The Antikythera wreck delivers its secrets through Swiss technology
In the south of the Peloponnese, the underwater excavations of this ancient ship are carried out by the University of Geneva under the aegis of the Swiss School of Archeology in Greece.
The 2022 excavation campaign took place from May 23 to June 15, under the direction of Lorenz Baumer, professor of classical archeology at the University of Geneva, and Dr Angeliki G. Simosi, head of the Ephoria of Antiquities from Euboea.
GIANNOULAKIS/SOTIRIOU
“Other people’s disaster makes archaeologists happy!” This very personal version of a well-known adage comes spontaneously to Lorenz Baumer about the excavation site he surveyed in Greece three months ago, the Antikythera wreck. If this 40-meter-long merchant ship carrying in its holds a full cargo of works of art bound for Rome had not sunk in 60 BC. AD south of the Peloponnese, the professor of classical archeology at the University of Geneva and his colleagues would never have had the opportunity to study “the richest ancient wreck ever discovered in Greece”.