Fig. 1 Submerged northern side of rock foundation trench for the colonnade dividing shipsheds Φ and Π, the raised rock cutting is a part of Πs southern side passage Photographer: Bjørn Lovén/© ZHP 2004

Fig. 2 Ioannis Triantafillidis and Bjørn Lovén raising architectural element SAE2 Photographer: Jari Pakkanen/© ZHP 2004

Fig. 3 Marble architectural element SAE2 in lifting box Photographer: Jari Pakkanen/© ZHP 2004

The Olympic year of 2004 is also turning out to be a very successful year for the research in ancient naval harbours. In the period of March 22nd to June 24th Dr. G. Steinhauer, Ephor of the 26th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities carried out rescue excavations on land in the south-eastern, eastern and north-eastern parts of Zea. Dr. Steinhauer kindly invited the Zea Harbour Project to participate in the investigations.

In the spring the visibility underwater at Zea was extraordinary good, and in the period April 21st to May 28th we received kind permission from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities to conduct survey and photography dives on architectural structures we had identified in the sea during the previous seasons, but had been unable to survey because of the difficult diving conditions at Zea. These investigations have brought to light really ground breaking discoveries: the shipsheds in the eastern part of Zea are in all probability double-shipsheds (buildings that can house two warships one after the other), and not single unit shipsheds as thought in the previous research. This discovery has greatly affected several of our theories on the architecture and function of the Zea shipsheds, and the warships they housed.

The Carlsberg Foundation kindly financed our participation in the initial phase of the rescue excavations. I wish to express my thanks to Dr. John F. Hale and the American Friends of the Zea Harbour Project for raising funds on a very short notice that made it possible for the Zea Harbour Project to participate in the major period of the rescue excavations and carry out the underwater survey. I also wish to express my sincere gratitude to my colleagues who worked 14-18 hours often seven days a week for a long period this year.

The Zea marina underwent major modernisation, and a ca. 1.1 m wide and ca. 1.0 m deep constructing trench for water and electricity supply was dug into the modern quay in the south-eastern, eastern and north-eastern parts of Zea harbour. This 293.71 m long trench ran across all the shipsheds in these areas, and offered a unique opportunity to gain information about the shipsheds in areas that are normally inaccessible, and where we have no or very little information about the shipsheds. The modern concrete quay was built partly on top of the ancient harbour, and the rescue excavations produced very interesting results. Please visit the gallery “26th Ephorate rescue excavations at Zea spring 2004” for a description of the demanding fieldwork.

As mentioned earlier, the underwater investigations at Zea this year brought to light ground breakings discoveries. At the TROPIS Conference on Hydra, Greece, in 2002 I boldly said: “The lower end of ramp χ is exposed on the seabed and this has made it possible to measure the total length of a shipshed for the first time. The distance from the inside of the back wall to the lower end of the slipway is 50.5 m”. This statement is not true anymore.

The sediment in shallow areas of the harbour moves around during storms, heavy rain showers and tides, and we find new structures during almost every survey dive. During the survey in 2003 we found a structure in the ramp area of shipshed 1 in a distance of 52.5 m from the back wall, and a structure in Area 2 that would be in a distance of 53.5 m if the back wall of the Sirangiou shipsheds is extended into this area.

Then this spring the big shock came, we found the extension of the northern side of the rock foundation for the colonnade that divide shipsheds Φ and Π, and part of Πs southern side passage, in a distance of 56.19 m from the inside of the back wall (fig. 1). The sloping bedrock is destroyed by a modern dredging cut in a distance of 58.8 m.

We also discovered that the ancient quarry in the south-western part of Zea extends deeper into the sea. Since it is highly unlikely that stone was quarried under water, the depth of the quarry cuttings is very important for understanding the sea level in antiquity. The preliminary estimate is that the sea level has risen about 2 m since antiquity, which explains why so much of the ancient harbour is preserved in the sea. Careful archaeological investigation and survey of the quarry will bring to light very important information on the sea-level of the Attic coastline in Antiquity.

The sea level change held together with architectural evidence found in the sea has determined that the Sirangiou shipsheds in the eastern part of the harbour are in all probability double-shipsheds, with room for two triremes, one after the other. In the eastern part of Zea the ancient shoreline was probably about 40-50 meters further out in the harbour basin than the present shoreline. The double-shipsheds make perfect sense, since the 196 shipsheds described in the so-called Naval Inventories cannot be fitted into the ancient or present harbour basin if they were single unit shipsheds. The Naval Inventories could be read “shipsheds with capacity for 196 warships at Zea”. The double-shipsheds will be discussed in detail in an article that will be published on this website in mid February.

During the 2004 spring survey traces of bedrock were found under the modern two T-shaped quays in Area 1, Area 2 and Area 3, but no manmade structures were identified. This fall we plan to investigate these areas in detail to see if any structures related to the shipsheds can be identified under the quays. Since the foundations of the quay are cut into the bedrock, there are good chances of locating remains of the rock-cut parts of the shipsheds under and in the near vicinity of the quays. If remains are preserved in this area we would be able to follow the shipsheds for about 65 m, but the lower ends of these shipsheds were probably in a distance of 80-90 meters from the back wall.

During the underwater survey under the T-shaped quay in Area 2 two architectural elements were found, and since they were lying in an exposed location, they were raised and brought to the conservation lab of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities (figs. 2 and figs. 3).

In the previous seasons there had been very bad visibility and difficult diving conditions in the western part of the harbour basin, this spring however visibility was so good that architectural structures could be seen from land. In less than one hour we found remains of 6-7 shipsheds during the first survey dive. Just to the right of the Olympiakos clubhouse, in the south-western part of Zea, were also found substantial well-preserved remains of at least two shipsheds. The first impression of these shipsheds is that they are more monumental than the shipsheds in the other parts of the harbour.

The shipsheds in the western and especially in the south-western parts of Zea are preserved to a greater depth than in the south-eastern, eastern and north-eastern parts. Since the lower ends of the latter probably were destroyed by intrusive dredging in the late 1960’ies, we can get closer to the original length of the shipsheds in Area 1, where the back wall is preserved, by extrapolating the buildings to the deepest identified original top surface of the shipsheds in the south-western part.

To this day the lower part of the Zea shipsheds and the lower part of all other shipsheds in the Mediterranean remains enigmatic, but we hope to solve the riddle - or at least get closer to solving it, during the investigations this fall.

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During the Spring 2004 rescue excavations of the Zea shipsheds under the direction of Dr. Steinhauer, Ephor of the 26th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, the Zea Harbour Project assisted with the following team members: Mette K. Schaldemose, Sigrid Rasdal Eliassen, Evangelia Fragou, Richard C. Anderson, Ioannis Triantafillidis, Vassilis Tsiaris, Matthew McCallum and Bjørn Lovén.

Zea Harbour Project Spring 2004 underwater survey team: Ioannis Triantafillidis, Mette K. Schaldemose, Sigrid Rasdal Eliassen, Evangelia Fragou, Vassilis Tsiaris, Ioannis Nakas, Mads Møller Nielsen and Bjørn Lovén. Information Technology team: Mikkel Mayerhofer and Jeppe Christensen.