Marsa – a port of antiquity
A study carried out by marine geologist Dr Aaron Micallef (‘Malta’s submerged landscape’, Times of Malta, January 4, 2013), found that the archipelago was two-and-a-half times larger and the sea level 130 metres lower during the last Ice Age. The subsequent rise in sea levels created bays and harbours, mainly in a south-southeast to northeast direction, including Grand Harbour, the Marsa l-Kbira (Mers el Kebir) and its innermost creek, Ix-Xatt tal-Marsa, the stretch of water beyond an imaginary line drawn between Ras Ħanżir and the spur below the Capuchin convent at Floriana. Ancient ...