‘Amphibious’ Excavation at Coastal Sites: The Use of a Cofferdam at Ambelaki, Salamis (Greece)

Abstract

Since 2016 a joint interdisciplinary research project between the Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology (HIMA) and the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports (EUA) has been continuing annually in the area of Ambelaki-Kynosoura, on the east coast of the island of Salamis (Greece), under the direction of Emeritus Professor Yannos G. Lolos and Dr Angeliki G. Simossi. The present paper outlines a newly applied methodology for the efficient investigation of submerged architectural remains of the Classical to Roman-Period town of Salamis, in shallow water, in the wider area where the allied Greek fleet assembled on the eve of the naval battle in 480 BC, as asserted bymodern historians (Lolos & Marabea, 2020) and in a present-day heavily polluted environment. This is a situation experienced by everybody who has been in the area over the past years. In all areas of our excavation the sand of the seabed is black. The excavation of submerged remains in shallow water does not have a long tradition in Greece, despite the existence of many such submerged sites along the Greek coasts and the application of the cofferdam excavation technique in other countries: e.g., British vessels at Yorktown (Broadwater, 1992), Viking ships at Skuldelev, Denmark (Olsen & Crumlin-Pedersen, 1968, p. 79, fig. 3), La Belle at Matagorda Bay, Texas, U.S.A. (Menotti, 2012, pp. 217–219; Viduka, 2012, pp. 8–9, with further references). This situation may be owed to the nature of such excavations, i.e., at the margins between land and sea, where both methodologies of land and underwater excavation have to be combined. Apart from many surveys, excavations of submerged remains in shallow waters using methods and techniques of underwater archaeology have been conducted in Greece, for example, at Abdera, Thrace (Samiou, 1993), Metochi on the west coast of the southern Pagasetikos Gulf, at depths of 0–2.5 m (Spondylis & Michalis, 2018, p. 79), at Kyllene in the western Peloponnese, at depths of 0–8 m (Pakkanen et al., 2018), at Pavlopetri in southern Laconia, at depths of 1–4 m (Henderson et al., 2011, p. 208), at Lambayianna in the southern Argolid, at depths of 1–3 m (Research Project ‘Koilada Bay 2017’). Furthermore, a clear water enclosure system (so-called ‘Pochin enclosure system’) has been applied for the investigation of submerged remains in shallow water at Zea in Piraeus (Lovén, 2003–2004, p. 8), though with a totally different purpose: it served as a means to obtain better visibility in polluted water. In Greece, the first successful investigation of ancient underwater remains by drainage was accomplished by Sylvia Benton in 1932, during her excavation of a partly submerged sea-side cave at the Bay of Polis in north Ithaca. She used a pump and dams, partly made of wood (Rennell Rodd, 1932–1933, pp. 18–20; Benton, 1934–1935, pp. 47–48, figs. 5–6). Later, in the 1960s, ‘amphibious’ excavations took place at Kenchreai, one of the two ports of ancient Corinth. To investigate submerged ruins, in ca. 1 m of water, the excavators used sacks filled with sand to isolate the area and pumps to remove water (Scranton & Ramage, 1967, pl. 37; C. Kritzas, pers. com.). Since then, to our knowledge, no other attempt had been made for the investigation of submerged remains by means of a cofferdam for holding back water.