Underwater investigation at the gulf of Herakleion and the island of Dia - 2010

Underwater investigation at the gulf of Herakleion and the island of Dia from the EEA and the American Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Theotokis Theodoulou (EEA) reports that an area beyond 30 square kilometers was systematically investigated at the gulf of Herakleion and in the south and east of Dia Island. In total four unknown shipwreck loads with amphorae as well as vessels used by the ship crew were found. The two of them are Roman shipwrecks, one carrying Cretan amphorae of the 1^st-2^nd c. AD (Fig. 1) and the other carrying Late Roman Amphorae (5^th-7^th c. AD); the other two shipwrecks had Byzantine amphorae, the first dating to the 8^th-9^th c. AD and the second dating to a later period. Moreover, a shipwreck load with Rhodian amphorae of the 1^st-2^nd c. AD was re-detected, after having been discovered and partially excavated by the team of the then Ministry of Culture and Science and of the French researcher J. Cousteau, in 1976. 

Apart from the aforementioned, three modern shipwrecks were also detected, as well as four areas of temporary anchoring (refuges), which were filled with archaeological material of various periods and origins (amphorae, coarse and tableware vessels, stone and lead anchors, fishing weights etc.), which were identified with the same way. 

[Etnry created by K. Christakis and translated by C. Koureta]