World's oldest submerged town dates back 5,000 years (w/ Video)

Archaeologists surveying the world's oldest submerged town have found ceramics dating back to the Final Neolithic. Their discovery suggests that Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece, was occupied some 5,000 years ago -- at least 1,200 years earlier than originally thoug

These remarkable findings have been made public by the Greek government after the start of a five year collaborative project involving the Ephorate of
Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and The University of Nottingham.

As a Mycenaean town the site offers potential new insights into the workings of Mycenaean society. Pavlopetri has added importance as it was a maritime settlement from which the inhabitants coordinated local and long distance trade.

The Pavlopetri Underwater Archaeology Project aims to establish exactly when the site was occupied, what it was used for and through a systematic study of the geomorphology of the area, how the town became submerged.

This summer the team carried out a detailed digital underwater survey and study of the structural remains, which until this year were thought to belong to the Mycenaean period — around 1600 to 1000 BC. The survey surpassed all their expectations. Their investigations revealed another 150 square metres of new buildings as well as ceramics that suggest the site was occupied throughout the Bronze Age — from at least 2800 BC to 1100 BC.

The work is being carried out by a multidisciplinary team led by Mr Elias Spondylis, Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture in Greece and Dr Jon Henderson, an underwater archaeologist from the Department of Archaeology at The University of Nottingham.

Dr Jon Henderson said: "This site is unique in that we have almost the complete town plan, the main streets and domestic buildings, courtyards, rock-cut tombs and what appear to be religious buildings, clearly visible on the seabed. Equally as a harbour settlement, the study of the archaeological material we have recovered will be extremely important in terms of revealing how maritime trade was conducted and managed in the Bronze Age."

Source: www.sciencedaily.com...

edit to add source and quotes:
Posting work written by others


*** if some one can embed the video attached to this link, that'd be great



[edit on 10-16-2009 by worldwatcher]

reply to post by prjct


Hi there, have you got a link to the video? The only 3 video formats that can be embeded in the ATS forums are YouTube, Google and Media@Above video's.

i love the tiny foot ahead approach that our govt lets out. there are mines in california that people found tools and items that pre date 10,000 bc there is also giants that have been found through out the u.s that pre date 10,000 years. just wonder when the truth will finally come out. guess i cannot complain. i mean baby steps work right?
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if you dont beleive me read "DEAD MENS SECRETS", by Jonathon Gray

reply to post by prjct


Looks very interesting .
Quite a find .

Race to preserve the world's oldest submerged town - Part 1


Race to preserve the world's oldest submerged town - Part 2

reply to post by prjct


prjct, the source material you posted is not your words, yet you make it appear as if it is so.

edit: mods were quicker than me on this one.

[edit on 16-10-2009 by pluckynoonez]

oh geez...........

Looks like the city has had a modern day makeover, the BBC has made a documentary programm with CGI graphics etc to bring the city back to life.

www.bbc.co.uk...

This summer it became the first underwater city to be fully digitally mapped and recorded in three dimensions, and then brought back to life with computer graphics. The result shows how much it has in common with port cities of today - Liverpool, London, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo or Shanghai - despite the fact that its heyday was 4,000 years ago. Covering an area of about eight football pitches, Pavlopetri appears as a series of large areas of stones indicating building complexes, among which a network of walls can be traced. It is a city of well-built roads lined by detached and semi-detached two-storey houses. There are larger apparently public buildings and evidence of a complex water management system involving channels and guttering.

Short BBC clips

www.bbc.co.uk...

www.bbc.co.uk...

www.bbc.co.uk...

www.bbc.co.uk...

Just to let the UK members know the programme starts tonight on BBC 2 at 10pm.

EDIT

Bastard....I've missed it....it started at 8pm