Underwater fieldwork continued carried out jointly by the Department of Archaeology, University of Thessaloniki and the Underwater Department of the Ministry of Culture in Athens continued in October 2022 at the submerged section of this 8.000 years old Early Neolithic site (6.000 BC), the oldest island settlement found so far in Greece, with the help of a team of maritime specialists from the Hellenic Center of Marine Research, using new technologies, including sub bottom profilers, multi beam ecosounder and deep water coring to answer questions earth scientists and archaeologists are asking about early sea navigation practices and climate change in the Mediterranean.
Τhis cutting edge geoarchaeological research involved a systematic study
i. of the channel between the islands of Alonnisos and Kyra Panagia, and
ii. the bay of Agios Petros.
A testing coring project was carried out at the site around Agios Petros and beyond, looking for underwater archaeological deposits which could provide samples for ancient human and faunal DNA with the purpose
a. to identify human DNA and therefore connect the human inhabitants of Agios Petros with existing reference sequences from the region and time period, and thus to test hypotheses about the origins of these first farmers, and
b. to identify specific faunal species, which may have been utilized by the Neolithic farmers at Agios Petros.