Pavlopetri Peloponneso
In the crystal clear waters close of Elafonissos Island lies a secret.
We are talking about the Pavlopetri city (in Greek: Παυλοπέτρι), one of the oldest submerged cities on the planet. A unique archaeological site where the depths of the sea host an internal citadel of 2.2 hectares equal to eight football fields. UNESCO underwater cultural heritage that preserves it from the destruction or loss of very important and significant cultural historical information for mankind.
At a depth of 4 meters, Pavlopetri is believed to be the oldest submerged city in the Mediterranean. An urban agglomeration dating back to 3000 BC with streets, courtyards, two-storey houses with gardens, temples, a cemetery and an advanced water management system. At the center of the city there is a square with an area of m. 40x20 probably a place of discussion for the city with majestic palaces around which had up to twelve rooms inside.
The design quality of this city has greatly surprised the modern urban planning experts who consider it unanimously superior to those of today, assuming that it had been inhabited by an advanced civilization such as that of the most famous Atlantis with which it has numerous similarities (who can say maybe Atlantis is Pavlopertri).
Pavlopetri was not a simple farmers city, but a port city that housed a sophisticated company with two story houses and a well planned road network. Like all modern coastal cities, its wealth was made up of trade, with operators in contact with the latest innovations and at the fashions forefront and the time trends. On the seabed, archaeologists found hundreds of large storage tanks in scattered order that were probably loaded onto ships to transport oil, wine, dyes, perfumes and small objects such as figurines and table ceramics. The large number of findings suggests that the city also had a complex centralized storage system since all the loading and unloading operations of imports and exports required a surplus level of administrative and accounting management. The secret hope of archaeologists is therefore to find some tablets that survived the erosion of water and time to be able to discover the first form of writing in Europe.
The Pavlopetri city was discovered in 1967 by Nicholas Flemming and mapped in 1968 by a group of archaeologists from Cambridge. In 2009, in depth studies were carried out and revealed that the whole area was already inhabited in 2800 BC and that it was swallowed up by the sea during 1000 BC due to a devastating earthquake. Despite the power of the earthquake, the layout of the city is still clearly visible and at least fifteen well-preserved buildings have been counted with their walls made of Aeolianite, a rock composed of the lithification of sediments produced by the erosive action of the wind, but also of rock sandstone and limestone blocks, all assembled without a trace of mortar.
An entire city from the Bronze Age, a link between our past and the contemporary era with numerous mysteries that are just waiting to be revealed.
A detailed BBC documentary readily available on you tube and the Voyajer program on RAIPLAY tell the story if you want to get some previews.
A day trip to the Pavlopetri city is definitely recommended. To get to the submerged city, just ferry from Elafonissos to Pounta, the ferry ticket costs 1 € per person, from there you can reach the beach on foot. Bring everything you need, water and packed lunch or you can choose one of the taverns in the area and you can start armed with fins, mask and snorkel to explore this crazy site by swimming over the remains of an ancient civilization or walking through the archaeological cemetery, recognizing the streets, stairs and walls of the port, traveling with the imagination in a great hub of port trade inhabited by a complex society composed of craftsmen, traders, sailors, farmers, artists, seamstresses, politicians and officials, men and women of a long time ago, reconstructing what may have been the ancient Pavlopetri city.
An infinite thanks to Francesca del Vecchio Frantoio who organizes these fantastic trips out of town to discover submerged worlds that you will carry forever in the baggage of the most beautiful memories on your holidays in Greece on the island of Elafonissos. Look for her if you are on the island, her knowledge and advice will be invaluable.
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