The Persian Wars Shipwreck Survey (PWSS) was a marine archaeology project conducted as a collaboration between the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the Canadian Institute. The project ran from 2003 to 2006 under the direction of Katerina Delaporta (Ephorate) and Shelley Wacshmann (Texas A&M University), with George Chronis, Anastasios Mitrousis, Spyros Volonakis and Dimitris Sakellariou (all Hellenic Centre for Marine Research).
The primary aim of the PWSS was to locate, map, and record shipwrecks, their cargoes, and related artifacts in regions where historical sources indicate that large fleets sank due to weather or battles. The first two seasons (2003-2004) concentrated on the Mount Athos area, where, according to Herodotus, a Persian fleet sent by Darius was destroyed by a north wind while trying to round the peninsula in 493 or 492 B.C. The expedition identified the remains of several shipwrecks dating to the late fifth century BCE, dated based on clusters of amphorae and a bronze spear butt spike, as well as a number of later wrecks. Subsequent survey work extended along the Magnesian coast, the northern shores of the Artemision Channel, to the southeastern coast of Euboea, exploring nearly all the areas where Herodotus describes fleet loses, with the notable exception of Salamis.
Select Bibliography
Kennell, S.A.H. 2004. “The Fieldwork of the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens, 2003.” Mouseion 4.3: 331-344.
Kennell, S.A.H. 2005. “The Fieldwork of the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens, 2004.” Mouseion 5.3: 287-301.
Rupp, D.W. 2006. “The Fieldwork of the Canadian Institute in Greece, 2005.” Mouseion 6.2: 203-218.
Rupp, D.W. 2007. “The Fieldwork of the Canadian Institute in Greece, 2006.” Mouseion 7.2: 131-153.
More on the project can be found here: https://portal.cig-icg.gr/node/419
