Satellite-derived bathymetry for maritime archaeology: Testing its effectiveness at two ancient harbours in the Eastern Mediterranean

•Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB) extracts water depth from satellite images.•SDB applied to 2 ancient harbour sites: Tyre and Ras Ibn Hani.•SDB performs poorly for cultural feature detection.•SDB performs better for landform detection and palaeo-geographic reconstruction.•SDB archaeological utility depends on study area conditions and research questions. High-resolution bathymetry is an essential tool in maritime archaeology, often used for underwater prospection, imaging, palaeo-landscape reconstruction and change detection. The commonest acquisition method relies on shipborne acoustic systems (e.g. multibeam echosounder). However, most of the world’s seabed has not been surveyed using these methods. Derivation of bathymetry from high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery (Satellite-Derived Bathymetry: SDB) can redress this in shallow (