Impressive archeological findings from the shipwreck of Antikythera – See photo

Rich in findings was the second period (23 May – 15 June 2022) of underwater archaeological research on the Antikythera wreck, in the framework of the five-year program 2021-2025. The research is conducted by the Swiss School of Archeology in Greece under the direction of Dr. Angeliki G. Simosi, head of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Evia, and Lorenz Baumer, Professor of Classical Archeology at the University of Geneva, under the supervision of the Ephorate of Marine Antiquities. The research is under the auspices of the PTA.

The mission started with lifting massive rocks weighing many tons, which covered part of the wreck. During this phase, special lifting bags were used from the bottom, with the innovation of the application of the air filling system from the boat, developed by the team of Hublot Xplorations.

New findings include:
• Marble base of a statue of which both bare lower limbs of human form are preserved, covered with a thick layer of marine epiphany. For this reason a detailed description is not possible.
• Marble supernatural head of male bearded form, which at first sight is identified with the demigod Hercules of the Farnese type, the so-called “Hercules of Antikythera”, and is likely to belong to the headless statue no. 5742 of the National Archaeological Museum, which was excavated by spongers in 1900.
• The big surprise comes from finding two human teeth on a solid agglomerate with traces of copper, which through its genetic material will help determine the sex and other genetic characteristics of the person to whom they belonged.
• Numerous items from the ship’s accessoriessuch as copper and iron nails, as well as the lead type of wooden anchor, but also amorphous metal masses covered by hard marine, which hide their own secrets, which only with x-ray can be traced and any possible occurrences can be identified.

The antiquities were safely transported from Antikythera to the facilities of the Ephorate of Marine Antiquities, properly packaged according to the instructions of the Conservation Department of the Ephorate.

In addition to the directors of the research, the mission included the professor of the University of Venice Carlo Beltrame and the researcher of the same university Dr. Elisa Costa, Orestis Manousos and Dr. Isaac Ogloblin, the collaborating researcher at the University of Geneva Alexandros Sotiriou, who led the field operation, divers Haris Mitrou, Nikos Giannoulakis and Dimitris Romios. At the same time, four experienced executives of the Submarine Missions Unit (MIA) of the Coast Guard – Hellenic Coast Guard, Aris Machairidis, Dimitris Hatziaslan, Dimitris Kiosis and George Lytrivis took part.

For conducting underwater research and excavation diving was carried out by specialized diving personnel, using mixed gas diving devices. In addition to the divers of the Coast Guard, scientific and technical staff of the research and development department of Hublot, as well as the special ship TYPHOON, provided by the Athanasios K. Laskaridis Public Benefit Foundation, assisted in the diving project.

The diving effort was supported by the Typhoon crew under the coordination of Rear Admiral e.a. Alexandrou Palatianou and from the Hublot Xplorations team with Mathias Buttet, Michel Blumenthal, Aloïs Aebischer and Diego Carven. The research was supervised by the diving architect of the Ephorate of Marine Antiquities, Ekaterini Tagonidou.

The Faculty of Sciences of the University of Geneva (Laboratory of Crystallography and Department of Earth Sciences) provided laboratory equipment for on-site analyzes.

The main sponsors of the research are the Ekaterini Laskaridis Foundation and the Swiss watchmaker Hublot. The research was also supported by the Swiss Nereus Research Foundation, which was founded with the main purpose of supporting Antikythera research, as well as Cosmote as the research communication sponsor.
Thanks are due personally to Panos Laskaridis and the Mayor of Kythera Efstratios Charchalakis, for the continuous support of the archaeological research. The residents of Kythera and Antikythera are regular supporters of the program.