Nowadays, tsunamis are mostly thought of as an East Asian phenomenon, but in ancient times they are known also to have occurred in the eastern Mediterranean. Archaeologists have recently discovered a particularly massive one that hit the land of Israel. Stuart Winer writes:
The wave is believed to have struck in the area of Tel Dor—an ancient settlement site located about nineteen miles south of Haifa—between 9,910 and 9,290 years ago, which would make it the earliest known tsunami in the eastern Mediterranean.
The tsunami that was uncovered appeared to be significantly larger than other tsunamis in the area over the past 6,000 years. Most of the recorded tsunamis washed no more than a few hundred meters inland, but this wave was believed to have traveled between 1.5 and 3.5 kilometers (about 1 to 2 miles).
Researchers said the wave may be the reason that it has been surprisingly difficult to find evidence of villages or human life between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago in the area, as the tsunami may have wiped it away.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/evidence-found-of-huge-tsunami-that-swept-israels-coastline-10000-years-ago/