The Underwater Survey of Kalamianos Harbor (USKH) was a Greek-Canadian collaborative project carried out in 2009 and conducted in close association with the Saronic Harbors Archaeological Project (SHARP) of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Co-directed by Ms. Despoina Koutsoumba of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and Professor Joe Boyce of McMaster University, the USKH team carried out a marine geophysical survey covering a ten square kilometer area of sea near the Bronze Age site of Kalamianos. The project aimed to reconstruct the configuration of the coastline during the Bronze Age and locate a possible Mycenaean harbor through a combination of survey methods including diver reconnaissance, magnetometry, side-scan sonar, and bathymetry. Bathymetric survey detected two submerged platforms (designated BR-1 and BR-2) and a submerged bedrock promontory which acted as an isthmus in the Early Bronze Age, extending from Cape Akrotirio Trelli to a small islet approximately 200 meters offshore. These features together created two basins to the east and west of the promontory with a well-protected natural harbor to the east.

The chronological gap in ceramic finds suggests that the area was abandoned after the Early Bronze Age and remained unoccupied until the middle of the Late Bronze Age. Large quantities of Late Helladic pottery were recovered at BR-1, while BR-2 yielded fragments of jars associated with an earlier, pre-Mycenaean phase of occupation. By that time, rising sea levels had submerged the isthmus and much of the eastern harbor, isolating the islet from the mainland. Consequently, Late Helladic activity appears to have shifted to the western basin, which functioned as a “shipping terminus” where vessels could safely anchor offshore.

Select Bibliography

Dao, P. 2011. “Marine Geophysical and Geomorphic Survey of Submerged Bronze Age Shorelines and Anchorage Sites at Kalamianos, (Korphos, Greece).” MSc Diss., McMaster University.

Pullen, D.J. 2013. “The Life and Death of a Mycenaean Port Town: Kalamianos on the Saronic Gulf.” J Mari Arch 8, no. 2: 245–262.

Pullen, D.J. 2022. “Shaping a Mycenaean cultural landscape at Kalamianos, Greece.” In Shaping Cultural Landscapes: Connecting Agriculture, Crafts, Construction, Transport, and Resilience Strategies. A. Brysbaert, I. Vikatou & J. Pakkanen eds. Leiden: Sidestone Press.

Rupp, D.W. 2011. “The Fieldwork of the Canadian Institute in Greece, 2009: Kalamianos” Mouseion 11, no. 1: 12-16.

Tartaron, T.F., D.J. Pullen, R.K. Dunn, L. Tzortzopoulou-Gregory, A. Dill & J.I. Boyce. 2011. “The Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project (SHARP): Investigations at Mycenaean Kalamianos, 2007–2009.” Hesperia 80, no. 4: 559-634.

Tartaron, T.F. 2015. “The Settlement at Kalamianos: Bronze Age Small Worlds and the Saronic Coast of the Southeastern Corinthia.” In Bridge of the Untiring Sea: The Corinthian Isthmus from Prehistory to Late Antiquity. E.R. Gebhard & T.E. Gregory eds. Hesperia Supplement 48. Princeton: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

More information: https://portal.cig-icg.gr/node/918