14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, archaeologists announced the discovery of a so-called underwater Pompeii in the waters off the coast of the island of Delos in Greece.
The ancient settlement, whose remains were first assumed to be those of a port, is said to have ended up at the bottom of the Aegean Sea ages ago, sometime in the 1st century BC.
Still, evidence at hand indicates that, before collapsing to the seafloor for reasons still unknown, it was a flourishing human community.
How the settlement got its nickname
Information shared with the public by researchers with the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Greek Ministry of Culture says that the remains of this ancient settlement sit close to the north-eastern coast of the island of Delos.
They are located at a depth of about 6 feet (1.83 meters). As mentioned, the underwater structures were first believed to be those of an ancient port. However, it appears that there is more to this settlement than researcher first assumed.
Thus, underwater archaeologists say that, while exploring this site, they came across columns, large stones that used to be part and parcel of rather impressive buildings, as many as 16 clay pots and even the remains of an oven.
This indicates that, rather than being a simple port, the settlement was a well-developed human community comprising buildings and even workshops, International Business Times explains.
Due to the fact that workshops such as the ones documented in the waters off the coast of the island of Delos have until now only been documented in the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy, this settlement is now referred to as Greece's underwater Pompeii.
“Similar workshops have been found in Pompeii and Herculaneum,” reads a statement issued by the Greek Ministry of Culture with respect to this archaeological discovery.
The importance of this find
Archaeologists expect that the discovery of this ancient settlement will help shed new light on the history of island of Delos, which the ancient Greeks considered to be the birthplace of the god Apollo and the goddess Artemis.
According to historical records and evidence uncovered over the years, this island, which was first inhabited in the 3rd millennium BC, was a thriving cultural center starting the 8th century BC and up until the 1st century BC. In the 2nd century BC, the Romans took control of it and turned it into a port.
However, the island was eventually abandoned. In fact, a census carried out by Greek authorities back in 2001, the island of Delos was populated by just 14 people.
