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Last September, the crew of the Octopus Foundation headed once again to Albania, on the archaeological site of Orikum. This time, the aim was to assist the scientists of the Geneva University (UNIGE) and the Albanian institute to better understand the submerged section of the ancient city.

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After a two-week-long mission, the Octopus Foundation provided the archaeologists on land with a complete documentation of the lagoon’s seafloor, in order to verify if vestiges of the port city described in Julius Caesar’s notes on the civil war (circa 48 BC) still remain. The crew of the Octopus Foundation found numerous structures such as walls, stone slabs and repeated similar structures that could very well be the foundations of a large colonnade.

Even if this mission was “as complete success, it wasn’t an easy one”, explains Julien Pfyffer, president of the Octopus Foundation. “The lagoon near Orikum is quite shallow, muddy in some places and offers a limited visibility only a few hours a day. Yet, its situation and the water transparency allowed us to use the drone to capture a huge photographic map. This tool helped the archaeologists to identify the stone structures that could be related to the port of the ancient city.”

All of the data collected by the Octopus Foundation was handed to the archaeologists. They will use this file to look into the possibility of an underwater campaign for September 2017. Maybe it will unlock a series of mysteries that surround this important ancient city.

©P.Henry