Onshore drilling in Kefalonia - 2011 Interim Research Summary

During 2011, the project sponsors Fugro acting upon the advice of Professor Underhill have performed land-based shallow (less than 100m) drilling using a small mobile rig. That drilling program has enabled continuous rock-cores to be obtained at a number of locations in Kefalonia, mainly in the Thinia valley. The core samples were transported to Fugro’s geospecialist labs in North Wales in late 2011 and are currently being logged, sampled and analysed.

Whilst it will take further time for the overall results to emerge, some of the preliminary indications are of particular interest, as follows:

* Borehole cores from the Thinia valley indicate that some very large in-situ rock segments of Cretaceous and Paleogene age period overlay (i.e. have been thrust on top of) rock segments of the younger Plio-Pleistocene period. This confirms that the pre-existing sidewalls of the Thinia valley have themselves been translated westward as a result of relatively recent co-seismic activity. This result represents a “tectonic” disruption of the Thinia valley.

* On the south-west flank of the Thinia valley in an area called Katachori, there is clear evidence that a major rockfall has originated from the eastern slopes of the valley, travelled across the valley floor and has come to rest (onlap) upon the upwards-sloping western hillside, infilling the valley itself in the process. This can be confirmed on site and via helicopter-based LIDAR scans, and it is also visible via Google Earth imagery.

* The tail end of the rockfall has covered some pre-existing walls which end abruptly at the debris and their continuity can be identified underneath it. Upthrust combined with rockfall and valley fill set up a barrier for drainage that caused an ancient lake to form subsequently above it. The lake bed has now silted up and forms a low-agricultural plain in the centre of the valley.

* Elsewhere in Thinia the drill-core samples indicate that rockfall debris covers former marine beach deposits (e.g. at Zola on the north-western end of the valley) and work is ongoing to determine the age of the buried sediments.

" Marine deposits have already been discovered at some locations along the Thinia isthmus, and at present the aerial tests, the land-based observations and the results of the core sampling to date support the tectonic infill proposal. If a tectonic infill can be demonstrated then this will also indicate that the former coastline was not a long and narrow marine channel, but may have been a significantly wider and more naturally shaped marine seaway that resembled the existing bays to the north and south.

Download full text of Interim Research Summary

For geological inquiries:

Professor John Underhill

President - European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers (EAGE) http://www.eage.org/

Chair of Stratigraphy & Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/

Work Address & Contact Details: Grant Institute of Earth Science, School of Geosciences, The University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JW, Scotland, U.K. Telephone: 0131-650-8518 (direct line) Telephone: 0131-650-1000 (switchboard) Fax Number: 0131-668-3184 e-mail address: jru@staffmail.ed.ac.uk

Coring for Ithaca: Geoscientist article describes drilling progress

Adler deWind reports from the Greek island of Kefalonia on progress towards proving - or disproving - the theory that the Paliki Peninsula was once separated from the main island and was the true geographical location of Homer’s Ithaca.

Despite a clear reference in Homer to “rocky Ithaca” being the westernmost, low-lying Ionian Island, controversy has long surrounded the location of Odysseus’s Homeland.

Three years after their initial support of the geoscientific investigation and work program into testing whether the western peninsula of Kefalonia (Paliki) could have been that free-standing island three millennia ago (Fig.1), geotechnical company Fugro are continuing their support of the project by drilling and coring boreholes in 15 locations.

If successful, the coring program has the potential to settle the centuries-old classical Greek dispute.

Download published article

Geoscientist website

Locating Ithaca: Research Priorities for 2010

With sponsorship from Fugro, consultant Robert Bittlestone, together with John Underhill, Professor of Stratigraphy at the University of Edinburgh, and James Diggle, Professor of Classics at Cambridge, formed the ‘Odysseus Unbound’ organisation, in an attempt to uncover the truth about the location of the historic island kingdom of Homer’s hero.

Geological mapping reveals that most of Thinia’s surface consists of loose rockfall material brought down by frequent earthquakes, some occurring within living memory.

Robert Bittlestone poses the key question: “Despite this clear evidence of extensive, ancient and modern landslips, can we be sure that there is not a bridge of solid bedrock underneath, joining the Paliki peninsula to the rest of the island, somewhere above sea level? If there is, then this could represent a serious objection to the proposition that Paliki is ancient Ithaca”.

To test for the existence of such a rock bridge, Fugro Airborne Surveys flew a helicopter, equipped with electromagnetic instruments, to map the resistivity and magnetic signature of the entire Thinia isthmus. If the yellow-coloured areas, mainly depicting loose rockfall material with low resistivity, are removed from the image, there is a very clear suggestion that there was formerly an open marine channel separating the Paliki peninsula from the rest of Cephalonia - an inlet narrowing towards its Southern end.

