Set directly on the sand, within sight of a modern city and its port, the citadel of Ashdod-Yam is a fragment: sections of curtain wall, the stumps of round corner towers, gateways and vaulted rooms open to the sky. It belongs to the sequence of coastal fortifications that guarded the harbours and the road running along the shore, a line repeatedly built, taken, dismantled and rebuilt as control of the coast changed hands. What survives has been shaped as much by sea air and shifting dunes as by history, and excavation continues to clarify its phases. Filmed in 4K, with aerial coverage that shows the ruin's plan against the beach and the surf, the programme presents the site as an accessible piece of coastal archaeology and a striking visual subject, suited to strands on fortifications and the Mediterranean.
