to the time of Elijah but even more compelling is a link to a tree ring anomaly in the early 8th century. Then again, it is near enough to the traditional date of the First Olympiad. What did this celebrate?
Tsunamis are usually generated by earthquakes (although impacts from space into the sea can also generate a tsunami). As the Mediterranean is a closed basin an earthquake in, shall we say, the Aegean region, could trigger a tsunami wave that struck the Levantine coastal region (the eastern end of the Mediterranean basin). The evidence for the tsunami has been found in what was Phoenicia (but is now northern Israel). The question is – was its site specific, affecting one location on the coast, or did it affect the whole of the Levantine coastal region (indicating a huge tsunami event). More information is required.
The Haaretz piece has some further add-ons. Tsunamis travel with the water column (not at sea level like normal waves) and this has resulted in some secondary information that is interesting from a Catastrophist viewpoint. Tell tale signs on the sea bed were found that belong to a massive tsunami event 8000 years ago. Immediately my ears bigged up. Some 8000 years ago represent the drowning of the southern North Sea basin and a large part of the English Channel, as well as sea level changes in South and North America and the drowning of Sunda Land (creating the islands of Indonesia). What was a tsunami doing in the Mediterranean at this time? Does it mean the basin was suddenly invaded with water from a re-aligned ocean as a result of an adjustment of the earth's geoid (and sea levels)? One has to wonder. In that respect, an actual tsunami might be a misnomer – and it represents a rise in sea levels in the Mediterranean, and the drowning of the Aegean Islands and Malta etc. (with a similar impact on the Bosphorus).
The Haaretz piece continues – core samples from the sea bed off Israel suggest there were at least 12 to 13 tsunami events over the last 2500 years – and no doubt these are related to earthquakes in the central to eastern Mediterranean (as this is a highly active earthquake zone).
Getting back to the tsunami of 800BC we need to look at this date from a non calibration angle (and C14 anomalies in the region). Basically, the date is derived from early Iron Age artefacts but if the arguments of David Rohl's New Chronology is taken into consideration that date may be up to 100 years too early. In other words, around 700BC. Did anything abnormal occur around that time? Well, Velikovsky suggested the orbit of the earth wobbled out of alignment for a short period on the day of the funeral of king Ahaz (roughly 717BC) – involving the position of the sun's shadow on the sun dial. A wobble in the rotation of the earth would indeed cause a prodigious wave to funnel through the Mediterranean basin. However, there is another candidate and that is the raash of Uzziah (which Velikovsky dated to around 747BC). In other words, a prominent earthquake that struck the Levant (and no doubt other locations on the plate boundaries that dominate the tectonics of the region).