Not very exciting I know. Sorry about that.
[1] ballast pile as result of wreck -- http://www.marinearcheology.org/Shooner.htm
Not very exciting I know. Sorry about that.
[1] ballast pile as result of wreck -- http://www.marinearcheology.org/Shooner.htm
Some other problems with this theory:
1) Ballast piles from wrecks are much much smaller than 50 meters by 50 meters, and not 5m high.
2) dumping ballast stones wouldn't occur in such a well confined way resembling a pile - there would be more outlying boulders, potentially increasing in density towards a central spot (the designated dump spot) rather than a pile with edges like this.
3) 4000 years ago, it is not clear to me that there were ships with the right properties to need balast stones anywhere. I'll be glad to be shown wrong, it's interesting. Similarly, trading in ancient times like this was usually far more circuit based than "there and back", so you get and drop items every stop.
The description of the pile of rocks, it matches the description of ballast piles outside of ports on the Mediterranean and larger inland seas.
Ship technology from the time [1] tended to flat bottomed and top heavy boats.
Ships in general, but merchant ships in particular, use ballast to adjust their buoyancy so that they sail per their design. In the case of merchant ships ballast is always something of low value and easily removed.
When adjusting ballast without pumps, solid ballast is easier to load on and off than either liquid ballast or sand ballast (which would require shovelling).
In terms of value to pound of ballast delivered, random basaltic rocks achieve excellent efficiencies.
It's certainly possible that this is something else entirely. I don't think we'll know until they do further research, until then it would be fun to hear other's reasoning on what they think this "structure" represents.
Is this a supported assertion or a guess?