The logic now is not that Alexander built his city on the same site as Rhaktosis, but that he used an already flourishing city and simply expanded upon it!
Alain Véron from the Paul Cézanne University in Aix-en-Provence, France, and colleagues made the discovery by measuring the variations in lead concentration in a mud core from Alexandria's ancient harbour. They determined how lead levels had changed over time by carbon-dating seashells found in the core.
Clear pulses of lead contamination occurred between 2686 and 2181 BC and then again from 1000 to 800 BC. The researchers conclude that these peaks were associated with human activities such as plumbing, fishing, building and ship-building. This is supported by ancient texts, which mention a settlement named Rhakotis existing around the same time Alexander would have arrived.
