DOKOS

The underwater archaeological excavation at Dokos carried out by the Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology from 1989 to 1992 under the direction of the archaeologist George Papathanasopoulos was the first full scale excavation of an ancient wreck in Greece which also employed the most up-to-date technological methods of the time. The underwater site of Dokos is the most valuable tangible evidence for navigation, sea trade, technology and the economy in the Aegean during the late 3rd millennium BC.

The island of Dokos

The island of Dokos owes its name to the Dokos family of Hydriot ship owners, to whom it belonged at the end of the 18th century. In antiquity it was called Aperopia, a name perhaps meaning β??the mountain islandβ?. It is in fact craggy and precipitous, with few natural springs. Its highly important geographical location, however, at the entrance to the Argolic Gulf and on the sea route to and from the coasts of Argolida and Lakonia attracted the interest of mariners from early on.

It was inhabited from the end of the Neolithic period (4th millennium BC), but human presence on the island increased during the Early Helladic period (2500-2300/2200 BC), when sea trade developed. After that time it disappeared from the record for a long period of history, becoming the habitation of fishermen and shepherds. In times of trouble, however, its role was upgraded because of its position and fortified character. During the 13th c. BC the powerful settlements of Myti Kommeni and Ledeza grew up. In the middle of the 7th c. AD an actual castle town was formed in the district of the Kastro; and at the time of the national uprising in 1821 the island was used as a naval station for the Hydriot fleet. After Independence, Dokos passed into the possession of different Hydriot families and until recently was used for cultivation and pasturage.

Locating the wreck β?? reconnaissance surveys

On 23 August 1975 Peter Throckmorton, pioneer explorer of the deep and founder member of the Institute, located a large pile of broken prehistoric pottery on the seabed at Dokos in a depth of 20 metres. He returned to the spot with the president of HIMA, the archaeologist George Papathanasopoulos, who dated the pottery to the Early Helladic period and concluded that it was probably the remains of a wreck of about 2,200 BC.

This was followed by two reconnaissance surveys in 1975 and 1977 under the direction of George Papathanasopoulos and the technical organisation of Nikos Tsouchlos, in the course of which it was found that the prehistoric pottery was scattered over the bottom at a depth of 15-30 metres, and the Early Helladic II date was confirmed. It was therefore the oldest shipwreck then known in the world.

Due to the uniqueness of the find and its great importance for prehistory and underwater archaeology, HIMA began to explore the possibilities of conducting a full-scale underwater excavation. The start of the excavation of the wreck was made possible in 1989 and it was carried out over four excavation seasons.

The cargo of pottery from the bottom at Dokos

The cargo of pottery brought up from the seabed at Dokos is securely dated to the second phase of the Early Helladic period, and more specifically to its latter part (around 2,200 BC).

The bulk of the pots making up the cargo must have been the product of a flourishing workshop in some large habitation centre, perhaps in Argolida. It appears to have been intended for distribution in smaller coastal settlements and nautical stations in the Gulf of Argos and the Myrtoan Sea.

The sunken Dokos cargo is impressive for its quantity and the variety of pottery types it contains. It is certainly one of the largest assemblages so far known of Early Helladic II pottery and testifies to the high level of ceramic technology of this period, just before the introduction of the pottery wheel. It consists of clay utilitarian utensils and pots covering a broad repertoire, the basic elements of which can be paralleled in the contemporary ceramic material to be found in the major coastal centres, like Lerna and Tiryns, as well smaller settlements in the region (for example Ayia Marina on Spetses, Ledeza on Dokos and Bali on Hydra).