The city of Pavlopetri, underwater off the coast of southern Laconia in Peloponnese, Greece, is about 5,000 years old, and one of the oldest submerged Lost city (oldest in Mediterranean sea). The name Pavlopetri (“Paul’s and Peter’s”, or “Paul’s stone”) is the modern name for the islet and beach, apparently named for the two Christian saints that are celebrated together; the ancient name or names are unknown.
Discovered in 1967 by Nicholas Flemming and mapped in 1968 by a team of
archaeologists from Cambridge, Pavlopetri is located between the Pavlopetri
islet across the Elafonisos village and the Pounta coast. The coast, the
archaeological site as well as the islet and the surrounding sea area are
within the region of the Elafonisos Municipality, the old “Onou Gnathos”
peninsula (according to Pausanias). It is unique in having an almost complete
town plan, including streets, buildings, and tombs.
Originally, the ruins were dated to the Mycenaean period, 1600–1100 BC
but later studies showed an older occupation date starting no later than 2800
BC, so it also includes early Bronze Age middle Minoan and transitional
material. It is now believed that the town was submerged around 1000 BC by the first of three earthquakes that the
area suffered. The area never re-emerged, so it was neither built-over nor
disrupted by agriculture. Although eroded over the centuries, the town layout
is as it was thousands of years ago. The site is under threat of damage by
boats dragging anchors, as well as by tourists and souvenir hunters.
The fieldwork of 2009 was largely to map the site. It is the first
submerged town digitally surveyed in three dimensions.Sonar mapping techniques
developed by military and oil prospecting organisations have aided recent
work.The city has at least 15 buildings submerged in 3 to 4 metres (9.8–13.1
ft) of water. The newest discoveries in 2009 alone cover 9,000 m2 (2.2 acres).
As of October 2009, four more fieldwork sessions are planned, also in
collaboration with the Greek government as a joint project. Those sessions will
do excavations. Also working alongside the archaeologists (from the University
of Nottingham) are a team from the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, who
aim to take underwater archaeology into the 21st century. They have developed
several unique robots to survey the site in various ways. One of the results of
the survey was to establish that the town was the centre of a thriving textile
industry (from the many loom weights found in the site). Also many large
pitharis pots (from Crete) were excavated, also indicating a major trading
port.
The work of the British/Australian archaeological team was assembled in
an hour-long BBC documentary video, “City Beneath the Waves: Pavlopetri”,
broadcast by BBC Two in 2011.
The city of Pavlopetri is part of the underwater cultural heritage as
defined by the UNESCO in the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the
Underwater Cultural Heritage. All traces of human existence underwater which
are one hundred years old or more are protected by the UNESCO Convention on the
Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. This convention aims at
preventing the destruction or loss of historic and cultural information and
looting. It helps states parties to protect their underwater cultural heritage with
an international legal framework.
Source : thevintagenews.com
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