Download published article

Full length news update

View Fugro Cross-Section Issue 14

Greek translation of latest Geoscientist article

We are pleased to announce the availability of a Greek translation of the recent Geoscientist article Testing Classical Enigmas by Professor John Underhill of the University of Edinburgh. It has been translated from the magazine Geoscientist Vol. 9 No. 18 (September 2008) with the kind permission of the publisher Dr.Ted Nield. Geoscientist magazine is the monthly color magazine of the Geological Society of London.

The Greek translation was effected by Titika Faraklou. Nikos Lykakis of the University of Edinburgh and Anastasia Strati of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens were the scientific proof-readers. Their contribution is gratefully recognised.

Right-click to download Greek translation (high resolution; low resolution)

For the English version, scroll down to Sep 1 2008

Relocating Odysseus' homeland

John Underhill, Nature Geoscience July 2009

Homer's Ithaca had been viewed as a work of poetic licence and imprecise geography. However, as recent research shows, the island's form may have been disguised over the past two millennia by catastrophic rockfalls, co-seismic uplift events and relative sea-level change.

 

Nature Geoscience website

Full text of article (PDF)

 

SAGEEP 2009, Fort Worth, Texas

Geophysics in the Search for Homer’s Ithaca

Greg Hodges, Chief Geophysicist, Fugro Airborne Surveys

The Odysseus Unbound project includes analysis of the Paliki peninsula for supporting evidence that it was once the island of Ithaca, home of Odysseus. Geophysical surveys including airborne EM (magnetometry, conductivity and LIDAR), marine seismic surveys (sidescan sonar, multibeam and sub-bottom profiling) and ground-based techniques (resistivity, magnetometry, gravity and seismic refraction) are being used to read the geological history of this island over the last 3200 years.

SAGEEP is the Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Environmental and Engineering Problems, organised by the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS).

This presentation was delivered as a Keynote Session on the morning of Tuesday March 31.

Click here for the conference paper (3 Mb PDF)

How far was Eumaios’ Pigfarm from Odysseus’ Palace?

Robert Bittlestone, REVUE DES ETUDES ANCIENNES 110 (2008)

Reproduced with the kind permission of the Editor

"Is the Ithaca of Homer’s Odyssey based on a real or imaginary island? Although the poet’s description (at 9.19-26) has long appeared enigmatic, recent research on the Paliki peninsula of Kefalonia now points towards a real location. This opens up the tantalising possibility that specific sites in the poem such as Eumaios’ Pigfarm may also have existed in the Late Bronze Age, emphasising the importance of a precise understanding of their local geography. "

This article considers the question posed by Matthias Steinhart, reviewing Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca in the Revue des Études Anciennes 109 (2007) no. 1, pp 322-324

“If it is 1.5 km to go from Eumaios’ Pigfarm to Odysseus’ Palace, how would it be possible for Odysseus to say that the city – which is nearby the Palace – is far away and for Eumaios – departing after breakfast and coming home in the evening without any longer stay – to need the whole day for his trip?”

Full text of article.

Testing classical enigmas - Geoscientist

Detailed results and photographs from the first year of sponsorship by Fugro of the Odysseus Unbound project are released today and published in Geoscientist, the monthly journal of the Geological Society of London. A carefully designed combination of land, sea and airborne techniques has provided a wealth of new data about the Thinia isthmus on the Greek island of Kefalonia that separates its western peninsula from the rest of the island. The new research shows that this 6 kilometre long and up to 2 kilometre wide isthmus contains no solid limestone bedrock down to at least 90 metres below today’s surface. The fill is loose material, some of which has originated through catastrophic rockfall from the earthquake-prone mountain range to the east, with the rest consisting of softer marl rock.

Right-click here to download the full article: High resolution (13 Mb); Low resolution (3.7 Mb)

The Identity of Ancient Ithaca: A Response

Robert Bittlestone

Reproduced with the kind permission of the Editor

"Professor Luce refers to a ‘massive and shattering disproof’ of our hypothesis concerning the identity of ancient Ithaca (CA News 37) but unfortunately he has based his conclusion on a document that has no bearing on the central geological issue. In CA News 35 I explained that Professor John Underhill is currently investigating three alternative explanations for the derivation of the Thinia isthmus that separates the Paliki western peninsula from the rest of Kefalonia:

(a) Around 1200 BC the terrain at the isthmus was well above sea level, as it is today;

(b) There was a thin strand of connecting terrain, such as between Lefkas and the mainland;

(c) There was no terrain at that time above sea level and so Paliki was a ‘sea-girt’ island.

