News - With a Little Help From Our Friends

Back in the ‘cave’ - Madeleine and Adrian surveying

Richard is sharing his expertise with Eva and Sanne during the ‘put-together ’ process

The wizard and his apprentice - Richard and Eva walking on the south side of Mounichia harbour with Koumoundourou Hill in the background

Karen, John and Bridget enjoying a drink as the sun sets over the Parthenon

Author: Panayiotis Athanasopoulos and Adrian Latortue

This week the entire ZHP summer campaign team was gathered at Koumoundourou Hill for the first time and adding to this, long-time friends of ZHP visited the site – this convent of minds proved fruitful when beating the odds and merging the different scientific results. As ancient Greeks used to say: ‘η ισχύς εν τη ενώσει’! - united we shall be strong!

During week four the electronic survey continued in the ‘cave’ and with the surveying team lead by Eva Mortensen, once again overcoming the difficulties encountered in such a restricting environment we managed to complete the survey of almost the whole cave area. Few details were left to be sorted out at the beginning of next week.

Earlier this week Richard C. Anderson, architect to the American Agora Excavations, visited us at the hill and once again provided his expertise to the team. For years Richard has been an invaluable asset and friend to the project and we are grateful for his assistance. Our goal was to interlink the survey files of the Mounichia harbour and Koumoundourou Hill from previous years, with the survey work completed this year on Koumoundourou Hill. Through linking the files we will be able to analyse how the remaining ancient fortifications of the harbour interrelates. Following Richard’s consultation the team had a new direction in finalizing the work at Koumoundourou Hill. Thus far the results look very promising and Zea Harbour Project is excited to be able to share them with the public in the future.

Meanwhile Mads and Panayiotis spent a considerable amount of time in Section 2 documenting the details of the exposed retaining walls and blocks positioned on the north slope of Koumoundourou Hill, and the completion of the survey and the final ‘put-together ’ will shed more light on this probable fortification wall. In addition, an on-site visit from our supervisor Dr. Axioti of the 26th Ephorate of Classical and Prehistorical Antiquities has provided us with the necessary approval on our fieldwork so far and the backfilling process has been planned for the following week.

Finally, we would like to say farewell to our beloved friend Dr. John Hale. After spending a considerable amount of time with the ZHP team, John has just returned to the United States. John has recently published the book: Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy – an exciting account of one of the most important chapters in our history. We can’t wait to see you back in the Piraeus John!