News - Closing this year in Zea – with a closed deposit!!

Fig. 1 Panagiotis being fed by assistant director Mette in an act of mercy

Fig. 2 Eva and Mette with Eva’s parents and brother, and her parents’ friends

Fig. 3 Ioannis and Chryssanthi on the way to decontamination with Mads

Fig. 4 Mette kitting up.

Author: Chryssanthi Papadopoulou, Mette Arenfeldt and Niels Ladefoged Rasmussen

Last week the Athenians were giving thanks to Theseus, although this mythical hero could not save them from the Spartans during the Pelopon- nesian War. This week, however, very real and substantial support came from another super- natural quarter, namely from Athena Polias – the founder and protector of Athens.

On the third day of the fourth prytany of the year 424 BC – or what roughly equates to Wednesday this week, the treasury of Athena Polias gave a ”loan” of 30 talents- a remarkable sum - to the Athenian general Demosthenes - not to be confused with the famous fourth century orator of the same name. This was but one of many of these sorts of ”loans” obtained from the sanctuary of Athena to finance the Athenian war effort – finances sorely needed as the grand campaign against Boeotia moved closer.

Back in 2007, we are busy collecting more infor- mation on the intriguing Athenian past. Another week has gone by and we have continued excavating and surveying in Zea. An important find was revealed in a closed context, in a wall foundation trench, which is probably datable; a historic moment for our project! Unfortunately, though, we will have no time to follow up on this discovery this season. Our surveying pace was increased to reach the unbeatable result of 943 points shot in a single day. Level lines and structures are all very grateful to us, since we are re-incarnating them digitally. Loads of underwater photography took place. Aeolus was kind enough to stop blowing on Wednesday and Thursday and the visibility permitted us to photographically document the recently excavated features. And as if we were not busy enough, since the Zea excavation and survey are closing for this season, we were involved in heavy weight lifting, back-filling and equipment dismantling.

This week a new team-member arrived, Chryssanthi Papadopoulou and we welcomed her in our warm company. We also bid farewell to two of our student participants, Mette Arenfeldt and Eva Mortensen, who have to return back to the cold in Denmark. The project expressed its gratitude for their priceless contribution over a symposium. Finally, Eva’s parents paid us a visit on site and admired their daughter in action.

Departing studen Mette Arenfeldt reports
My 6-week participation in the Zea Harbour Project is coming to an end so I am soon returning to cold, rainy and at this time a year, not so sunny Denmark to continue my studies at the University of Aarhus, I’m sad to say. My stay here at Zea has been very educational and, not to forget, a whole lot of fun. This week three of the students at the ZHP, Eva, Niels B. and I, got the Tuesday morning off to go have a special guided tour behind the scenes at the Agora Excavations, given by conservator Karen Lovén. These are the kind of fringe benefits Classical Archaeology students, like us, can get really (and I mean REALLY) exited about and Karen Lovén told us a few amusing stories about what to do and especially not to do when you are treating artefacts.

I have had a very interesting and educational stay here at ZHP thanks to everyone who is participating in the excavation. I’m only sad that the time here went by so fast and that I already have to leave. I have learned a lot about diving and what it takes to be participating in a maritime archaeological excavation, especially because there has been consideration for us students in educating us in practical matters. I give my thanks to everyone involved with the project for making my stay so pleasant.