Here we see the final preparations before closing down boat traffic in and out of Zea while conducting survey dives in the harbour mouth.

Zea Harbour, area designation

Sigrid Eliassen and her assistant Matthew McCallum at work

Artistic reconstruction of this part of the harbour

Artistic reconstruction of this part of the harbour

Work at Zea began early in 2005, as staff of the Zea Harbour Project were invited to assist in rescue excavations directed by Dr. Kourkoumelis of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities. The work ran from February to August 2005. The construction of a number of floating jetties anchored with massive concrete blocks is planned as part of the general modernisation of the Marina.

An extensive underwater survey including rescue excavations was conducted to ensure that submerged antiquities would not be damaged.

The results were many - the most important of which was that remains of the foundations of the fortified harbour mouth, that made it possible to close the harbour were located in the harbour basin. The Hellenic Coast Guard worked in close co-operation with the team

It was during these dives that parts of the foundations of the fortified harbour mouth were discovered. The intensive investigations ensured that the construction plans were adjusted to provide maximum protection to the antiquities at Zea.

In 2005 the work of the Zea Harbour Project focused mainly on the harbour fortifications in Area 3 and Area 4. We also conducted survey and excavations of shipsheds in Area 2 and Area 3.

AREA 4
Sigrid Eliassen and her assistant Matthew McCallum at work
In Area 4 the partly submerged quarry integrated into the harbour fortifications was surveyed. The fact that the quarry was integrated into the Classical fortification wall demonstrates that it was quarried before or during the construction of the wall, thus the quarry cuttings on land can be roughly dated to the Classical Period.

Project architect Sigrid Eliassen and her assistant Matthew McCallum produced detailed 3D plans of 55 m of the fortification wall which is still preserved to a height of up to 2.5 m, and 73 m of quarry. All this was were done in five weeks, and this shows the potential of modern precision surveying.

AREA 3
Excavations began where the shipshed complex ends and the harbour fortifications begin. Four Phase II shipsheds have been identified while surveying in the northern part of Area 3. The eastern part of these buildings was later quarried after the shipsheds went out of use. Another shipshed and a quarry were found further to the north.

AREA 2
In Area 2 excavations were carried out on five structures, three of which had been found during the 2001 survey. The southern side of Structure 4 has the same orientation as the Phase II shipsheds to the south, whereas the western side is oriented to the Phase I shipsheds (these building phases are specific to this area, and should not be compared to the Area 2 shipsheds).

Structure 4 is probably related to the shipshed complex, and may connect the Phase I shipsheds still in use to the north and the more recent Phase II shipsheds to the south. Structure 5 is tentatively identified as part of a Phase I ramp, and the structure could date to the 5th cent. BC.

The most important discovery in this area was areas of stratified layers, a rare phenomenon in the surf zone at Zea, and when Mette Schaldemose has completed her studies of the excavated material we will know more about the chronology of Structures 4 and 5.

No remains of the towers at the end of the fortified quays are preserved at Zea. To obtain more information on the harbour fortification the northern limen kleistos tower in Mikrolimano (ancient Mounychia) was surveyed both on land and in the sea.

Most of the tower is destroyed but a substantial part of the north-western side is still preserved and the remaining curve of the outer face shows that the tower originally had a diameter of 12-13 m. The total preserved height of the tower is 3.92 m, and if the foundations are included it stands an amazing 9.24 m above the seabed.

With the permission of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities a preliminary two day survey was carried out under water in other parts of the Mounychia harbour in order to investigate if antiquities are preserved in these areas. Possible remains of shipsheds were found along the western side of the northern quay and in the northern part of the harbour.

In the area opposite to the preserved limen kleistos tower a substantial structure was found that in all probability belong to the southern fortified quay. Further to the south were also located extensive remains of the ancient harbour fortification. This two day survey showed that extensive remains of the ancient naval installations and harbour fortifications in Mounychia are still preserved in the sea.

Finally we wish to report on a new research project. In February 2005 the CHIMERA project (Cultural Heritage Interactive Media Environment for Reality Augmentation) was initiated as a joint venture between Architecture and Design, Aalborg University, Denmark, and the Zea Harbour Project.

The aim of the project is to create scientific three-dimensional reconstructions visualising the naval installations of the Piraeus, so real that you can smell the sea and hear lapping of the waves against the lower ends of the slipways. The pilot product can down-loaded from this link. (Right click on the link and choose ‘save target as’)