News from the Field

The following text and photos were post by Tina Tavridou on her Facebook profile. We reproduce it here with her permission, since we think that people on the island is what matter the most. Looking forward to meet them all again in August and September!

“Spend three days on an island of 20 inhabitants and you get to meet them all. This album is a way to introduce the people of Antikythera to my friends in Greece and around the world and make their voices heard. Until next time!”

Myron

Fishing, livestock, musician
Wish: “It would be nice if we had visitors all year round. We are human in January and February, too!”

Myron (one more)

Restaurant owner, livestock
Wish: “That they think of us, that there is a doctor on the island, that they remember that there are people living on Antikythera, most of them over 50 years old.”

Antonis

Fisherman from Kissamos, Crete, comes to Antikythera 40-50 times a year
Wish: “That there always are nice people -as there are- and fish!”

Nektarios

Fishing
Wish: “That beautiful women come to our island all year round!”

Manolis

Fishing, builder, assists ferry mooring and ticketing
Wish: “No wish, I’m fine”

Yorgos

Works for the Municipality
Wish: “That the ferry ran more often”

Andreas Harhalakis

Electricity plant technician, elected representative of the Municipality
Wish: “That our island is never depopulated”

Yiannis Glitsos

President for 18 years at the Association of Antikytherians “Saint Myron”, retired, spends about half the year on the island

Manolis Harhalakis

Forest ranger of Kythira and Antikythira, lived in Australia for 15 years, speaks perfect Aussie English
Wish: “Wishes for a beautiful summer to everyone, I wish people could plant trees, especially on Kythira and Antikythera, and protect them.”

Argyro

Retired, spends about half the year on the island
Wish: “To have a doctor on the island and that it does not get depopulated. That we see as much as possible that there are visitors to liven it up.”

Vassilis

Retired sailor, hobbies hunting and fishing
Wish: “I wish our little island is never deserted and always has people; that the people in power do not forget us, because this is one of the small islands whose population will have an expiration date if we are not careful.”

Father Antonios

“The most important things are having a doctor and the ferry”.

Nikos Politis

Retired, Physics and IT, works with the site www.antikythira-enosi.gr
Wish: “Concord”

Sofia Politou

Retired public servant, hobbies ceramics and hagiography
Wish: “Some more people”

Eirini Galanaki

Retired
Wish: “That the island came alive, that we had more people”.

Georgia

Spent a month on the island hunting insects for a university disseration, I didn’t ask her for a wish since she is not local, just posting her photo because she is so lovely and everyone on the island will remember her and her butterfly net!

Penelope Harhalaki

Wish: “That our land is full of people, I remember in the old days there were 70 children at school, 800 people lived here, we had two priests, today there are almost no children at all.”

Aggeliki

Mother of 4
Wish: “That there is transportation. And that we become volunteers in our own town otherwise there is no moving forward. To clean the street, the trail, to cut a branch that is sticking out, not to sit and wait for everything to be done by the state”.

Recap of our first week at Antikythera: on Wednesday, the team was completed with the last arrivals; diving operations manager Phil Short and chief diver Gemma Smith flew in via helicopter, and were warmly greeted. Thanks to our friends at Costa Navarino Resort for delivering essential personnel in such style!

 

On Thursday, we conducted the first dive of the season on the Antikythera shipwreck site. We recovered artifacts we left positioned from last season, set the mooring lines and conducted a general site inspection which showed no evident interference.

 

The good weather conditions from Friday and during the weekend allowed more dives and some targeted metal detection with a brand new device specially designed for the site. More to come, stay tuned!

We’re working at maximum capacity today, the first four teams are in the water, with the fifth team dropping in now.

The ROV is keeping an eye on things, providing a live view from the surface which helps better synchronise the process.

Stay tuned!

Mathias Buttet, Director of R&D at Hublot, and designer of the Antikythera Mechanism watch arrived in Antikythera today, perfect timing to observe the excavation in top gear over the next few days.

Another interesting arrival was a caïque with Kalymnian sponge divers on board, who will be diving for sponges in the area this week. It was quite nostalgic talking to the guys, who have a similar vessel and use similar techniques to the sponge divers who originally found the Antikythera shipwreck in 1900.

Luxury watch maker HUBLOT is a major sponsor of the Return to Antikythera project and their support is greatly appreciated.

We’d like to thank Dr. Fotini Lata for her help this week, when team photographer Brett Seymour sustained a hand injury. She helped diagnose the injury and immobilized Brett’s hand, which assisted him in getting back in the water sooner.

It’s a shame that Fotini finishes her post in Antikythera today and we wish her the best, perhaps returning next year as team doctor for Return to Antikythera 2016.

The team has found a good rhythm and is being very productive. It takes a week to set up and then the first few days to iron out any bugs, and now we’re past those phases, the team is hitting its stride. Below is a selection of photos from today, showing the team in action.

And beneath the surface, the following video by Evan Kovacs provides insight regarding how working in water is like being in a different world.

Photos by John Fardoulis ©ARGO 2015

The underwater excavation is currently in full swing, with multiple 2-3 diver teams making the most of their bottom time each day.

A very detailed map has been created for the site by an underwater robot at the beginning of summer and last year, meaning that everything retrieved from the shipwreck can be plotted on this blueprint, which helps us better understand the shipwreck by studying the spatial relationship between objects.

If you go back a few posts, an explanation was provided about how the underwater dredge works. It’s currently a major tool in helping uncover thousands of years of sand/silt/gravel. Today’s photos are by Brett Seymour.