2022 report

2022 results

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.

(1) The Research Boat arrived at last in the port of Patitiri-Alonnisos
(2) Well equipped for the many fieldwork studies planned to perform
(3) Testing the coring machine before the departure
(4) Coming into the port of Gerakas in the north of Alonnisos; this was decided to be the departure point for the trip of the research boat to Agios Petros-Kyra Panagia

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.

(5) Leaving behind the port of Gerakas in Alonnisos
(6) Sailing north in the bay of Agios Petros in Kyra Panagia
(7) Arriving in the islet of Agios Petros-Kyra Panagia
(8) The island of Agios Petros
(9) The HCMR research boat in the bay

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.   

(11) Panoramic view of the back side of the island of AP and the opposite shores of Kyra-Panagia
(21) Multibeam scanning to record the underwater relief in action
(22) View of the sub-bottom profiler in the research boat - the task to record the underwater natural deposits below the sandy bottom
(23 Discussing with Dr. Kapsimalis possible models for the reconstruction of the bay of AP in relation to the sea level rise 8.000y ago - a never ending debate