The 2005 Persian War Shipwreck Survey: Hollows of Euboia and the Artemision Channel

1

Press Release

The 2005 Persian War Shipwreck Survey: “Hollows of Euboia” and the Artemision Channel

A survey of the seas off the island of Euboia, ancient Euboia, in search of remains of ancient shipwrecks has just been completed. The research was conducted on the R/V Aegaeo of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) using its Thetis submersible and remote operated vehicles (ROVs) Super Achilles and Max Rover. These vehicles investigated targets identified by the sidescan sonar survey. For the first time in this project an acoustic profiler was used to determine sedimentation deposition.

The multi-national, multi-disciplinary expedition represented a collaboration of the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities (EEA), the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens (CAIA), and the HCMR. The project leaders were Ms. Katerina Dellaporta, Ephor of the EEA, Dr. Shelley Wachsmann of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and Dr. Dimitris Sakellariou of the HCMR. The EEA team included Ms. Paraskevi Micha, Mr. George Koutsouflakis and Mr. Alexis Katsambis (graduate student, Nautical Archaeology Program [NAP] at TAMU). The CAIA team included Dr. Stefanie Kennell (Director, CAIA) Dr. John Hale (University of Louisville), Dr. Robert L. Hohlfelder (University of Colorado, Boulder), Dr. Dana Yoerger (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), Mr. Dan Davis (Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Texas, Austin) and Mr. Dante Bartoli (graduate student, NAP). The HCMR team included Dr. Chris Smith, Mr. Kostas Katsaros, Mr. Vassilis Stasinos, Mr. Angelos Mallios, Mr. Theodoros Fotopoulos, and Mr. Manolis Kallergis. The R/V Aegaeo was under the command of Captain Theodoros Kanakaris.

The goal of the Persian War Shipwreck Survey is to investigate locations in Greek waters where fleets sank, according to ancient writers, during the period of conflict between the Persian Empire and the city-states of Greece in the early fifth century B.C. Among the naval disasters that occurred during this war were losses of vessels due to both storms and battles at sea.

The first area of this season’s survey was the coast of southern Euboia, identified as the “Hollows of Euboia.” Here the Greek historian Herodotus claims that some 200 Persian ships were lost in a storm while trying to circumnavigate the island. The second area of investigation focused on the Artemision Channel, the site of a famous Greek naval victory over King Xerxes’ Persian fleet in 480 BC fought at the same time as the even more renowned Greek stand at Thermopylae.

During the 2005 expedition, conducted 18-25 June, the team collected sidescan sonar targets and acoustic profile data around Cavo Doro (Cape Kafireas) to the area of Cape Letra. Potentially important targets were visually examined using the Thetis and the Max Rover. The same exploration protocol was followed in the Artemision Channel, where the survey also employed the SuperAchilles.

Heavy sedimentation since the 5th century BC in the search area in the “Hollows of Euboia” minimized the effectiveness of the survey efforts. Numerous targets were found by the sidescan sonar and subsequently examined by Thetis and the Max Rover, but nothing relevant to the research objectives of this survey was found.

Similarly negative archaeological results were obtained in the Artemision Channel, where swift currents running into and out of this body of water and deep-water trawling may have obscured or damaged shipwrecks from the Persian War period.

In the course of the survey 30 square kilometers of sea floor were examined for the first time with sidescan sonar supplemented by acoustic profiling. New evidence for sedimentation rates emerged that will enhance the present geological knowledge of bottom conditions.

In the “Hollows of Euboia,” team members discovered a cargo of monumental marble blocks scattered over an area of more than 400 square meters. Although their age is uncertain, underwater discoveries elsewhere in the Mediterranean show that the transport of bulk building materials was common in the Roman era. Another intriguing discovery was a cluster of six iron anchors found off Cavo Doro in an uncertain archaeological context. Their presence there underscores the importance, and the danger, of this sealane to pre-modern shipping.

The next search for the elusive shipwrecks from the Persian War era will be along the eastern shore of Magnesia, the site of another Persian fleet lost to storms during the abortive invasion in 480 BC.

Captions for Images

1)The “Hollows of Euboia.” Courtesy Persian War Shipwreck Survey.

2) Katerina Dellaporta, Ephor or Underwater Antiquities, prepares for a dive in HCMR’s Thetis submersible. Courtesy Persian War Shipwreck Survey.

3) John Hale, archaeologist at the University of Louisville, following a four-hour dive in the Thetis submersible. Courtesy Persian War Shipwreck Survey.

4) HCMR diver Vassilis Stasinos attaches cables to the Thetis. Courtesy Persian War Shipwreck Survey.

5) Ancient anchor found off Cavo Doro. Photo courtesy HCMR.

6) The 2005 Persian War Shipwreck Survey team on the afterdeck of the R/V Aegaeo. Courtesy Persian War Shipwreck Survey.