Professor Luce states that a geological study conducted by a research team from Athens University at the prompting of the Association of Ithakans Worldwide has already identified (a) as the correct answer. He has kindly provided us with a copy of this unpublished document which purports to disprove the possibility currently being tested by John Underhill and his team that either (b) or (c) may instead apply. However this document describes only a surface study, and as John Underhill has explained in his published work, the hypothesis that Paliki was a free-standing island as recently as 2000-3000 years ago cannot be established or disproved by a surface survey alone. It requires instead the use of geophysical and geological techniques (gravity surveying, seismic acquisition, resistivity analysis and electromagnetic methods) which in combination can diagnose the buried terrain down to sea level and below. "

Full text of article.

How did Homer describe Ithaca? The meaning of Odyssey 9.19-26

Professor James Diggle

I am Odysseus, Laertes' son, world-famed
For stratagems: my name has reached the heavens.
Bright Ithaca is my home: it has a mountain,
Leaf-quivering Neriton, far visible.
Around are many islands, close to each other,
Doulichion and Same and wooded Zacynthos.
Ithaca itself lies low, furthest to sea
Towards dusk; the rest, apart, face dawn and sun.
Odyssey 9.19-26

These lines from the Odyssey have created confusion over the centuries, often as a result of mistranslation. The following text is based on Appendix 1 Section G of Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca, with an additional discussion of the meaning of the word panhupertate.

Full text of article

Ithaca theory gains support - Geoscientist

Results of an offshore seismic survey and the first borehole to test the hypothesis that the Paliki peninsula of the Greek island of Kefallinia was once Homer’s Ithaca lend weight to the theory. Ted Nield reports.

The theory that the home of Odysseus, which has never been satisfactorily identified, was in fact a part of the modern island of Kefallinia that was once an island in its own right (Geoscientist 16, 9 p4 et seq.) has received support from the first test borehole. The theory, advanced by British businessman Robert Bittlestone (author of Odysseus Unbound - The Search for Homer’s Ithaca - Cambridge University Press), with Cambridge University classicist, Professor James Diggle and Edinburgh University geologist, Professor John Underhill, predicts that the peninsula of Paliki was once separated from the rest of Kefallinia by a narrow, probably tidal channel that subsequently became blocked by landslips. This theory solves a number of disagreements between modern geography and Homer’s text - inconsistencies not satisfied by the assumption that Bronze Age Ithaca and the modern island of Ithaki (to the east of Kefallinia) were one and the same island.

Right-click here to download the full article: Medium resolution (15 Mb); Low resolution (3.9 Mb)

Even closer to finding Ithaca. By Managing Editor Megan Sever

"Researchers are several steps closer to finding Homer's Ithaca, thanks to new results released today from geologic tests that support the hypothesis that the ancient kingdom of Ithaca may in fact be on western Kefalonia, not the modern-day Greek island of Ithaki, as has been suggested for several centuries, and is reported this month in Geotimes.

The hypothesis — put forth by businessman Robert Bittlestone, classicist James Diggle and geologist John Underhill in their 2005 book Odysseus Unbound — suggests that a channel once separated Kefalonia from its western peninsula, called Paliki, creating two separate islands. Paliki is Ithaca, as described in the Bronze Age 3,200 years ago, according to the hypothesis."

Click here for: the rest of this news article; feature article Finding Ithaca; AGI press release.

Compelling new evidence announced today about the location of Homer's Ithaca

• New scientific evidence closes in on western Kefallinia as Homer’s Ithaca
• Catastrophic rockfalls and landslides triggered by earthquakes believed to have filled in ancient sea channel and created a landlocked isthmus
• 122 metre (400 foot) borehole at isthmus meets no solid limestone bedrock
• Greek Geological Institute survey pinpoints submerged marine valley
• Bulgarian scientists locate microscopic marine fossils caught up in the rockfall
• American ground-penetrating radar confirms channel contours
• Ancient roads interrupted by landslides still visible on the surface
• Detailed scientific findings and supporting photographs provided
• Channel 4 News film update broadcast at 19:43 GMT on January 9

London, January 9 2007. Results were announced today of new geological work which supports the dramatic theory about the location of Homer’s Ithaca put forward by British businessman Robert Bittlestone, Cambridge classicist Professor James Diggle and Edinburgh geologist Professor John Underhill. In 2005 they proposed that the Ithaca described in Homer’s Odyssey is to be found on western Kefallinia, not the Greek island that is today called Ithaki. Within 24 hours the news had been relayed by over 100 newspapers, TV and radio stations world-wide.

 

The new geological work involved the drilling of a 122 metre (400 foot) borehole at the southern end of the isthmus between Kefallinia and Paliki, to see whether the drill-bit would encounter solid limestone bedrock or loose rockfall and landslide material. The borehole penetrated to well below sea level and as the theory predicted, no solid limestone bedrock was encountered. Professor John Underhill comments:

 

"We drilled down to a depth of 122 metres, which is almost 15 metres below today’s sea level, and we didn’t meet any solid limestone strata at all. Although this is only a first step in testing whether or not this whole isthmus was once under the sea, it is a very encouraging confirmation of our geological diagnosis.”

