A formalized approach to analysis of geoarchaeological sediment samples: The location of the early punic Harbor at Carthage,Tunisia

This article concerns, first, the development of an approach to data analysis of sedimentological, micro- and macrofaunal, and artifactual data obtained from analysis of geoarchaeological sediment core samples and, second, an algorithmic ordering of resulting sediment groups to arrive at a definitive stratigraphic sequence. Correspondence analysis (CA) was the principal data analysis technique applied, and the algorithmic ordering is one developed for discrete sampling sequences such as core transects. From a methodological standpoint, this approach allows an assessment of the usefulness of different types of analytical information pertaining to a paleoenvironmental reconstruction of a coastal archaeological site. In terms of the geoarchaeological problem that initiated the study, the results permit a possible reconstruction of the location and nature of the first Punic port at Carthage, Tunisia.