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Archaeological campaign in the ancient harbour of Samos, 1988

Αρχαιολογικά χρονικά

• Σιμώσι, Αγγελική

The underwater archaeological campaign in the ancient harbour of Samos was carried out from 8-9 to 14-10-1988; it was started as a result of the need to preserve the present day harbour of Pythagorion.It was first necessary to rebuild the existing breakwater, which had suffered serious damage from the strong south winds which plague the area and the stormy seas. The existence of an ancient harbour installation was confirmed south of the present outer mole of the harbour of Pythagorion. It consists of a submerged stone structure, 480 m in length, and of a width so far unknown, since its upper inner surface has been covered by modern rubble from the disintegrating breakwater.In order to determine the date of construction of the stone structure and, more important, to relate it to the harbour works which closed the harbour (Herodotus III, 60) as well as to find the depth of the foundations, a trench was excavated.This harbour structure outside the areaof the main harbour and beyond the perimeter of the sea walls of the ancient city must have had a protective function. It protected the main harbour from the south winds and rough seas and made the anchorage safer.It would certainly have provided a form of defensive fortification outside the walls for the harbour itself. We may therefore conclude that the stone structure acted as a breakwater.Our excavation on the outer slope of the breakwater has yielded finds whose earliest date is the Early Hellenistic period (300 BC); but, we have not yet excavated the foundations to obtain a complete chronology. Perhaps the breakwater is a later addition to the Archaic harbour works, constructed in the Early Hellenistic period. On the other hand, we cannot be sure whether the Archaic Polycratean harbour works lie beneath the present mole, which was built in the last century, since there are no excavation data.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Σάμος

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