 

Click here for the full Press Release (PDF)

 

Click here for the Detailed Results (PDF)

 

Channel 4 News science correspondent Julian Rush filmed the drilling operation and the resulting 8-minute news film was broadcast on UK Channel 4 at 19:43 GMT. Other TV channels wishing to license this film footage for transmission on their own national networks are invited to contact Fiona Railton. A small-screen version of the film is now available on the Channel 4 website.

 

Click here to watch today's Channel 4 News film (8 minutes: alternative direct link here)

 

Click here to watch Channel 4's previous news film (4 minutes - September 2005)

 

Click here for subsequent Press coverage

 

 

100m test borehole being drilled on Cephalonia

 

Permission has been received from the Greek authorities to drill a test borehole on Cephalonia near the southern exit of the possible route of Strabo's Channel. The altitude of the borehole site is over 100 metres above the sea and it will be drilled down to sea level and beyond. The terrain at the surface of the test site consists of loose rockfall material that has been derived from the mountains to the east. The objective of this test is to determine whether this material continues down to sea level, or whether it is replaced by solid limestone bedrock or an intermediate sediment such as marl. The data from the borehole will be analysed in conjunction with other recent tests including gravity, seismic, resistivity and ground penetrating radar studies and it is expected that the results will be announced early in 2007. Further details and location maps are provided in John Underhill's Geoscientist article below. Click here for BBC press coverage.

 

 

 

 

Geoscientist magazine publishes new geological findings on Strabo's Channel

 

Geoscientist, the monthly colour news magazine of The Geological Society of London, has today published a major new scientific article by John Underhill entitled "Quest for Ithaca". The article documents the results of detailed investigations into the isthmus between the eastern land mass of Kefalonia and the western peninsula of Paliki. It describes the geological setting of the island and it includes an up-to-date account of the field-based geoscientific techniques used to test the proposal, both before and after the publication of Odysseus Unbound, up to July 2006. With the kind agreement of Geoscientist magazine, a copy of the published article is now provided on this website.

 

The Geological Society of London, founded in 1807, is the UK national society for geoscience and it is the largest national geoscience society in Europe. Geoscientist magazine is the main mouthpiece of the society and is distributed free to all Fellows, with a print run of 10,000 copies.

 

“Because the valley floor today rises to c. 180m, it is clearly demanding to suggest that it might have been at sea level as recently as the Bronze Age (late Holocene). As a result, I anticipated that Bittlestone’s hypothesis would be easy to test - and disprove. However, rebuttal has not proved at all straightforward. None of the results of geological and geomorphological fieldwork performed so far rules out the hypothesis that a marine connection as described by Strabo could have existed at that time.” Professor John Underhill, Geoscientist September 2006.

 

“Odysseus Unbound presents a highly readable personal account of what can happen when an enthusiast with a compelling synthetic vision glimpses a solution no specialist has seen and uses his considerable resources of energy and curiosity to bring renowned experts like Professors Underhill (Geology, Edinburgh University) and Diggle (Classics, Cambridge University) to focus on solving a puzzle that has mystified scholars for centuries. Robert Bittlestone may one day emerge as Homeric studies' Alfred Wegener of the Internet age.” Dr Ted Nield, Editor, Geoscientist magazine.

 

Click here for the full article: Medium resolution (12 Mb); Low resolution (2.5 Mb)

 

 

Global Mapper technology confirms Homer's description of ancient Ithaca as 'low-lying'

 

Latest version of software package calculates average elevation above sea level of Paliki vs. Ithaki

 

Click here for full size screenshots and instructions

 

 

 

 

 

 

NASA’s ‘World Wind’ Planetary Visualisation software pinpoints proposed site of ancient Ithaca

 

NASA's free 'World Wind' software can be downloaded to track the discovery. Fly around ancient Ithaca on your PC.

 

Click here for full size screenshots and instructions

 

 

 

 

International project team announces discovery of location of Homer’s Ithaca:

• Dramatic geological shifts hid solution to mystery of Odysseus’ island for 3,000 years

• Peninsula in western Kefallinia believed to have been a separate island

• Catastrophic earthquakes triggered massive landslides that joined islands together

 

What is potentially one of the most exciting classical discoveries for over 130 years was revealed in London today. At a conference held at the Foreign Press Association, Robert Bittlestone (Chairman of management consultancy Metapraxis Ltd), James Diggle (Professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University) and John Underhill (Professor of Stratigraphy at Edinburgh University) announced that they had found new and compelling evidence in support of the location of ancient Ithaca, the island described in great detail in Homer’s Odyssey.

 

Full text of Press announcement

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